Last weekend I ran the Ring. Well, I'll be honest, I started the Ring. The Ring is a free race that takes place on the Massanutten trail. 70 miles of rocks. The beginning went pretty well. I started off and didn't feel very good or strong. But I was running well enough and was enjoying the break from the heat we've had lately. The first place to refill my water bottles was mile 13 and the second spot was mile 25ish. I felt terrible by mile 25. I just sat there for a bit. I reached that aid station in second place but wasn't so sure of the outcome at that point.
After some calories and water and encouragement from Katie, my dad and Kevin, my brother, I left the aid station for the next aid 9 mostly uphill miles away. As soon as I left I zoned out and tried to forget how badly I was feeling. It was very strange. I had energy, my legs felt fine, and yet my stomach felt funny and I just felt generally "off" of my normal stoked-just-to-be-in-the-mountains self. Upon reaching the third aid station I decided I would continue until I wasn't having fun anymore. Unfortunately, the next section was incredibly rough and the sharp rocks that we had delt with all morning were really aggrivating the bones in my feet. When i reached the third aid station at mile 40ish I decided I wasn't having fun anymore and if I kept going I would probably start running funny in order to protect my sore feet which could prepare the sure recipe for injury. With Grindstone just around the corner for me, I'm not trying to do anything to jeopardize that.
In other news I was sent a water bottle that i was able to personalize! It is sick! It is a Sigg bottle and it is BPA free and keeps my water nice and chilly.
Sick water bottles
This is the website where you can find about a million different designs of water bottles and other personalized stuff. And if they don't have what you're looking for you can just design it yourself. Pretty good idea.
Anyway, Grindstone is in a couple weeks and I'm stoked for it. This year, that race will be finished.
-- Patrick
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment