Hinson Lake 24 Hour Ultra Classic . . . one of the premier 24 hour races in America!
Goal achieved! Guess I finished 35-36 miles . . . actually forgot to check!! Doesn't matter . . . I was well above 26.2 and that is what I wanted! Guess I "got my card back!"
If you were one of the 10 or so people that read my last blog, you know I had planned to walk at Hinson to see how my toe would do with no running. At about mile 8 or so my toe REALLY started complaining. So I went to see Denise Martin . . . our ultra masseuse to see if she could help . . . and help she did! I was able to continue on. The pain was significant but managable. I had walked everything up until this point and continued walking only.
Mentally . . . I sort of gave up. Honestly I just wanted to get to a marathon distance. When I did . . . I quit. It was probably about 9 pm and I decided to go to bed. But honestly, something strange was happening . . . my toe was hurting LESS not MORE! But I was so far behind I just quit.I actually couldn't sleep much and finally about 4:15 am I decided to get up and go do a lap or two. And oddly, my toe was still not all that bad! In fact, it was actually pretty good! I even did some running! Not much . . . I was still being very careful! But the toe was doing great!
And I was thinking and asking myself why I had quit at 9pm. I could have kept going. Easy. I wasn't really sleepy. I wasn't hurting. I was a little tired. But I knew my toe was actually improving! And I still quit! And if I had just kept going I could easily have finished 50 miles. Damn.
But the next morning I did turn some good laps and ended on a positive note . . . running the banana lap to Mt Hinson! Wooo Hoo! Pretty lame I know, but it made me fell better doing it.
These 24 hour races are just so mental!!! Physically hard to a degree but the real challenge is the mental challenges you are faced with. I've won some in the past and this time I lost the mental challenge.
But oddly I'm actually pretty excited that I folded!! I know . . . you're thinking "what the fuck?"
Well, I had planned Hinson as only a test run . . . my first race since surgery. Just a little test. And I did okay! Not great . . . especially mentally . . . but my toe held up!! My focus race this year is the Croatan 24 in November.
I had pledges of over $3,000 for the miles I would run at the Virginia 24 to benefit the American Cancer Society. But I had my accident the week before and most of the people who pledged to help me agreed to defer until the Croatan 24 race this November!! Awesome!
So I still have training time. And more healing time. And now I have a "bee in my bonnet" about my mental collapse at Hinson! The chances of me wimping out twice in a row . . . not good! I'll be ready. Physically AND mentally.
The folks pledging "per mile" better hold on to their checkbooks!!! I'm going to cost them some money!!!
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