Race Recap – Atlantic City Half Marathon

Atlantic City

On October 18, 2015, I completed my third half marathon, the Atlantic City Half Marathon. This was supposed to be my first Marathon, but a few months before, I chickened out and down graded to the half. I still can’t seem to work up the nerve to do a full marathon and may never. It just seems so daunting to me. In addition, right before the race, I was not really looking forward to it. I was a bit burned out on racing generally and just wanted to skip it. But since I had never been to Atlantic City before, I figured I may as well go and try to enjoy myself.

Pre-Race

I booked our room at the Bally’s Atlantic City, which was the sponsoring hotel. This turned out to be both a good and bad thing. I have no interest in gambling and right off the bat, I was not impressed. The lobby was filled with tons of cigarette smoke from the casino and the building was dingy and old. They were supposed to bring a cot for my son to sleep in and it took several hours, four calls and a visit to the front desk to get it. On the good side, however, the expo was at the hotel, and the start and finish line for the race were just out the back doors. Generally, I have to wake at 5:00am to drive to get to my races and then the when the race is over, I get to marinate in my stinky running gear for a long car ride home. I have never before been able to wake up only a half hour before the race, get ready and go downstairs, and still be early! And after the race, I even had time to go back to the room, shower and hang out for a bit before checking out. That was glorious and almost made the cot problem ok. Never underestimate convenience.

Hard Rock Cafe

The night before the race, we walked up the boardwalk and had dinner at the Hard Rock Café. I had not been to one in years and honestly expected the meal to be typical mediocre chain food, but I was wrong. My food was outstanding and we ended up having a blast. Teddy’s meal came on a cute guitar shaped plate and they gave him a whole activity book of games and puzzles, that looked like a DVD package, to play while he waited.

As for the race itself, it was a beautiful course and a beautiful day. The sun was shining and there were barely any clouds in the sky. The temperature was cool, but not freezing. It was a mostly flat course, with a handful of mild hills. The course started on the boardwalk, then veered onto the roads for a bit, through a tunnel and some highway, then ended up back on the boardwalk with a loop. The traffic tunnel was so quiet and windless. It was new and interesting experience for me. Since, I love running alongside the ocean, I was pretty happy for most of this race.

Early on, at about a mile and a half into the race, I decided to tag along with pace keeper for a 2:45 half marathon, since I was pretty much pacing him anyhow. He was using a run-walk strategy of 2 minutes running and 1 minutes walking. I figured “What the heck do I have to lose by sticking with him,” since I had already told Mark I would meet him at the finish line around 2:50. This worked out pretty well and I stuck with him until Mile 11. Unfortunately, at that point my knee, which had started bothering me at about Mile 8, was unbearable and I just needed to walk it out, so I told them to run ahead.

I had brought my own fuel belt, which had two water bottles and two Gatorade bottles, so I didn’t need to stop at any of the water stops, but they were extremely plentiful and evenly spaced throughout. For the first time ever, I wished I hadn’t worn my belt, since at one point, a bottle fell out and I ran back to grab it then had to sprint to catch up to the pacer. I think this choice was ultimately a stupid one and was part of the reason I had to leave the pace group later. When the bottle felt out a second time, I let it go. I’m thinking about getting a Camelpak for next time, since that it mostly what I used on training runs.

Bass Pro Shop

I finished in 2:50:56, which was almost four minutes faster than my last half, ten minutes slower than my first one and almost exactly the time I estimated I would finish. I saw Mark and Teddy a few feet before the finish line and hugged them, then I headed through the shoot and to get some snacks. They were plentiful and interesting. In addition to the usual bagels, bananas and water, they had suckers, pretzels, caramel corn and beer. I ended up forgetting about my beer ticket entirely, but I had some pretzels and a banana and headed upstairs.

After getting cleaned up and checking out of the hotel, we went over to the Bass Pro Shop to buy Teddy a bow and arrow set. That place is pretty cool and if you are ever in Atlantic City, you should check it out.

Blinking Medal

Overall, I really enjoyed this race, though I probably won’t do it again. I was not really into Atlantic City, generally, but the race itself was well run and a fun course.

Race Recap - NYC Triathlon

I have been a little lax in my blogging for the last few months. It’s not that I have been sedentary, I just haven’t felt like writing. During my “break” I completed 3 event: a GoRuck Light in NYC, which I really enjoyed, the Buffalo Half Marathon, which I completed with my best friend Suzi, and ran the Lincoln Park Triathlon again and beat my time from last year.

GRL

Buffalo HM

I thought I should get my butt in gear and write about this last race, since it was a big one. Two of my cousins, Gary and David flew in from out of town (Arizona and Nevada, respectively) to do the race also. They both, of course, both did way better than me.

The NYC Triathlon was my first Olympic Distance race. For those unfamiliar with the course, it starts with a point-to-point 1500m swim in the Hudson, followed by a 40k (24 mile) bike ride on the Hudson River Parkway, then a 10K run around Central Park.

This was the most logistically challenging race that I have ever done. The packet pickup and briefings were held Friday night and Saturday at the Midtown Hilton, the mandatory bike check in was on Saturday evening at Riverside Park and the race started on Sunday in the early morning. What this meant was that I had to drive in from NJ on Saturday, ride my bike from 34th Street to the hotel at 54^th Steet,  “valet” it at the Hilton for a bit, then ride it up to the transition at 72^nd Street and Riverside Park. I had rented a hotel room for the night near  71^st and Central Park so that my husband and son did not have to wake up at 3am to drive me in.

As it turned out, I got zero sleep the night before the race. The hotel room was too humid and the air conditioning was too loud. So, at 3:40am I gave up trying to sleep and got ready to head to the transition area, which was open only from 4am to 5:15am. I had left my transition items overnight in the provided plastic bag. In the morning, however, everything was wet due to the park sprinkler systems – even the stuff inside the bag.

If that wasn’t a bad omen, shortly thereafter, after setting up my transition and walking to the swim start (over a mile away), I used the port-a-potty and when I unzipped my trisuit, the zipper broke at the bottom. So, when I zipped it back up, the zipper popped right open from the bottom up. Wardrobe malfunction. Thankfully, I found a nice lady who had a safety pin and after pinning the bottom together it stayed closed the rest of the race. Whew! I thought I might end up having to race half naked.

Swim: 23:53

The race was a time trial race, with the swim starting in waves by age group off of a platform anchored in the water and ending at another platform. I was a bit tired, but the adrenaline kept me going. I found it to be a fun and uneventful swim. I didn’t really try to push it, and just swam at an easy pace, enjoying the view from the water. I found the water quality to be fine and much cleaner than the East River. No funky tastes, just salty. It did seem to take a bit longer than I expected, but I think this was mainly because there so much talk about a fast current, that it had my hopes up and also the fact there were no giant orange buoys to gauge my progress. Overall, I was happy with the swim.

T1: 13:11

This was the longest transition I have ever done at a race. It was an almost mile walk back to the bike transition along the waterway. Some people were jogging it; I have no idea how. A smart person would have worn watershoes or clipped some flip flops to the fence near the exit or even spent a bunch of time before the race developing calluses. I did none of that. This was so painful for me on my delicate bare feet, that I just winced the whole time and walked very slowly.

Bike: 2:00:19

I enjoyed the bike course. It was on the highway and had really interesting views. At many parts it is elevated, so that you could really take it all in. It was also, however, very hilly. Up and down, up and down. I really enjoyed the downhills, the uphills not so much. My Garmin shows that I went 35 miles per hour down one of the hills. Whee! This was my longest bike ride and I was very proud that I kept the pace up. (Well, for me. I was actually one of the slowest riders out there.) I learned a few things on the ride, for instance, if someone is going slowly down a hill, pass them! There is a very good chance they will lose all momentum once they get to an uphill. A number of times I got stuck behind slower people on the uphill and just couldn’t get any momentum back. It was excruciating. I avoided this in the second half and it went much better. I was very proud of myself that I never walked my bike up any of the hills, even if I was only going 2 miles an hour in my lowest gear.

Another thing I learned was that if you are going 2 miles an hour, don’t try to drink water. At one point I did this and actually tipped over. I totally felt like an idiot. I literally just tipped over because I had zero speed. Thankfully, I landed on a soft patch of grass and the only thing I bruised was my ego. Doh!

The last thing I learned was that I can’t get my second water bottle out and back in its cage when I am moving. I just can’t. The angle is weird for me to navigate while riding. As a result, it was as if I didn’t have the second bottle it at all. So, I ended up only drinking from my water bottle and barely touching my Gatorade. By the time the transition came along, I think I was fairly dehydrated. But at the point it hadn’t really hit me.

I keep saying it, but I really just need to bike more on the roads. I think it is also time for some clipless pedals and a bike fit. My back was not feeling happy after that many miles.

T2: 5:44

It was an uneventful transition. The longer time was because I stopped to use the bathroom.

Run: 1:34:10

This is where my race went all to hell. The lack of sleep, dehydration and exhaustion finally caught up with me. My intention was to walk out of the transition, but when I got the road, and tried to pick up the pace to a jog. I just couldn’t. I had no energy left and just felt overheated and tired. I kept telling myself, just walk a little and you’ll feel better. But I never did. Finally, after mile 2 I just decided to resign myself to the fact I would have to walk the whole thing.

I was able to talk with another girl for a bit, who was also struggling and that helped my mood. I also managed on two downhill sections to jog a little, but not for very long. By mile 4, I had developed a painful blister on the bottom of my foot, so that it hurt to even walk. I am fairly certain there are no photos of me from the run portion of the race, or if there are, they are not very flattering. I pretty much had WBF (walking bitchy face) throughout.

At every water station I grabbed some water to dump over my head and some more to drink. It helped for a few seconds and then I was back to hobbling along. I was not about to quit, no matter what, so I just concentrated on moving grumpily forward.

By the time I got to the finish line, I was spent. I saw Mark and Teddy cheering me on, but didn’t have the energy or mood to really wave. Some kind stranger grabbed my hand to try to cross the finish line triumphantly with me and I yanked it away. I didn’t want anyone to touch me or talk to me. 

It took all of my strength to drag myself across the timing mat and into the medical tent. I’m pretty sure I started crying at that point. I only really do that when I am completely physically exhausted.  A man in the tent asked me what was wrong and I couldn’t really put together a sentence. Hot. Tired. He asked if I wanted to sit or lie down. I just looked at him blankly. He repeated the question. I couldn’t make up my mind. Sit, I thought, and nodded to the chair. In my head, I just was so disappointed with myself and my inability to get it together. Why wouldn’t my body cooperate? He put bags of ice all over me and gave me a bottle of Gatorade. He told me to sip it. I disobeyed and drank that sucker down and I felt a bit better. I adjusted the ice and tried to cool off. I realized that I never got my medal and asked him where I could get it. He took down my info and asked me more questions and let me sit for a bit more. I probably could have used another Gatorade at that point, but I was feeling slightly better and was worried that Mark and Teddy would be worried about me taking so long.

When I finally felt well enough, I went out and grabbed my medal. My cousin’s wife saw me at the food tables, where she was volunteering, and I think I said Hi. I grabbed a bagel and chips and went to find Mark and Teddy. I know I was still a bit out of it at that point, because I took one bite of bagel and handed it to Teddy, then completely forgot about it. Mark put the chips into his pocket and I forgot about those too. Looking back, I think I may have had too much water and not enough salt. The only salt I really had was from the Gatorade and I think that was what made me feel better the most.

Finish: 4:17:16

Then came time for more logistical crap. I was supposed to check out of the hotel by noon, but despite being so close by, the hotel key card was in my bike bag back at the transition. I called the hotel and got a late check out. We hightailed it the four blocks to transition, got my bike and gear and hightailed to back the four blocks to the hotel. It is really not fun to have to race back and forth that many blocks when you are already exhausted and in pain. But, I managed to check out in time to avoid a late fee. Then Teddy and I waited for a half hour outside the hotel for Mark to get the car from the parking garage at 56^th Street and drive it back up to us. Finally, were we were finally able to load up everything and drive home. Ate home, I bathed, I ate a burger and took a nice long nap. It felt so good.

Overall, I can’t say I would recommend this race, unless you are from out of town or live in the city. The race course itself was not bad, but the heat was ridiculous and that logistics were just a huge pain in the ass. The medal, however, is pretty cool. 

NYC Triathlon 2015 Medal

I think though, I would much rather stick to smaller local races. I seem to have much more fun at them. I am looking forward to racing the Iron Girl Sandy Hook again in September.

On Being a Competitive Athlete

Results

Some people are born with an innate sense of competitiveness. They strive to be the very best in everything they do. When they take up a sport, they will settle for nothing less than first place. The drive to win pushes them past pain and fatigue and onto the podium time after time. This drive is so strong, that if they break a bone, they might still keep going.

Other people do not like to compete at all. They will only workout when it is enjoyable and either in solitary or entirely cooperative environment. They don’t really care how they measure up against others as long as they are having a good time.

And then, there are those of us who fall somewhere in the middle. For me, this means being an athlete whose abilities don’t match up to my competitive drive and who despite training intensely always ends up in middle of the pack and resigning myself to PRs and simply trying to enjoy the sport for what it is.

For years I have tried to reconcile these two things, to lose my competitive drive, or at least temper it somewhat and just enjoy sports for their innate physicality. But I really enjoy competition, and as a result, I tend to enter and train for a lot of races.

This year I am signed up for 2 Sprint Triathlons (Lincoln Park, Iron Girl Sandy Hook), 1 Olympic Triathlon (NYC), a half marathon (Buffalo) and a marathon (Atlantic City).

I don’t expect to win any of these. In fact, I don’t expect to be above the middle of my age group, unless a miracle happens. However, I am shooting for a PR in all of them and, of course, to enjoy myself.

I’m not sure whether my inability to win in sports is a matter of simple genetics or deeply seated psychological issues which prevent me from truly giving it my all. But, I have never been able to push past being in the middle of the pack. It has taken me a long time to be “okay” with that, but I am. I don't really need to win to enjoy competing. I have often wondered whether I simply have a low pain tolerance, whether I lack discipline or whether it is just that I simply can’t imagine myself winning and don’t train for that task. I’m not sure I’ll ever really know the answer.

However, it is easy to feel inadequate if you compete. Part of the reason is that, in competition, there are winners and losers and if you are not the winner, then by definition you are ones of the losers. Often times, fellow loud-mouthed competitors don’t seem to want to let you forget this. They say things like “real runners do (such and such)” and imply that if you are simply out to have fun or run a PR, you’re not a “real” athlete. If you compete, you can sometimes feel judged for not winning or not at least “trying” to win. If you are a back of the packer you may even get treated like a second class citizen.

This is totally crazy, when you think about it, since most people aren't going to win in any given race and most people aren't even in the top ten of larger races. Except for a handful of people, most of us are “losers”. So why does a dickish minority get to decide how we race? If you see someone talking smack like this, feel free to tell them to shut up.

This negative attitude which creeps into competitive sports might have you saying “Why race at all if not to win? Why even compete?” Sure, you can still exercise and not compete and just find a way to push yourself every day. While I admire people who can do this, I am not one of them. I find a certain joy in seeing how I measure up against my peers, to seeing how much further I can go, if I really push it hard. Competition forces me out of my comfort zone. It gives me an end goal and a measuring stick to see if I've been successful at meeting that goal. Just because I am not the fastest, doesn't mean I can't be faster than I am!

On the other end of the spectrum are the people who say “You are lapping everyone on the couch!” This annoys me also. While not mean spirited, it is insulting to compare an athlete who trains hard and competes regularly to a person who does nothing. I don’t want to beat a non-athlete. That’s pretty easy to do. I want to be the best me I can be. I want to push my body to go as far as it can, to be as fit as I can be without taking it too far. When I enter a race and get my results, I wonder if it is possible to climb higher next time. I am not competing against the people on the couch, I am competing against the people I raced against. I want to continually improve.

So, what should you say to an athlete after a race or competition? For me, the top questions would be “How did it go?” “Did you meet your goals?” “Is there anything you felt you could improve upon?” “What did you learn from this experience?” and “Did you have fun?”

Whether you are competitive or not is a matter of personal preference and no other person’s opinion should stop you from being active. But if you are competitive, you shouldn't let not being number one stop you from competing! The fun truly is in competing against yourself.