Sting, Pneumonia, Work and 3-Race week!

I rarely ever enter a race series. My schedule just doesn’t allow it. However, I really wanted to give the 3 Rivers Road Runners series a try this year. I’m a club member of the Tri-Cities running club, which had a few races that I’ve never done. My resulting battles with Ryan Brown have been my toughest this year. The next to last race was the Aquaman. It’s a 2-mile run, half mile swim and 3-mile run. Although I’m faster on the bike than I ever have been, he can still put plenty of time on me, so it was nice to have a race without a bike leg. I’ve done several training sessions to get ready for the fright of a hard run followed by swimming instead of collapsing and sucking wind.

Things got pretty interesting starting with my sting on Sunday. Just when I was at my best fitness ever, I had to reconsider my approach to the race. That little sting brought about a significant allergic reaction, which weakened my immune system. That left me primed for illness and I managed to catch a wonderful disease called pneumonia. Fortunately, my body is where pneumonia goes to die. Unfortunately, pneumonia doesn’t disappear over night. Also unfortunate is my warrior spirit. If I were born ages ago, I would have been a gladiator. Despite a monster head ache, terrible chills, a mild temperature and bloody mucus covering my lungs, I managed to survive a very easy training week and 41 hours of work.

I had been doing all I could to get myself ready to compete during a time when moving at all feels completely terrible. I was still suffering terrible chest pain from the sting. It felt a bit like my chest was beaten thoroughly with a meat tenderizer from the inside. I didn’t complain and am not doing so now, but details tell the story. Rather than sleeping in, I actually had a Friday morning race at Fairchild. It was the Commander’s Challenge. Each squadron sends five runners and I couldn’t let my team down. Although this particular course had been raced a few times, I have never competed on it, so I brought the GPS. Prior to the race start, some guy and gal were talking up a storm about how he was going to win. They were saying that anything other than first was last and if you’re last, then you’re a loser. Now I don’t mind some good pre-race humor. If it was someone who was clearly out of shape and unable to win, then it would have been fun. I may have misunderstood, but I wasn’t the only one and he looked to be in good shape and seemed serious. It appeared that all who heard it were pretty turned off.

When it comes to racing, I’m fierce, but I respect everyone who comes out. Some people aren’t as fit as others and require a bit of personal bravery to toe the line. They don’t need to start a race thinking the guy who will win thinks they’re losers. He was the loser and I wouldn’t have any more of it. In a raspy voice, broken with coughs, I said “218 (his number). If you simply ran without all the talking and won or came close, then it would be respected. On the other hand, you just hung a giant arrow over your head pointing to a big target on your back. It’s going to be embarrassing to lose after all that talking, especially since it’s going to be to a guy with pneumonia.” I really try to avoid talking to anyone like that, but someone needed to end his show. There were some “oooohs and aaaahhs” and some quiet cheers for shutting him down. Long story short, I hung behind him and another runner to mark their moves for .75 miles, then picked it up to 5:24 pace and pulled well ahead. Although it wasn’t a good one, it was still a course record. Seeing 218 come in 3rd was better than winning.

Following the race, I went home and took a 3-hour nap before final preparations for the 6PM Aquaman. Knowing I couldn’t rely on my fitness as much, I had to exploit every advantage I could find. I brought my fastest racing flats, shaved my arms, legs, face and even my head with a razor! It was hot, so I was very well hydrated and got there early to warm up and be fully ready. When we finally got under way, the pace was brisk. I have to admit that I was a bit distressed to be struggling to hang on. Ryan was in front of me, which was a bad sign. It was 102 degrees and my mouth was almost completely dry in under 2 minutes. It got so bad that I wiped my forehead to lick my hand for moisture. We hit the turn (with a water station) shortly after I had gapped all but one runner. It was some guy from BYU. I tried to stay with him, but he was way too fast and ran the 2.08M about 30 seconds faster than I did. I hoped to average between 5:30 and 5:40, but came in at 5:18. I can run faster than that, but pacing is really important for overall time and I was certain to pay.

Transition went poorly as I couldn’t get my shoes off very well. When I was finally ready to swim, I zipped to the water with Ryan still out running. Some guy jumped in front of me and blocked me from swimming because I didn’t have a swim cap on. It’s pretty tough to explain the bee sting to pneumonia from a weakened immune system and possible hypersensitivity to things like latex on a freshly shaved head while sucking wind and trying to escape Ryan and catch another guy. Without that kind of conversation time, I simply said I was allergic to latex, but he persisted in blocking me after a couple more passive attempts to get past. Ryan’s an awesome sport and would probably petition to give me some time back if it came down to him passing while I argued, but I didn’t want it to come to that, so I was done discussing it and was taking that guy swimming with me if he didn’t get out of my way. I drove him toward the water and he moved aside.

That swim was brutal. I did my best, but just couldn’t crank it up. Air is too important when swimming without a wetsuit, getting little air due to mucus in the lungs and the coughing didn’t help when trying to synchronize my breathing with the short time I had my mouth out of the water. I did what I could, but had hoped for so much more. I was so dry from the heat that I actually drank a little river water. Later I found out that nearly everyone did. I caught the leader about 2/3rd through. T2 went pretty quickly and I was out on the run. It was about then that I wished I hadn’t left my fuel belt in my car. Who would think it would be needed in a race that short!

On the second run, I basically cleared a path completely scattered with people, strollers, carts, bikes, kids lying down, etc. It was madness. It slowed me down a fair amount, but was pretty fun dodging back and forth. Mr. BYU used the clear path to catch me after about 1K and congratulated me on my swim and encouraged me to come with him. It took only a short distance for him to put a huge gap on me as I struggled mightily to hold any sort of speed. I needed time on Ryan to get a lead in the series, but he was catching me for about a mile. At the turn, I had 43 seconds and pushed even harder on the way back. I’m not sure I went any faster, but I tried. BYU destroyed me with sub 5:20 miles to my 6:08 average on the 3.15M second run and Ryan managed to hold that 43 seconds. I was impressed ... with them. My 2nd run was pretty terrible for me, but I was pleased with my effort, which is what counts the most with me.

It was a lot of fun to go out there and do battle on a hot summer day. That was a lot better than staying in bed. Honestly, I feel better when I get up and move around a bit when sick. Racing twice in one day is definitely over the top, but I couldn’t skip either due to an obligation and an annual goal. Although it was nice for BYU to say things would have been different had I not been hacking up a lung, it wasn’t necessary. I show up to a race and do the best I can on that day. Only I’m responsible for my health. If I get 2nd, then I’ll live with it. If we all raced perfect races every time, then we wouldn’t need to race because we’d know how it would turn out. Although the goal is to win, it’s pretty cool to see someone outrace me like that. I’m happy for him and inspired to do better next time. The next day I was sore, but didn’t feel quite as ill. There was a race I wanted to do on Sunday (The Ultimate Runner), but being sick and not having a good reason, I chose to sleep in like the more sensible people do.