I know, I'm long overdue for a 'blog update. I'm into the third week of a police academy so I deserve some slack for, um, slacking.
Briefly, Monterey is pretty, but it's hard to tell since it's always socked in with fog. I'm gettin gout for the occasional 30 minute run during the week and longer sessions on the weekend, but the academy schedule keeps me pretty busy. I need the running so I don;t go insane and don't put on too much weight. The deserts at the dining hall are tasty and there's plenty to ga around. I think I've put on 3 pounds already...oof.
Where academics is concerned, the materila is easy to grasp there's just lots to learn in a very short time frame. As far as academy PT is concerned, we did a 20 minute run the other day at the local track and I lapped the whole class running 6:30's in lane three. And I'm out of shape! LOL!
Backing up to late September, Holly and I ran the Nobkle Canyon 50K. My apologies for the pics' the disposable film camera we bought failed miserably int he photo quality department. I wasn't going to risk my nice digital camera to my legendary sweating capabilities. Moving on.
Race start; 0630, If I recall. Early (more so since we drove out the morning of) and cold.
They turned out to be a humorous and super-supportive bunch. A great crowd of crazies for suffering with.
Some beautiful views early on in the race as the sun comes up. The sunrise behind, moon in front and lanscape below seemed like a cool juxtaposition. I guess you had to be there...
Soemwhere on the way to Penny Pines. I just started snapepd photos at random intervals just to see what I'd get. I'm surprised anything came out!
Erm...trees?
Just crossed over Sunrise Highway and headed out onto the PCT. The views get better from here. Mile 12 or so.
I'm lost for captions. Enjoy the pics.
Notice the salty shirt. Mile 15? I felt AWESOME and decided to crack the throttle just a bit and started reeling people in that had passed me early on. I knew I was rolling the dice by doing so, but the last 11 miles is all downhill, right?
The brown specs on the horizon are cows. Another "had to be there" photo. Still feeling pretty good at this point, but I could tell it was getting warm. Mile 19?
There are no photos to record my complete meltdown. I rolled into the mile 22 aid station ON FIRE. Seriously, I rolled in with 3:30 elapsed thinking I had sub-6 hours in the bag. I refilled and headed down the trail. Somewhere around mile 27, the serious descending starts...and everything started cramping. I'm reduced to wakling and occasionally shuffling. The rest all blurs together: walking, cramping, shuffling, overheating and then I'm out of water. Crap. My feet hurt so bad that at one point I sat down on the side of the trail just to get off them for a second. Wheels came off? Big time.
I made it to the last aid station (mile 30?) and sat down in the shade; drinking and having my first serious "Should I pull the plug on this thing?" moment. With plenty of time to walk and still make the cut-off, I start back down the trail. I was seriously nauseated for the past 2 hours and just trying to force stuff down. With about 2 miles left to go, I passed a down runner being attended to; he either slipped and hit his head or passd out and hit his head. Either way, he didn't look good. About 200 yards further down and I'm so hurlish that I sat down...and puked HUGE. Race personnel passing me heading for the more seriously injured racer and worrying about me...a friendly mountain biker giving me salt capsules...a finisher coming back up the trail to walk me in just in case. I had that small post-vomit window where you feel great to make it to the finish line. GOOO!!!
I managed a shuffle step for a bit and then back to walking as the cramps came back. I crossed the finish line in an underwheliming 8:20 but still with quite the large lump in my throat. Transcending personal boundaries? Hell yeah.
I nursed some Gatorade and water, managed to get some food down and headed over to see Holly come in.
Gotta kiss the rat; race rules! MUAH!
Body language says it all. Total time: 10:30. That extra 3 miles was a killer for everyone.
Dirty girl feet!
Dirty boy. Those socks were white once.
Am I a salty sweater? Um, yes.
Do all these salt stains make my ass look big?
Post-race, we hit the showers and headed home for some ice baths. The hunger monster was the most intense I've ever experieced. I literally woke up at midnight and made a Del Taco run we were both so hungry.
Holly: "Where are you going?"
Me: "Del Taco; I'm STARVING".
Holly: "Right now?"
Me: "Yeah. I'm so hungry I can't sleep."
Holly: ...can you get me a burrito?"
Comedy!
Training's mostly taking a back seat to academy stuff, but I'm going to see what I can fit in once I've finished my end-of-season break. I should have the money to do the races I want to, but It'll be tough to top last year's fitness.
If you're in Monterey, drop me en a-mail. I'm slowly learning where all the cool trails are in Fort Ord and would love to see some familiar faces.
E.
