On to the course I went with an extra water bottle in hand to hydrate. I noticed very quickly that my legs were simply not responding. I didn't think I went that hard on the bike portion so I figured it would just take them 15 minutes or so to loosen up and get in stride...
Same as the bike, the crowds were everywhere. But this time instead of whizzing by going at a high rate of speed I was just jogging past giving kids high fives and hearing them roar in appreciation! There were literally entire schools of kids in their uniforms lining the roads and cheering.
About 25 minutes in my legs were still not adapting and it was time to refuel. During a long endurance race you will burn thousands upon thousands of calories, which means you need to hydrate yes, but also consume calories. This is done either with gu like substances, banana's, or even protein type bars as well as taking salt tabs and electrolyte tabs. Well after the 25 min, it was my scheduled time to take some pills (electrolyte's and such). Well let's just say they didn't go down and for the first time while doing a race I moved to the side of the road and back up they came! Guess those never got into my system.
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| I seem to be moving decently here, definitely not indicative of the norm on this race! |
The run course itself was very flat which was nice. It was occasionally tree lined giving some protection from the sun, but often was out through neighborhoods or near the water and completely exposed.
Like the bike this too was a two loop course meaning you ran by everyone a couple of times and knew where the biggest support was.
All in all my run felt like 1/2 run and 1/2 walk. My legs never got into it and consequently my final time was about 40minutes past my goal of 6hours.
Would I do this race again? Heck yeah! Great course, great support and lots of fun, I've just got to learn how to get my legs turning over!!!
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