It was pretty warm already when I started my run, like whyyy. Legs were hurting. Everything felt really hard, I was just draggin...not a good run. I did some yoga in the evening to maybe help with the soreness but everything was hurting. I'm just falling apart. Drank over 2.5L today! Wooot wooot. Except now I have to go to the bathroom every 30mins which is super annoying and just a reminder why I don't drink much :D. Also managed to make myself a salad with steak for lunch! I'm really trying...
I don't know how but it was even warmer than yesterday. Like 22degrees at 5am. Whaaat. That's just terrible. Felt little bit better but still a shuffle pretty much. The sunrise tho was absolutely amazing! I also managed to drink almost 3L with another healthy lunch salad. Sometimes these things can be as hard as going for a run. It's a discipline I guess.
Thursday was a rest day! Wohooo. And I started to pack things or at least getting everything ready. Which led to "I have no idea what to pack" PANIC! I haven't raced in really long time, well actually the one and only race I've done with drop bag was Iron Legs, so almost a year ago haha. What do I pack? Do I even want a drop bag? I guess why not if it's an option. I packed everything I could think of. I also had a prerace meeting with coach. I wasn't really excited about this race. But after talking to him, I started to look forward to it. Some confidence boost for sure. Weather still looks pretty good so should be a good one! I'm ready!
Shakeyy shakeyyy. Did my run first thing in the morning to make sure I get it in. Took it actually very easy and had an enjoyable one! It was really nice, finally. Felt good. Worked for a half day, got home, finished packing and ordered pizza, cause if Hans Troyer says Eat More Pizza, you eat more pizza, especially the day before race day! Cause CARBS! I started to be bit nervous, which is good I think! Left around 3:30pm. Didn't wanna make the same mistake again so stopped at Chain Lakes to use the bathroom haha. To my surprise they had ice cream there so I got some, carb loading again! Went straight to Coleman to pick up my bib. As I'm driving there and getting closer to the building, I see all these people going from like a different parking lot up and all these cars like wtf is going on, why there are so many people! I quickly parked few mins away from the building as there was no way I'm getting parking there. Wow, what a shitshow. I didn't know there would be this many people! If I knew I don't think I'd be signing up for such big race. Anyways...going to the building I met with Meaghan and also bumped into Frans and also Justin, from who I later bought these cool ice bandanas. Waited for too many mins in the line to get my bib. Walked around for a bit and came back for the racers meeting. Couldn't really hear much as this arena was HUGE and so many people. I decided to leave early to avoid all the crowds leaving at the same time. Got to my friend's, had my "sad" dinner (pretty plain chicken, rice and some green beans) and went to bed.
Woke up probably way too early but I was afraid I wouldn't have enough time to get ready. Left to the start also bit earlier just to make sure I get parking and then have time to stretch, get everything ready, use the bathroom etc. It was warm. It was already like 18degrees, it was awful. Saw the 100M people and relays to start. Got everything I thought I'm gonna need and made my way to the start. I couldn't believe the line up for bathrooms! There were hundreds of people and only 6 portapotties???!!! Like whaaaaat? Seriously??? I was kinda pissed. So got to the line right away...less then 15mins to start. I'm still standing in the line with like 3 people in front of me and only few mins to start. Like am I gonna make it or what? Should I just leave and hope there will be bathroom somewhere on the way soon? Nope... it's fine, I'm gonna make it... took my vest off so nothing would fall in, just in case :D. Luckily, I only needed to pee. As I'm exiting the portapotty I hear: 3,2,1.....boooom! So I grab my vest and start running towards the start line, which was bit far away. Everyone is already pass the arch and I'm just getting in there. Phew. Made it I guess. Started running, just easy. Trying not to rush. Few mins in and I noticed that nothing is pressing on my ribs on my left side. FUCK! I dropped my bear spray as I was putting the vest back on! Noooooo! Can I go back?! Nooo it's way too far now. Shit. I'm gonna die for sure now. I hate to run without it. IYKYK. Oh well. Can't do anything now. Let's go. The first few KM's were identical to the end of Minotaur. Shitty flashbacks hahaha. Just pavement. I was already feeling really warm. Made first mistake - I didn't have clear water. All my bottles were filled with Maurten Drink mix. I had one empty bottle tho that I was planning to use later. I wish I grabbed some cause I could've already started cooling myself off. We ran along the river for a bit in the beginning and I was debating if I should go in and put my hat in at least but I was already so far back that I didn't want to stop. Then we finally got onto some trails. It was very narrow and basically no room to pass people and it was just a train anyways. So I went with it. If there was a chance, I'd go around. I felt okay. Some of these parts were bit annoying like in every race, nowhere to pass, you just have to go with that pace. As we got further into Bellevue I saw bathroom! YES! Let's get in there haha. There was a sink with running water but the water was really warm! Ugh. Well, at least it's water. I wet my hat and my bandana and splashed some on my face and neck. Exactly what I needed and even better when the wind started to blow a little bit right after. Crossed under the highway and up to Hillcrest. I was pretty proud of how I was running so far and maybe just a shuffle but I was still running some parts that others were walking and that was definitely a nice boost. When we finally left the roads, the climbing started. And honestly, it never stopped after this haha. First aid station was super slow, lots of people and only one jug of water. I filled my bottle. After a while there was a creek crossing finally! I couldn't believe that noone else stopped to dip their hat or anything. I definitely did and splash as much water as I could on me. It was a lifesaver. Especially when right after, there was this super steep climb and out of the trees, into that sun. It was HOT. I was climbing well, didn't need breaks or to stop. Proud of that too. Soon second aid and more water haha. Mainly on my head! And another long climb. Ufff. It was tough. And then, finally downhill!!! Which was super steep and absolutely terrible. Like what is this shit. They couldn't come up with anything worse? I guess not. Coach said to take it easy in the first half and I really tried to do that. Stomach was feeling fine surprisingly. It just felt neverending. I didn't really look at my watch at all to see how far I am as I didn't wanna know and then be disappointed I still have this much to go. I was happy to finally see the transition area. I got in, got my drop bag and filled my bottles with Maurten again. I didn't really take anything else. I also grabbed few pieces of watermelon. It took me way too long to do all this and also, I wanted to use a bathroom before I go on leg 3. To my surprise, portapotties were pretty far away from the transition area and again, only few of them and with lineups! Like seriously??? I'm trying to race but have to wait in line to use a bathroom... I was honestly bit pissed off about the bathroom situation. Ran back and off to leg 3. Steep up and up. That was the theme on this one. Had to yell at 2 runners who took the wrong trail. Glad I saved them haha. It was getting so hot. And some of those first climbs? Oh my god...anyways, upwards, one leg in front of the other. There was this pretty long section on wide dirt road. I hated that cause it was runnable and I didn't wanna run :D. Luckily, at the end of it, there was a big creek! I got soaked! It felt so good and it was helping immensely. I don't know how other people survived without getting into these creeks. Anyway. Another aid station and more climbing in the sun, on ATV trails. Saw few parties on quads, enjoying their ride. I may or may not wanted to ask them for a little ride too. I came across someone wearing Sally's Yellow Hat! The only thing I could think about at that moment was pass&gap&bury :D. I didn't wanna do that but I kinda did, I just don't know why I thought about it right there and not everywhere else when passing people haha. I actually passed her again later on cause I had to stop and use the bathroom. Which leads me...my stomach survived for almost 6hrs! I was pretty pumped about it but eventually had to stop. Luckily it was also around a creek so I got nicely soaked with cold water again and was able to get through another part of Satan's Sack. I almost ran out of water, I was so glad when we hit the aid station! I was happy when we finally hit some downhill soon after. It was runnable. And as I started enjoying that finally, more fuckin climbing. Like this will never end! And then...another downhill, steep as shit, dry, loose rocks...not very runnable, washouts...ugh, put me back on the ups then. It was pretty frustrating. I was trying to just move forward. And fast as I didn't want Meaghan to catch me haha. At the aid Matt told me she is probably 10-15mins behind me. I thought she will eventually. I wasn't looking behind me, but I could hear someone coming and as I was saying Good job or something, I look over and voila! It's Meg !!! Hahah I was so happy to see her. She looked so good and was absolutely crushing it as I knew she would be. We took selfie and I told her to go cause I'm not as fast. She just left me in the dust to die....... just kiddin! Way to GOOO MEAGHAN! So proud of you. Another aid station, the last one before finish. Filled bottles and soaked in the creek right there again. I was warned there is super steep hill right after the aid station. Well that sucked but again, I was still climbing well. The only thing I could think about was MOUNTAIN LEGS! It's all these stupid 5mins mountain legs I've been doing after almost every run, even when I really didn't want to cause doing them after a hard workout really sucked, but...it paid off I think! Do your mountain legs people! (put "Mountain Legs David Roche" in youtube and watch the video). There was still some joggin in the trees. Some ups and downs. And then...48K in...only 5K left! Even your mom can run 5K let's gooooooo! I was trying to hype myself up but only till I saw this insanely steep hill. WTF... before this I was almost certain I'm gonna make it to the finish under 8:30 but with this I kinda gave up. Uphills were still good, passed few people there. Downhills not so much. I think I didn't fuel well enough anymore. My left foot/shin hurt too and lifting/moving my foot was very painful. Not to mention that my stomach started to hurt again but there was no way I'm gonna stop now. Just gotta press those cheeks together and pray I'm gonna make it in time hahah. The last few KMs sucked, not gonna lie. I crossed the finish line in 8:50. I was hoping for time closer to 8hrs, if everything went really well, under 8. I mean things were going well, I don't think I could do anything that much better in this heat. The stop time at aid stations and creeks, bathroom breaks etc, not much I could do faster without crew really or just waiting for my turn because of all these people everywhere. I wasn't disappointed but also not overly excited. I'm glad I finished. I sat at the finish for a bit and then made my way to my car. Which was so freakin far away haha. It was hot. When I got in and drove back to Andrea's place for shower, it was saying 29/30degrees! I'm glad I didn't know it was actually this hot. In my mind I had max 26degrees as that was what SPOTWX was saying in the morning. If I knew it was that hot I think mentally it would get to me more. But personally I think I managed the heat really well. No cramps, no real stomach issues except for the usual stuff. I had few moments tho when I could feel like I'm having a headache or bit nauseous, but if I just poured more water over my head/face/chest/back of the neck, it went away or it just didn't progress. I'm sure that if I did more heat training I could've run faster. But it's okay. After taking a shower, it was time to go home but first I needed to stop and get something to eat. I was feeling horrible. Like I'm gonna throw up and pass out, at the same time. It was bad, I was even thinking how the hell am I gonna drive all the back to Calgary like this? For whatever reason, my middle back locked. Great. I hoped that food would fix some of the nausea because I didn't really eat anything all day except for my liquid nutrition, maybe 2 gels and few pieces of watermelon. Luckily the food help. I stopped to eat and then walked around the car to stretch my legs and back before I finally made my way back home. The drive wasn't even that bad. I was sore as heck tho. I was super tired but couldn't fall asleep. As usual, sleep was absolutely trash, everything hurt so bad!
I woke up early on Sunday, I couldn't really sleep. Everything was hurting. But my hands and forearms were absolutely killing me! To a point where I was like wtf, should I take something or what the hell is this. It was terrible and so strange. I used poles in the race but I'm used to using them and if anything it's usually my shoulders or biceps/triceps that would hurt. I then later realized that I caught myself few times through the race that I was squeezing those poles way too hard when I was carrying them on those downhills so maybe that was why. We went for a little walk with the Piglet. I was surprised that my legs were not thrashed. Sore yes but not completely useless. I was feeling pretty good while walking. Well that went away as soon as I came home and had a nap :D. That put me back in my misery very fast.
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