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OTC All-Comer's Meet

August 7, 2008 (Night)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 70, a touch of breeze

Comments:
Tonight was the last OTC All-Comer's. In classic "jam it all in" fashion, I ran this against all good judgment and logic. But it's Hayward: I'd been looking forward to racing here since 2005.

Got home from work feeling energetic. Puttered around the apt, cleaning up, pseudo-packing, then I biked to Hayward. Went on my warm-up really early. Felt so-so. The L quad is still rough; it warms up, but the moment I stop, then re-start, it feels shitty.

Waited around for the 8. Felt good doing strides in the spikes. I hadn't put on the adistar MDs (that are now >8 years old) since my horrible indoor mile at Blugold.

We assembled for the 8 and they organized us into a "sub 2:10" group. With that stepped forward not one but TWO GIRLS. Wow. We had nine in the heat. I took lane 4.

Got out pretty good and after the first 75 it was clear I would lead it. Jimmy'd. Felt good rolling through the 200m at 28-29, but eek, that's way too fast. On the homestretch I felt pretty good, but I thought to myself, "Wait...it feels like I'm KICKING!". Hit the 400m at 61ish. Slowing down...

Hit the backstretch feeling rough and into a substantial breeze. Now I was just hanging on -- already. Hit the 200m with an apparent split of 1:32-33. The last 200m was BRUTAL. I FELT like BOOTS LOOKED in his first 1600m back from his stressy in '06: just horrific, like both KBD and "The Silver Bullet" had hopped on my back.

Fearing the shame and embarassment of two "sub 2:10" girls bearing down on me, I kicked it in with all my might, doing everything to remain upright and keep my legs lifting. I seriously barely made it.

Hit the tape in a shocking 2:09. Wow. By my calculations, I must've "dropped" a 36 last 200m! Wow. I felt so horrible for the next 1-2 minutes as I was doubled over just past the finish. The two girls were in behind me. By all accounts, they finished well back but were closing HARD.

Despite the terrible time, I DID get the win, my 4th career at Hayward (and 3rd consecutive!). After the race, I chatted a bit with my CI Barb, who filled me in on how rough I looked in that last 2, and how the girls were bearing down (eek!). After that, I went for an easy 1+ mile cooldown up Agate to 24th and around. Love that neighborhood. I recovered quick and felt no worse for wear than before the 8, which *hopefully* meant I'm just still mega-tired/trashed from my 2:45 of running Sunday.

Went home, gobbled dinner while on the phone with Dan, then "rewarded" myself with some ice cream at Prince Puckler's on 19th and Agate. Great stuff!