Just do it

4 mile mp tempo then 5x1 min on and off. Pace for tempo was 640.

Interesting race to say the least. Ran a mile to get there and watched the ceremony. Race started afterward. Plan was to stop us at 746 to observe a moment of silence. Started the race petty dang fast thanks to a young man in a blue shirt. My next friend had a watch that beeped every ten seconds. 

First two miles were right on pace at 5:27 and then we hit a lot of uphill. I fell way off pace but was able to make up some of it. Overall pace was 532. The race was actually 3.3 so it was almost a quarter mile over. I was dead but happy with it. Rebecca was the first lady. Leave it to her to make all base personnel question their life choices. 

Nice easy recovery run after yesterday. 

3 Mile tempo 639, 635, 637

Well I figure I couldn't avoid this race report forever.  Needless to say, this was not one of my best days.  Rebecca and I had been looking forward to this race after much hard training.  Unfortunately the conditions were not great.  When we left the house that morning, the weather felt slightly warm and humid.  Not a good sign if you are feeling comfortable in your race clothes prior to the start.  

Upon getting there we went and checked out the MAJCOM challenge tent and then went to the bathroom a couple of times.  The starting corral was massive which made it nice.  We were able to move right toward the front of the line.  It was awesome to watch the national anthem was played and everyone there was completely silent.  Definitely different from what you see at any other race.  Following that we saw an awesome flyover from a U-2.  After it passed over, it punched it a climbed straight up.  Definitely a good start.

I went out feeling pretty good and was on a 640 pace for the first 14 or so miles.  After I hit the half, I started to feel fatigued and got a bit worried.  I also began to feel a cramp in my side which remained for a couple of miles.  I began to fall off pace and completely hit the wall around 16-18.  At this point I just didn't care anymore about my time and only wanted to finish.  The headwind we hit around the outside of the airfield did not help matters.  I did my best to keep running in between aid stations but I wasn't able to make it a couple of times.  During the last 5 miles there were some hills that seemed massive.  I hit a 9:30 pace on those unfortunately.  The finish consisted of a long lap around a field where you could see the finish stretch the whole time.  It was prety horrible.  I saw my wife being escorted to the med tent so that concerned me.  I found that she had basically fainted as she crossed the finish line.  She did good work considering the conditions.  I was proud of her.

I crossed the finish line and my legs were destroyed.  I was unhappy with my time but relieved that it was over. It seemed that everyone struggled with the conditions as the winner ran a 2:47.  I think my issues were a combinations of humidity, headwind, dehydration and going out to fast. 

We did have a great experience as we stayed with some friends from my work who were doing the half marathon.  It was fun to share the experience with all of them.  

My watch decided to malfunction so I lost my splits.  These are from the results:

10K - 41:34

Half - 1:27:51

35K - 2:31:35

This race was hilarious.  It seemed that the organizers had never run a race in their lives and they just thought it would be a good idea to put one on.  First off it started super early while it was still dark.  No idea why.  I went out for a warm up to see how my legs would feel.  After a half mile I could feel some burning in the legs.  They were definitely not recovered from the race.  

The race started with a safety brief that told us about the course.  There were two different courses.  One was for walkers and one for the 5k.  That also didn't really make sense to me.  I still took a wrong turn at the beginning and had to turn around.  After that I was in front and didn't turn when I was supposed to.  I went for about a tenth of a mile when I looked back and realized that there was no one behind me. I turned around and saw a truck at the turn with a lady directing everyone that had been behind me.  I said, "So the course isn't marked then?"  To which she responded, "It is.  You just went the wrong way."  Definitely the quote of the week.  Come to find out, this lady was attempting to direct the entire course from her truck.  She would drive ahead and point the right direction.  This was very effective.

After about 2 miles, I came to an aid station with a lady sitting down.  I asked her if I was supposed to make the turn or keep going straight to which she responded that she didn't know.  Another genius.  I decided to turn which was a good decision.  I then ran back up the hill toward where we came from.  I saw another woman who had been directing on the way out and I asked if I we just were supposed to go back the way we came to which she responded, "I don't know!  I wasn't briefed on the last half!"  Good thing you're a course director!  The next director said that I was going the right way so that was encouraging.  The race ended up being like 3.4.  Half the runners finished from one direction and the other half finished from the other.  

Definitely best race of the year XLer of the week quality.  I can't complain since it was free but I will say that if you're going to put on a 5K, at least talk to some people who know a little bit about races so it isn't a complete disaster.  Needless to say it was a good memory.  Rebecca came walking toward the start line afterward with Naomi who had decided to sleep in.  I decided that I was done running for the day. My legs were quite sore.

Just found out that I got into the St. George marathon so I figured it would be a good idea to get a small tempo run in.  Definitely did not feel great.  My legs felt heavy and I was feeling a little uneasy about running my goal at the marathon.