Holiday Lake 50k++ - 2016
Again - Another retroactive race report -
I honestly didn't feel too bad after the ICY-8 - sure it was hard but it wasn't too bad. I was back to running again the Wednesday after and it felt great. Like Euphoria great - I had implemented a routine of going to bed early and I limited alcohol intake to ~4oz of beer or wine a night. I was feeling really healthy but more importantly, I was feeling good about myself. Right about mid-week I received a text from Mike - he was sick after the ICY-8 and it had gotten worse, like pneumonia worse and well, he was home from work and wasn't sure about running that weekend. Now, Holiday Lake is about 2.5 hours away - on the other side of Farmville. We had planned on leaving Fredericksburg around 3:00 am, running the race and then coming home. For whatever reason none of this phased me. I instinctively made the decision to take Ori to daycare for the night (no need to wake the beast at 2:00 am and then lock him up for the next 8 hours until someone can come let him out) and when I got the message that Mike was out I worked it out in my head what needed to be done. I researched directions - directions I could remember vs. using a GPS (my phone sucks!), made sure that I had food in the house - got Ori to daycare and was in bed by 8:00 pm. I was up at 2:00 - out the door by 3:00 and just as I got on 95 it started snowing. .white out conditions snowing.. At this point I thought to myself, 'well, I'll give it 10 minutes, if it doesn't let up, I'm going home." Thankfully it only lasted for about 5 minutes and after that it was smooth sailing and I made it to the race at the front of the first wave of runners with plenty of time to spare.
What I can remember about this race is that it was cold. There was an Arctic front moving in and I was relieved that it was right about 20 degrees instead of the single (or minus single) degree temps. I drove down in my slippers and wore a big fleece jacket, hat and gloves but obviously this wasn't what I was going to wear to run in. Earlier in the week I went through all of my running gear and I pulled out an old - like 1980s old - North Face windbreaker. It was bright, big and exactly what I needed to stop the wind, fit over my camelback & vest, and insulate from the cold. It wasn't really something I cared about so it was disposable - perfect! As I sat in the cafeteria at Holiday Lake 4-H camp I felt self-consciously out of place. There were so many newbie runners in their shiny new winter running clothes/gear and there I sat - it felt strangely familiar to other races where I sit and watch the nervous excitement from almost an invisible observers viewpoint. They are completely unaware of their actions and nervous chatter - for example - one runner was undecided as to what she was going to wear. She repeatedly put on clothes and took them off, only to remember (about 10 minutes before race start) that she'd neglected to glide up. Doh! That's like the first thing I do, before getting dressed for a run. As I sat there I sent myself the following email:
Observations
Snow as entering 95...oh shit!
Made it with lots of time to spare.
Usual suspects...excuses...
Lots of DBs
Camelback sprung a leak. Doh!
####...If she don't win I'm calling her bluff (this was the glide girl)
Race Start - I can't remember when exactly the race starts but it's definitely still dark. I opted not to use a headlamp - they only get in the way. Ha.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION -
I honestly didn't feel too bad after the ICY-8 - sure it was hard but it wasn't too bad. I was back to running again the Wednesday after and it felt great. Like Euphoria great - I had implemented a routine of going to bed early and I limited alcohol intake to ~4oz of beer or wine a night. I was feeling really healthy but more importantly, I was feeling good about myself. Right about mid-week I received a text from Mike - he was sick after the ICY-8 and it had gotten worse, like pneumonia worse and well, he was home from work and wasn't sure about running that weekend. Now, Holiday Lake is about 2.5 hours away - on the other side of Farmville. We had planned on leaving Fredericksburg around 3:00 am, running the race and then coming home. For whatever reason none of this phased me. I instinctively made the decision to take Ori to daycare for the night (no need to wake the beast at 2:00 am and then lock him up for the next 8 hours until someone can come let him out) and when I got the message that Mike was out I worked it out in my head what needed to be done. I researched directions - directions I could remember vs. using a GPS (my phone sucks!), made sure that I had food in the house - got Ori to daycare and was in bed by 8:00 pm. I was up at 2:00 - out the door by 3:00 and just as I got on 95 it started snowing. .white out conditions snowing.. At this point I thought to myself, 'well, I'll give it 10 minutes, if it doesn't let up, I'm going home." Thankfully it only lasted for about 5 minutes and after that it was smooth sailing and I made it to the race at the front of the first wave of runners with plenty of time to spare.
What I can remember about this race is that it was cold. There was an Arctic front moving in and I was relieved that it was right about 20 degrees instead of the single (or minus single) degree temps. I drove down in my slippers and wore a big fleece jacket, hat and gloves but obviously this wasn't what I was going to wear to run in. Earlier in the week I went through all of my running gear and I pulled out an old - like 1980s old - North Face windbreaker. It was bright, big and exactly what I needed to stop the wind, fit over my camelback & vest, and insulate from the cold. It wasn't really something I cared about so it was disposable - perfect! As I sat in the cafeteria at Holiday Lake 4-H camp I felt self-consciously out of place. There were so many newbie runners in their shiny new winter running clothes/gear and there I sat - it felt strangely familiar to other races where I sit and watch the nervous excitement from almost an invisible observers viewpoint. They are completely unaware of their actions and nervous chatter - for example - one runner was undecided as to what she was going to wear. She repeatedly put on clothes and took them off, only to remember (about 10 minutes before race start) that she'd neglected to glide up. Doh! That's like the first thing I do, before getting dressed for a run. As I sat there I sent myself the following email:
Observations
Snow as entering 95...oh shit!
Made it with lots of time to spare.
Usual suspects...excuses...
Lots of DBs
Camelback sprung a leak. Doh!
####...If she don't win I'm calling her bluff (this was the glide girl)
Race Start - I can't remember when exactly the race starts but it's definitely still dark. I opted not to use a headlamp - they only get in the way. Ha.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION -
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