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Otter Creek Trail Marathon

December 16, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: mid 30s to 50 or so

Comments:
Slept remarkably well in the trailer, then got up and moving at 6:40 or so. No food, but some Starbz via coffee. Did some stretching and core activation, then jogged around perhaps a mile. By then, the sun was up and we were ready to go.

Timbo shifted to the marathon, but was intent on going out hard, so I chilled out behind on my own. The big race - 8.5, 17 and 26 - began all together.

LAP ONE

Tried to keep it super-chill and run comfortably amongst a myriad of runners. This is good practice; I don't do this often, or very well -- to just run and not feel compelled to keep pace, or "stay ahead" of other runners. You just gotta do your own deal, regardless of what others do.

The 8.5 mile loop was broken into four in my head:

1. Winding, in the woods loops. These were nice, but pretty boring. A fair amount of roots and some micro-shitburgers, but otherwise easy.

2. To the Creek. After crossing the road, we began a switchback descent to the Otter Creek. It was great trail: tight at times, but once along the river, flat and pretty fast. This was both picturesque and fun! This was about 2.5 miles and took us to the midway aid.

3. Climb to the Ohio. From there, the loop turned away from the creek, ran flat on a doubletrack, then did a LONG, steep climb to a ridge, again, then above the Ohio River!

4. Downward Shitburgers. After the Onio, the trail rolled up and down before gradually dropping down to the start. A few painful shitburgers, but some nice bomber downs. This took you to the second aid, just above the start-finish.

By the second chunk, I settled into a nice, easy pace. Around that time, this little kid - couldn't be more than ten - rolled up! His stride was SOOO awesome, that I decided to roll with him.

Kid could just POUND uphill, which was cool. It made me work! He was a little lacksadaisical on the downs, but that was OK. I chatted with him a bit; he was running the one-lapper. So when we got to the last chunk, I started encouraging him, including to push the downs and catch a few more runners!

He did, then peeled to the finish. Really cool!

SPLIT: 1:11:xx

LAP TWO

Just settled in, this time with far less runners. A couple guys were around us at the end of lap one, and one (Red Guy) got in front of me. I let him stay in front, as it seemed like our pace was just fine.

Just before chunk 2, another dude rolled up on us, pushed past Red Guy and one other, then kept pushing. I stayed behind Red Guy along the creek until the aid, when I snuck past him.

I felt a bit of fatigue at this point, and Red Guy, behind me, asked "You doing three laps". "Yep", I said. Based on that, I surmised he was, too.

FUEL: minimal today! By midway, I'd had perhaps 4 small cups of Heed, with equal cups water. And while I felt some fatigue by midway, I never felt "low".

The second climb up to the Ohio was now legit threshold -- as was my overall HR during this loop. Just a true grind. Actually, it reminded me of "A training run with Tim Olson" -- just a good ol' grind, all day!

Just past the big climb, I passed the guy who blew past me, 5 miles ago. He was *walking* on the flat, which I found curious. Major bonk??

During loop two, we began to pass the walking entrants. This was OK, but a bit tedious.

SPLIT: 1:12:xx

I went into loop three with a wee bit of dread: I haven't run over 16 miles since Rio. I felt good, but felt fatigued and a bit afraid. But I simply focused on executing. I ran into CA into that First Chunk. She ran with me a bit, then went back to the start.

From there, it was just form-focus:

- Tall & Forward (arch, lean!)
- Pawback + high heel recovery
- ARMS: not swiveling, but "wide swinging" (= avoiding swivz)

Interestingly, in Chunk 2, I began to get right medial knee pain. Weird, but not surprising that I had some leftover nigz from Rio.

Then...I realized: I wasn't foot-pushing, especially on the right! Damn. Once I did: knee pain went away!

I didn't push hard on Chunk 2, but kept it honest and breathing, controlled. Began to pass a ton of folks, then - shufflers two laps into their marathon. LOTS. It began a pattern of:

"Hello" (or "on your left"), then "Thanks"
"Good job!"
"You, too!"

Friendly, but tedious.

Chunks 3 and 4 went by fast, but gosh, the right leg was weird: it felt almost crampy in the lower shin, near the end.

Rolled through the final aid, then blasted down to the finish.

Time: 3:34:xx
Place: 6?
Split: 1:12:xx

Awesome even splits: 71, 72, 72! VERY SOLID.

I finished tired, but not gassed. Strong, even, great effort!

Timbo finished right ahead of me, one place and three minutes. The winner was like...30 minutes ahead! Shit! Impressive!

The rest of the day:
- hung out and chatted with Timbo, Paul and CA
- showered (hot showers!), changed, and ate some
- drove back to Lexington with CA

In Lexington:
- hung out with her aunt and uncle at the house
- I got super-tired because I ate cheese at Subway, en route!
- went out for dinner with two of her cousins
- went for beers with them, and Timbo-Paul
- broke my damn phone at the brewpub!

Except for that last bit, it was a damn good day!