Saturday, April 25, 2009

The Run Before the Race



I ran the Pike's Peek course this morning. Not that I don't know where to go (it is a straight shot that ends outside my house) but I did want to see the entire course and visualize tomorrow. I woke up early after going to bed early, which was good since it got up to 91 degrees today here. I shuffled jogged to the metro but didn't have enough money on my card to get on. I ran back to my apartment, grabbed my credit card but on my way back to the metro encountered a snapping turtle stuck on the bridge outside. He was sorta trapped underneath the railing and was trying to get into the water. I found a couple of sticks and dragged the terrapin over the concrete bridge making sure I was always out of "snap reach" (growing up I heard horror stories/urban legends about kids losing digits to these beaked beasts). The turtle snapped a few times and even showed me his pearly whites (which weren't white at all, but rather a dark murky green). Eventually I dragged him back to the edge of the bridge where he had more room to climb under the railing. He tumbled into the dark water, but I swear before doing so he waved to say thanks...or so it seemed. Eventually I got to Shady Grove via metro and ran back south along Rockville Pike to my house.

Yesterday/last night I caught a small bug/sore throat and I woke up tired and achy. I felt sluggish after the run and took a 4 hour(!) nap in the afternoon. I am trying to rally through it. I've been drinking water and Gatorade all day and even downed a protein-enriched Smoothie King. After the nap I felt much better. Rally, rally, rally!

So long as I don't feel worse than I do now, the plan tomorrow is to go out hard and push the envelope. I found some spots today on my pre-race run as to where I should try and surge and press the pace. I am hoping to be under 25 mins at 5 miles and sneak under the 31 minute barrier; another "lifetime goal". That means running 4:59 miles.
(Photo - Pike's Peek 2007)

2 comments:

RM said...

To bust your balls, since I am a proud "Terrapin":

Any of various North American aquatic turtles of the family Emydiolae, especially the genus Malaclemys, which includes the diamondback terrapin

So I don't think a terrapin is a qualified synonym for a snapping turtle.

Haha.

KLIM said...

You are correct. Damn you.