I signed up for this race with one thought in mind...I will get a PR. LOL. Silly Melissa! I really wanted to do this because my Dad was a huge Nascar fan and well, the medal was super cool looking! The idea of running on the speedway was super enticing, so I figured why not. It's an inaugural race and I am all good for a fun race.
To be quite honest, before the race even got here I had issues. (What's new!) I had to take some time off from training in the gym and on the road because I was experiencing some back pain, super tight hamstrings and a little bit of exhaustion. I was tired...all the time. So, before the race even got here I was going in with issues. I got two and a half hours of massage done to help out the hamstrings which alleviated most of the back pain. But my sleep was way off...lots of insomnia!
And then, I made rookie mistakes going into this. Feeling as tired as I was, I slacked on my normal packing preparations. I did not bring my knee support that I wear occasionally (hence I had some knee issues during the race). I did not get enough potassium in the week (to two weeks) before the race. I also went into the race slightly dehydrated which is highly unusual for me. I forgot tissues for the port-a-potty (there was a lack of pre-race bathrooms and since I was early I got lucky there!) I didn't sleep well the night before...it was worse than ever before. All in all just a rough start for this race.
Since we were in Charlotte, we made a stop by my favorite tavern there, Solstice Tavern for lunch. Then we popped in to see Matt Terry at Fu's Custom Tattoos to get a date in the books for some more work on my tattoo. I have yet to get my 3 flowers from last year. So, we scheduled an appointment for June in which he will do 6...yes, 6 flowers!! Crazy, I know, but I want to get it caught up :) And by June, I will have completed two more races!!
We hit the expo on Saturday after lunch. It was a very small expo with really only two vendors and there was not much else. They had promos for the Divas Half Marathon at Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon which are their sister races. But other than that, there was packet pickup. So, we did not spend a whole lot of time there. I could have done the Richard Petty driving experience but opted not to since I would be running the Charlotte Motor Speedway!
I did my best to get to sleep early Saturday night. I was terrified for some reason that I was not going to wake up on time. I set the hotel alarm, got a wake up call and set the alarm on my phone. All alarms staggered at different times in case one got missed or I happened to fall back asleep. Yep, I am that anal :) LOL! I took something to help me sleep that night and got maybe two hours of sleep before I started waking up every hour on the hour.
By the time 5:30 rolled around, I was really tired and could have used a cup of coffee. I got myself up and moving. I ate a small breakfast...which was the first of my rookie errors. I ate less than what I normally eat before a run. I didn't get enough in my system before the start. I would learn how badly that would affect me later in the run.
We got to the track early which was good because I was able to get into the bathroom line from the start. There was a huge lack of bathrooms and no port-a-potties. Hopefully since it was an inaugural event, they will fix this in the years to come! And then it was kinda confusing because people were hanging out in the garage at pit row and some people were on the track. It was a bit odd. Eventually after hanging out in pit row for awhile, I headed out to the track and got lined up.
The hip was sore this morning. It was a bit chilly out and I could feel it in my hip. I tried to stretch it and warm it up but nothing made my hip happy today. It probably has a little something to do with the fact that I had a leg day on Thursday before the race. I thought I was taking it a bit easy, but apparently, I was not! Yay me!! So, hip pain and glute pain were not fun at the start of the race!
The race started late which was unusual. Supposedly someone sang the national anthem but I never heard it! I started off pretty strong, still trying to ease the hip into the race. It was tough and I thought it had started to loosen up a bit, but it was actually getting tighter which was crazy! I distracted myself with running around the race course. I mean, cars speed around this track so I enjoyed that part. I got to see several cars along mile markers. I met Tammy pretty early in the race. She was recovering from a broken foot and moving along about my pace, so I asked if I could hang with her.
Tammy was my hero today. I learned relatively soon into the race that not only was my hip and my glute in severe pain, but I started to feel a bit nauseous. I have never puked on a race course, but today I wish I had because I think I would have felt better. I tried alternating water and gatorade at the stops. By mile 6, I pulled out my honey stinger chews and ate half of them. I had hoped that perhaps I just needed some fuel. I still felt a bit sick. So, I decided to slow down the water and gatorade and the chews to see if that helped. I managed to keep everything in which was by no means a small feat.
I am certain I slowed Tammy down quite a bit. Luckily, she had a similar mindset to me...it's all about the finish. Neither of us cared about PRs and we both just wanted to finish. I kept telling her if she needed to leave me behind since I was getting slower with the pain to go ahead but she hung with me all the way! Thank goodness!
The hills in this course were a bit insane!! Every time we went up another hill, my body screamed "why are we doing this?" And I just soldiered through because stopping was going to be more painful (or at least that is what I tell myself!) About mile 10, my feet were hurting so bad and I could not figure out why at the time. Then mile 11.5, I slowed a bit more because I almost passed out. (I didn't say anything to Tammy because I didn't want to stop!) I slowed a bit and tried not to overdo it. I pulled out my Sport Beans and had a few of them to try and help out in case the blood sugar was off. The nausea returned! When we finally saw mile 13, I was more than relieved. I was overjoyed. The closer we got to the finish line, I thought "I can drop dead as soon as I cross!"
About the time we were closing on the finish line, my favorite song by Kelly Clarkson came on,"What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger." I teared up a bit and turned to Tammy and pointed to the cones just a bit ahead. I told her when we got to those cones, we run. I had already used what was in my reserve tank. I had nothing left but I was so going to run that finish line if it killed me. That song was on for a reason. So, we ran. It was not a pretty run by any means! But we ran that finish line and got our medals. After they placed the medal around my neck, I realized how insane that was because my poor body started to just falter. I was barely able to stay upright. I was barely moving at all. And I just seemed to realize that I would have to walk at least a mile back to my car.
Tammy called Jason and he met us back in pit row while we were getting bananas and grapes. I found a chair and sat down. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get back to the car. We started walking out very slowly...the only reason I know we were moving is because I was gaining ground (just barely!) Luckily, a golf cart was headed our way and graciously took us back to the car.
We grabbed a couple pics at the car. Then headed to the hotel where I took the first of two ice baths and some ibuprofen. I have either severely bruised one of my toes or I am about to lose the toenail (since I painted them last week, I have no idea what it looks like, but it hurts and the toenail is seriously loose!) My calves, hamstrings, quads and glutes are trashed. My feet are so sore and I am waddling like a duck. My upper body is tight and in a lot of pain too. I got a lot of sun but I don't think I got burned. I may have had a bit of heat exhaustion or just dehydration after the race. The ride home was definitely uncomfortable. After my second ice bath, I slept for a couple of hours.
All in all, for an inaugural race, it was good. It was hot and being on the blacktop made it hotter! I am thankful for the camaraderie of fellow runners and especially for Tammy who helped me finish today. I love the running community and the fact that there are those of us out there who know that there is more to a race than hitting your PRs. Sometimes it is about helping others cross the line in spite of pain and suffering...that big medal sure does feel good around your neck. Almost makes you feel invincible!
I have two more races coming up...I am certain I will make some changes to my training but for now, I am going to rest and focus on recovery.
Best thing ever was that my dear friend Tripp informed me that I am a clutch competitor. He told me I perform better under pressure than anyone he knows. It was awesome to read that when I finished my race. I look forward to some great strategy sessions with him for my next two races!!
