Something's wrong

You know that your race just isn't going well when you are forced to slow down because of dry heaves.

This was the case for me at the 6.5k mark of the Pioneer 8k. At least it wasn't ruining a good race. I started the race feeling a little off (I thought this might just be normal race nerves... I guess not), and still a little stiff from running earlier in the week. My first km was a little fast (3:09) and I had to bring my HR down from just over 190, but it did not come down very far. I told myself that it was just a short race and having a HR in the mid 180s was not a bad thing. Unfortunately the same thing had happened last year, and had caused me to have a second half that was more than a minute slower than my first half.

I thought that I was in better shape this year, but I blew up worse than I did last year. The time didn't show it, but I certainly felt it. And for the last 4 km I was running with people that are normally minutes behind me.

The only saving grace of this race was that out of nowhere I found enough energy to have a sprint to the line.

Time 29:44

I think the following pictures do a good job of showing how I was feeling durring the race.