Hey Mammoths. I hope you got to see the 11 Alive News program. I did not, at least not yet. I have gotten some email from folks who have and they said its really good. So hopefully a link will sprout up and I will be able to share that with you tomorrow or later this week.
The race my Mammoths was so awesome! There is nothing like running in a race with over 60,000 people! Just the huge amount of bodies moving in one direction was pretty stunning to behold! I encourage you all to try to do this race at least once in your life. If you are a bigger runner that is okay. This is a tough course but nothing you can't train for here in the Athens area. If you are able to do Boulevard then you have the Peachtree in the bag. The largest obstacle for me was the other people around. Even staying to the right I had difficulty because of the slowness of some and the speed of others. This is a race where you need to have a good deal of patience and know that you are not going to set a PR (unless you are in the seeded group but then you are racing for something totally different.)
My and the Mommoth's day started at 6:30 am. It was nice to get a little extra sleep because our start time was 9:05 am. So we got up and got our kit on.
We then headed out to our race position which was corral Y. Y is the last group to go and to be honest I liked that because it took a ton of pressure off of us and we could enjoy the race. I must say it is a race I did enjoy. I had two goals mini goals on this race. The first was to run down the middle of Peachtree Street and also drink a beer on the course. The beer thing is something I would never do in a real race but for the Peachtree what the heck.
The coolest part about the race was running into Mara and Jeff Snowden who were also in Y. Jeff and I made a little video. I do apologize to you mammoths but trying to video and do my Training Peaks app just wasn't in the cards. But here is the opening video.
The cool thing about talking to Jeff is that he is an experienced tri-athlete and he was still nervous about doing the 10k. I find it rather cool that people who do awesome and are in awesome shape still get nervous just like I do. Jeff and Mara were ready to go and so were we, well at least I thought I was until I looked at my leg.
So I bought some compression socks in the hopes that they would help my legs out. So I wore them but also brought along another pair of Balgas just in case something went wrong and boy did it ever! I looked down at my leg and around my ankle I had a pool of fluid that was overflowing my show. The Mommoth saw that and immediately made me take off my shoes and replace the socks. Boy am I glad she was there with me on that. As I put on my last sock the field begins to move and get into position to run.
The Mommoth snapped some photos of us moving down the road to the start. It took us twenty minutes to get to the start line but when we did we were off like a shot!
So we start and the first two miles go by like a breeze. For the first time in a long time its just me, Jackie, and the road. The Baby Mammoth was with the Grand-Mommoth so we were able to enjoy each other and the race. I really feel like this was one of those marriage bonding moments you hear about from others. I really feel so much closer to the Mommoth and I know that without her there was no way this Mammoth was going to make it. I told the Mommoth about my mini-goals and so she said she would help me out. So the first thing we did was run down the middle of Peachtree street and that was a big thrill. Then came the beer portion of the task list.
As we were running down the street she and I both heard, "Free keg stand for any runner!" I am a runner and that takes care of my beer goal. The Mommoth snapped this picture of Mammoth history!
Keg stand at Mile 3! Pretty awesome way to celebrate the Fourth. There was also a whole lot of photo opportunities. Here are two that the Mommoth got of me being a goofball.
So now we are cruising along and I am getting more and more dehydrated. Now normally I wear a CamelBak hydration system but I was assured there was plenty of water along the route. There was but there wasn't enough of a watering hole for this Mammoth. As we neared the finish line I started feeling woozy, nauseous, and light headed (classic signs of heat exhaustion.) I could see the finish line in front of me and Jackie told me to go on so she could get my picture. Below are some of the best pictures of me out there. Crossing the finish was one of the best things I have ever done.
Now it was on this field that I knew I was in trouble. I went and got my hot bottle of water, it was so gross but when you are dehydrated it doesn't matter. I slugged that down pretty quickly but it was not enough. The Mommoth gave me her water but it still didn't do the trick. I sat down on the grassy knoll and kept track of my heart rate, it would not go under 130. At that point I asked the Mommoth to get me some help and I was taken to the medical tent. There I was treated for heat exhaustion. The gave me a ton of water to drink, powerade, and placed wet, ice soaked towels around me. Here is a picture of an unhappy Mammoth who is just really, really hot!
In the end though I was treated and released. The Mommoth, Grand-Mommoth, Baby Mammoth, and I went back to the hotel and began our trip home. It was a great day mammoths! I feel like I really accomplished something and I have the t-shirt to prove it. Michael Williams always says that you learn something from each race and I learned an important lesson. No matter what I must, must, must keep that CamelBak on at all times when I am doing anything over three miles. It was a hard lesson to learn but one I needed to learn to be better for the next race.
Well my mammoths I am off to bed. Looking forward to a long run of 8 miles on Saturday. I hope to see you out on the range, stick close to a good watering hole because its hot, and as always mind what you are grazing on.
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