The idea of racing this wasn't so bad, but the execution of the idea was MEH! After staying up until 2am and having a very enjoyable and silly night dancing and drinking wine, I woke up at 6am and was in no shape to race. But it was a Sunday, and my chances of getting in a good long run were poor, so I figured I'd go run the race and hopefully sweat out some of the wine.
After arriving, I jogged over to the registration tent at 7:50, ten minutes before the 8am deadline listed on the race website, and I was surprisingly met with hostility. I've run a lot of races, and never been turned away at the registration table. Here I was, ten minutes early, and I was being told, "sorry, but you should've registered online. No more numbers, that's it. You should've arrived earlier." I couldn't help but say, "it's 7:50, isn't that earlier than the 8am deadline you have listed on the website?" The angry woman responded incredulously, "You call that EARLY!?" I waited just a few minutes, contemplating my options, when someone showed up with more numbers that they "had to pay $1 for!!!"...oh my, now the charity only receives $29 of my $30 registration fee. THE HORROR! Anyways, I paid the stupid registration to the nasty volunteer with a nasty attitude, and continued my now truncated warm-up thanks to that nonsense.
My equilibrium was totally off kilter and I felt awful. I didn't have a massive headache though, so I figured I'd just do what I could. The race itself was very hilly, and I did a good portion of the leading heading into the turnaround at the halfway point. Unfortunately, I made a point to slow down and get some water since I was horribly dehydrated and my mouth was one giant ball of cotton. The eventual winner was clearly feeling good and he put in a huge surge to open up a big gap. He also employed the 'turn a corner and accelerate hard' strategy. Something I frequently like to use on courses with enough turns - nothing like knowing your competitor will see you opened up 10+ meters thanks to a short burst of speed that he/she couldn't see. Unfortunately, I was on the receiving end of said strategy.
In the end, I finished second...so...whatever. It was a bad race, but a good tempo and I was none the worse for wear the following day.
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