When visitors enter the US at immigration the border patrol asks them what the purpose of their visit to the United States is. Mine was clearly the Chicago Lakefront 50/50 all else was just secondary stuff -this is why I made the trip. Well, to make a long story short because I'm sick of ppl asking, this is also why I NEVER SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN ON THE BLOODY PLANE! In short, I get ONE TRIP per yr-I'm far from some rich brat that can afford random frequent pond crossings at my own expense and disposal. If I make a pond crossing, there is a damn good reason and if it's for a race as it almost always is, it's to do a DAMN GOOD JOB TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY.
Well lesson learned- NEVER FOLLOW THE LEADER BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW WHERE HE IS GOING! Nice, some 15 k into the race I caught up with some of the top guys. I ran for a bit with them and asked if they were doing 50k or 50miles. It turned out we were all doing 50k. I had decided to do the 50k because my recovery was really good post 100k and even the marathon didn't kill my speed much. I figured I could put down another sub 4 performance. So I ran with the guy group for a while all the time seeing runners coming from the opposite direction from the turnaround-50milers who had started 2 hours ahead of us and were already making their rounds. After a bit, my guy group dropped back and I spent most of the rest of the day catching up with and or lapping 50milers and 50kers. The course was 3 loops. So, all day, I saw "traffic" other runners coming in the opposite direction and or I was passing someone along the way(lapping or passing ). So I kicked in the finish in 3:58 for the win.
A while later the organizer who has known me since I was a high school brat said he thought a groupof lead runners had inadvertently cut what ended up being about 100m in the first lap. Did I have a clue that there was ANY screw up-NO because all day I had seen 2 way traffic with other runners never more than 50-100meters from sight. So, if there was a screw up in that spot we were not the only ones, it just got noticed because we were one of the lead packs. There was only 1 more group in front of us. The issue in question did not come up til the end of the race of course or I would have just dropped out earlier and saved my legs for smthg else in 2-4 weeks. Had it come up sooner it would have been easy to remedy the situation by telling us to add the small loop we had missed in the 2nd or 3rd lap-do it twice(sort of like what happened when we all got screwed up at the Worlds in Gibraltar last yr). It's not the race director's fault-he said the issue did not come up til after the race.
So, to be fair if indeed our group did screw up, I offered to give up first place and settle for second. Third woman was several minutes back and our screw up would not have affected the outcome there nor would it have affected the men's finish. The second woman was about 2 min back,but truth be known had I WALKED that 100 meters, it still would have been a sub 4 for me. I deliberately slowed down in the first loop to run even and save myself for a negative split in the 2nd half. That's how I race and have some of my best races- Igo out reasonable and pick it up.
When I race, I get very focused. If I settle in right behind someone I absolutely zone and just focus on sitting on that person-it makes life easier when someone paces you. By the way, Leonid paced me in on the final loop which allowed me to cruise the final 8k at about 4.30km pace. I focus and just shut everything out-even pain which is sometimes a good thing to be able to shut out. How we missed the turn I don't know there were markings on the pavement but not signs and arrows on the turns. I was looking ahead at the guy in front of me that's all I could figure had happened. Disgusted and embarrassed is an understatement for how I feel about the whole situation.Embarrassing as hell-yeah because it happened in a place where everyone knows and remembers me from the running club and my racing even though I have been gone for over 15 yrs. It's just one of those major shit happens things where I got the complete shitty end of the stick. Not a fun way to end a season. I'm off to just stick my head in the sand for the winter now.
Well lesson learned- NEVER FOLLOW THE LEADER BECAUSE HE DOES NOT KNOW WHERE HE IS GOING! Nice, some 15 k into the race I caught up with some of the top guys. I ran for a bit with them and asked if they were doing 50k or 50miles. It turned out we were all doing 50k. I had decided to do the 50k because my recovery was really good post 100k and even the marathon didn't kill my speed much. I figured I could put down another sub 4 performance. So I ran with the guy group for a while all the time seeing runners coming from the opposite direction from the turnaround-50milers who had started 2 hours ahead of us and were already making their rounds. After a bit, my guy group dropped back and I spent most of the rest of the day catching up with and or lapping 50milers and 50kers. The course was 3 loops. So, all day, I saw "traffic" other runners coming in the opposite direction and or I was passing someone along the way(lapping or passing ). So I kicked in the finish in 3:58 for the win.
A while later the organizer who has known me since I was a high school brat said he thought a groupof lead runners had inadvertently cut what ended up being about 100m in the first lap. Did I have a clue that there was ANY screw up-NO because all day I had seen 2 way traffic with other runners never more than 50-100meters from sight. So, if there was a screw up in that spot we were not the only ones, it just got noticed because we were one of the lead packs. There was only 1 more group in front of us. The issue in question did not come up til the end of the race of course or I would have just dropped out earlier and saved my legs for smthg else in 2-4 weeks. Had it come up sooner it would have been easy to remedy the situation by telling us to add the small loop we had missed in the 2nd or 3rd lap-do it twice(sort of like what happened when we all got screwed up at the Worlds in Gibraltar last yr). It's not the race director's fault-he said the issue did not come up til after the race.
So, to be fair if indeed our group did screw up, I offered to give up first place and settle for second. Third woman was several minutes back and our screw up would not have affected the outcome there nor would it have affected the men's finish. The second woman was about 2 min back,but truth be known had I WALKED that 100 meters, it still would have been a sub 4 for me. I deliberately slowed down in the first loop to run even and save myself for a negative split in the 2nd half. That's how I race and have some of my best races- Igo out reasonable and pick it up.
When I race, I get very focused. If I settle in right behind someone I absolutely zone and just focus on sitting on that person-it makes life easier when someone paces you. By the way, Leonid paced me in on the final loop which allowed me to cruise the final 8k at about 4.30km pace. I focus and just shut everything out-even pain which is sometimes a good thing to be able to shut out. How we missed the turn I don't know there were markings on the pavement but not signs and arrows on the turns. I was looking ahead at the guy in front of me that's all I could figure had happened. Disgusted and embarrassed is an understatement for how I feel about the whole situation.Embarrassing as hell-yeah because it happened in a place where everyone knows and remembers me from the running club and my racing even though I have been gone for over 15 yrs. It's just one of those major shit happens things where I got the complete shitty end of the stick. Not a fun way to end a season. I'm off to just stick my head in the sand for the winter now.
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