Bushwacker 5K Recap and Other Stuff

Sorry I haven't been posting lately.  School starts Monday and the last couple of weeks have been very very busy for me.

I did want to talk about my last race though.  I ran the Bushwacker 5K back on Aug 6th.  It is a beautiful route that starts at the Community Center in Gulf Breeze and then makes it over to the sound and then up and over Bob Sikes bridge to Cap Funs on the beach.  I had to get there early to take a bus from the finish area to the start.  It's a 35 minute drive to the finish, so I was up at 5 AM.  I got to the starting area at about 6:45.  It was already in the mid 90s.  The humidity was terrible.  I finished my warm-up mile at about 7:10.  I was drenched!  I must have downed at least 30 ozs of water.

The started started about 5 minutes late, but rthen we were off and running.  I keep a pretty steady pace from start to finish, except of course for Bob Sikes bridge.  That's one steep climb.  My pace probably dropped down to a 10/m pace for that.  After you crest the bridge, there is probably about a 1/2 mile to the finish.  That was a tough half mile let me tell ya.  I was exhausted.  I just keep telling myself, "don't stop, push on, you're almost there"!  Finally the finish line was in site.  I pushed hard to keep my pace as I crossed the line.  I searched out the wet towels and the water.  The towel for my neck and the water for my body!  I must have drank 3 12 oz bottles immediately.

I wondered around for about 10 or 15 minutes trying to get my shit together.  Something was wrong!  I wasn't feeling well at all.  I keep thinking I needed to sit down or lie down, but I couldn't really see a good spot for it.  I guess I could have just found some grass and dropped.  Believe me, I wanted to!  I finally decided to make my way to my car.  I opened the back hatch and laid down.  I was exhausted.  I mean seriously, I was over heated and I knew it.  At least 3 or 4 people stopped by and asked if I was ok. I said yes, but I really don't think I was.

I'll tell ya, if I hadn't been there alone, I would have had someone drive me to the ER for fluids.  I'm serious.  Either I had a heat stoke or I was suffering from heat exhaustion.  The later probably being the case.  Keep in mind, I am no spring chicken.  I will be 54 in a week.  After about an hour, yes, an hour, I made my way over to where the festivities were going on.  Honestly, all I was doing was trying to clear my head.  I still needed more time to recover.  I didn't really see anyone I knew, so I made my way back to the car and slowly got going on my way home.

That was the race.  That was on Aug 6th.  I took Sunday off as well as Monday.  I was having a hell of a time recovering from this race.  It was honestly, the worst race as far as recovery that I have had in my 2 years of competitive racing.  I managed to get some miles in Tues, Wed, and Thurs, but honestly, I really didn't have it.  I again rested Fri, Sat, and Sun.  In fact, I had a race on Sat that I skipped.  For me to skip a race, my first time doing that, you better believe me when I say I wasn't recovered yet.  Mentally, there was no way I could have done that race!  In hind site, I'm glad I skipped it!  Oh, as you can see, great tank top race shirt!

However, by Monday, I was determined to get my shit together and started a strong week.  In fact, this past week was a record for total mileage. I must add this though.  In my job as the technology coordinator for a large high school, I have always known I put some miles in during my work day.  This past week I decided to wear a pedometer.  Glad I did,  I averaged 4 -5 miles for Mon - Thurs and 7 on Friday.  These are miles in addition to my running and cycling.  Bet me, I counting them.  Put all these miles together and I got right at 75 miles this week.

Well, that bout wraps up the last couple weeks.  I'll try to do better keeping this updated.

Remember my friends, Real athletes run, others just play games!