Greetings Readers
Pain. Let me re-visit “pain”. I told you readers that I desire pain.
I had a very rough night last night. I slept on my back and every time that I turned over on my side my thighs would wake me up. The pain. This happened about three times throughout the night.
Finally, I came awake with the morning sun shining against the northern wall of my living room. The sun was very bright. The other thing that was very bright was the pain in my thighs and I was just a bit tender in my calves.
As I told you readers I knew this morning was going to be difficult. Even more so since I elected to forgo any type of pain medication. I was, am, going to right this pain out. Let me tell you readers that I did sleep on the couch. And should any of you readers witnessed me this morning trying to get up off the couch you would have laughed your ass off. I tried, really tried, to just stand up. Nada. I could not even do this simple act of standing up from the couch. I had to bail on that option. Now, I was sitting in the middle of the couch so I decided I would use the sides of the couch to push up off from. Well I could not get to either side of the couch to this. I was too stiff to move over to the side of the couch. I tried twice and once more I had to bail on this option.
The last option, which is always the best option after a grueling run, was to roll off the couch. I rolled off the couch and fell onto my knees. In Nasmaste form, I would be doing the cat pose. The next part was the hardest – getting up onto my feet.
After 15 seconds or so there I was facing the couch on my feet and ready to take my first official steps of the day – to the bathroom. Ooh. I was stiff. You have to imagine me walking like Frankenstein to the bathroom. Thank goodness I did not have to take a dump. I might still be stuck on the “throne”
After that little trip to and from the bathroom I was starting to loosen up. Since I was starting to loosen up I decided to take a walk around my humble abode. I went to the kitchen, to the bedroom, outside the balcony and then back to the living room.
There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to do the Run the Republic today. With that in mind I decide to do my Sunday ritual. Getting dressed was a chore in itself. It was painful, but I was able to laugh and ooh when getting dressed.
And the rest is history.
Now, let me return to yesterday morning. I was not hung over, but I was not in the best physical form. Yet, I had decided to do the Snowman Stampede 10M/20M at Cherry Creek Reservoir.
As I arrived at Hobie Hill I saw a lot of people. More than I thought there would be. I signed up and had about 5 minutes to the start of the race. I elected to start at the back of the pack. I knew I was not going to be the fastest nor the way I was feeling I was going be steady.
The morning was nice – in a matter of speaking. Not really cold, a bit of a northerly wind, but the sun was shining ever so brightly. More importantly there was no snow falling and the temperature was not in the twenties.
I started out pretty good and feeling all right. I was keeping a good pace. Mile 9 - I was slowing down just a bit, but that could be everyone else was running faster since most of them probably picked the 10M run. As opposed to me who chose the 20M and had to maintain a pace that would keep me going and not get swept up by keeping pace with the 10M runners.
I was a bit sad that I reached the 10M-point and had another 10 miles to go. While everyone else was finishing up I had to keep running. I grabbed some more Gatorade, some chewy banana nut granola bar pieces and headed out for the final loop. 11, 12, 13 miles I was keeping a pretty lonely pace with basically no other runners around me. Then, that’s when the night’s drinking caught up to me – I hit the wall. I literally started to slow my pace down and eventually I started walking. I walked about 30 yards and then I knew I had to make myself start running again.
The next aid station was a relief. I grabbed some orange goo and more Gatorade and rested for about 5 minutes. I felt my strength coming back into my body and when that started to happen I knew I had to start running again. I had another lonely run down to the turn around point, which totaled about 2 ½ miles.
During those 2-½ miles, I saw many runners that passed me during before the 10-mile mark. I also some runners that I passed turn around early, before going to the turn around point. Fucking not fair, but I at least know that I ran the 20 miles as opposed to them.
I was slowly crumbling away physically, but mentally I still had the drive to keep running. Less than 3 miles to go and the end was in sight, which meant I was close to adding this event to my already impressive athletic resume.
The last two miles were the toughest. I was not even running, but I was running in a slow motion state. Or perhaps more to the point I was jogging lightly, shuffling myself to the finish line. I was at the very pack of the back, but never the less I was going to finish.
Un-officially I finished at 3:56:48. Not very good at all considering that I did the first 10 miles in 1:30:00. As you can tell the time difference on the second loop I was reduced to running on instinct. There is no shame at all I feel about my time. I know and you readers now know the story behind my performance
Pain. Let me re-visit “pain”. I told you readers that I desire pain.
I had a very rough night last night. I slept on my back and every time that I turned over on my side my thighs would wake me up. The pain. This happened about three times throughout the night.
Finally, I came awake with the morning sun shining against the northern wall of my living room. The sun was very bright. The other thing that was very bright was the pain in my thighs and I was just a bit tender in my calves.
As I told you readers I knew this morning was going to be difficult. Even more so since I elected to forgo any type of pain medication. I was, am, going to right this pain out. Let me tell you readers that I did sleep on the couch. And should any of you readers witnessed me this morning trying to get up off the couch you would have laughed your ass off. I tried, really tried, to just stand up. Nada. I could not even do this simple act of standing up from the couch. I had to bail on that option. Now, I was sitting in the middle of the couch so I decided I would use the sides of the couch to push up off from. Well I could not get to either side of the couch to this. I was too stiff to move over to the side of the couch. I tried twice and once more I had to bail on this option.
The last option, which is always the best option after a grueling run, was to roll off the couch. I rolled off the couch and fell onto my knees. In Nasmaste form, I would be doing the cat pose. The next part was the hardest – getting up onto my feet.
After 15 seconds or so there I was facing the couch on my feet and ready to take my first official steps of the day – to the bathroom. Ooh. I was stiff. You have to imagine me walking like Frankenstein to the bathroom. Thank goodness I did not have to take a dump. I might still be stuck on the “throne”
After that little trip to and from the bathroom I was starting to loosen up. Since I was starting to loosen up I decided to take a walk around my humble abode. I went to the kitchen, to the bedroom, outside the balcony and then back to the living room.
There was no way in hell that I was going to be able to do the Run the Republic today. With that in mind I decide to do my Sunday ritual. Getting dressed was a chore in itself. It was painful, but I was able to laugh and ooh when getting dressed.
And the rest is history.
Now, let me return to yesterday morning. I was not hung over, but I was not in the best physical form. Yet, I had decided to do the Snowman Stampede 10M/20M at Cherry Creek Reservoir.
As I arrived at Hobie Hill I saw a lot of people. More than I thought there would be. I signed up and had about 5 minutes to the start of the race. I elected to start at the back of the pack. I knew I was not going to be the fastest nor the way I was feeling I was going be steady.
The morning was nice – in a matter of speaking. Not really cold, a bit of a northerly wind, but the sun was shining ever so brightly. More importantly there was no snow falling and the temperature was not in the twenties.
I started out pretty good and feeling all right. I was keeping a good pace. Mile 9 - I was slowing down just a bit, but that could be everyone else was running faster since most of them probably picked the 10M run. As opposed to me who chose the 20M and had to maintain a pace that would keep me going and not get swept up by keeping pace with the 10M runners.
I was a bit sad that I reached the 10M-point and had another 10 miles to go. While everyone else was finishing up I had to keep running. I grabbed some more Gatorade, some chewy banana nut granola bar pieces and headed out for the final loop. 11, 12, 13 miles I was keeping a pretty lonely pace with basically no other runners around me. Then, that’s when the night’s drinking caught up to me – I hit the wall. I literally started to slow my pace down and eventually I started walking. I walked about 30 yards and then I knew I had to make myself start running again.
The next aid station was a relief. I grabbed some orange goo and more Gatorade and rested for about 5 minutes. I felt my strength coming back into my body and when that started to happen I knew I had to start running again. I had another lonely run down to the turn around point, which totaled about 2 ½ miles.
During those 2-½ miles, I saw many runners that passed me during before the 10-mile mark. I also some runners that I passed turn around early, before going to the turn around point. Fucking not fair, but I at least know that I ran the 20 miles as opposed to them.
I was slowly crumbling away physically, but mentally I still had the drive to keep running. Less than 3 miles to go and the end was in sight, which meant I was close to adding this event to my already impressive athletic resume.
The last two miles were the toughest. I was not even running, but I was running in a slow motion state. Or perhaps more to the point I was jogging lightly, shuffling myself to the finish line. I was at the very pack of the back, but never the less I was going to finish.
Un-officially I finished at 3:56:48. Not very good at all considering that I did the first 10 miles in 1:30:00. As you can tell the time difference on the second loop I was reduced to running on instinct. There is no shame at all I feel about my time. I know and you readers now know the story behind my performanceI have posted two pictures - The first one is the same shot and view that I have been taking for the past three weeks. But as you can see the sun is setting and therefore is making the picture is dark. So I had to turn around and get a decent picture of me after the Snowman Stampede.
Thinking about this more, I can make a separate Blog entry on the event. Oh, do you readers want to know the ride home after running the 20 miles?! It is a story in itself.
Oh, I almost forgot. My alarm goes off every morning at 5:05 AM. Ooh boy, I do not know how long the alarm was beeping this morning, but when I came out of my sleeping stupor I rolled off the couch and crawled on my hands and knees to the alarm clock. I then crawled back to the couch and immediately fell asleep. I remember this moment, but I do not remember how I actually felt. My mind knew that I needed to shut off that alarm no matter what.
Until the next time
Daryl Charley
The Fallen Athlete
The Fallen Athlete
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