Excuses, race no-no's, and life lessons

Well, today was the La Jolla Half Marathon.  A course and a race that pretty much literally starts in my back yard, and a course that I am pretty sure I have run a bagillion times.  Despite the familiarity it was not my day - on many levels.  I am not a racing novice, and would never wear or take something on race day but I think maybe I need a refresher on the reason people put out their items for the day of race the night before.  It's funny because I recall getting to the start of St. George Marathon and looking down only to notice that I had no chip.  If the goal in racing is the same as the goal in life - not to make the same mistake twice - well then I did not achieve that goal today.  Oh I brought my chip.  It even journeyed from the start of the race to the finish - in my bag drop bag.    So, I ran without an official time.  

Without the stress of having a good time posted, I thought I maybe could just cruise it and enjoy the race.  Unfortunately, my heart rate would not go down after mile 2 and I had no legs.  I was done at the top of Torrey Pines.  Thought about waiting for the sag wagon and DNFing - no one would know the difference - but I would -so I struggled through one of the most uncomfortable races I recall.  So maybe I still made a few of the same mistakes that I have in prior races (like under tapering, not hydrating properly and forgetting to put my chip on my shoe,) but at least I finished. 

Comments

[V]

Congratulations on digging deep (chipless and all)with your stagger to the finish line. That is the right answer... Always finish is my motto... Always finish.... It can never be that bad, right?

Even the worst day at Hawaii Ironman walking from porta potty to porta potty... you still finish because you alway finish..

Well, at least I thought that was the case until I swam too hard (I guess) at the Las Vegas 1/2 IM some years ago and I was cramping up before I even mounted up on the bike... I remember thinking... What a sweet swim I had with P (we were pretty much the first peeps out of the water) but then it turned ugly in a hurry. When you have 56 to ride and at mile three every big muscle starts to cramp you know you are done before you start.... But you always finish, right?... I pushed on... and on with agony as... POW... BONK... BOOOOF.. cramp after cramp shot through my legs.... You always finish right?

Finally off the bike and now a 13 mile shuffle - No big... I have Igor'd my fair share of races so this should be no problem.. Well, it was a problem... In 104 degrees I made it 2 whole miles when I stared to freeze. No not stiffen up. Like freeze cuz I was chilly? What's happening? Hey, does anyone have a blanket I could wear because I always finish? Fortunately, I had enough sense to actually stop and call it a day. Yes it's true I am a DNF-er. I know it was the right answer but it still haunts me. Maybe if I say it out loud I will feel better? My name is V and I AM A DNFer! DOH!

[G]

Welcome to the 10MW Confession Board!

Like Mo yesterday, last fall at NYC I learned for the umpteenth time that my hear rate monitor should rule the day. How did I learn this (again!)? I ignored the heart rate monitor. There's always a good excuse (must be nervous, it'll settle down later, I trained to handle this pace, blah, blah). In the end, at least for me, the HR never lies. It predicts the future (quite accurately I might add). And when I don't pay attention or come up with excuses, the future (of that race anyway) is never all that good.

A few more "lessons" and I might get it right.

[G]

Who's next with their confession?

[Crampy]

Well we know Mark might want to step up to the confessional after his short-cut-ness at Vegas 1/2 Ironman...