Hospital Hill Recap

Or should I call it Hot-spital Hill? *rimshot*.  On what promised to be a challenging course with tough conditions, nobody went home thinking that the run could have been more difficult.  In fact, I would wager that most people will not run a race as difficult as this one in a very long time, especially for a race in the beginning of June.  But enough small talk, let's look at the tape.

Ever since I switched from second to third shift at work, I have had great difficulty sleeping on nights that I do not work, because I'm seriously in the mode of staying up all night and sleeping all day.  Unfortunately, this trend continued on Friday night before the race.  I literally got no sleep, and it wasn't because I was anxious for the race.  It had everything to do with the fact that I no longer sleep on a normal schedule.  That has certainly been an unwelcome change, by the way.  I love sleeping, so not getting any of it does not suit me very well.  Anyways, I've had rough nights before races in the past, so this was nothing new to me, but not getting any sleep at all was certainly frustrating.  Knowing I was going to need all my energy to get through this race, this was not a good start. 

After breakfast, we headed down to the start line to get in a warm up and hang out.  Nothing like leaving at 530 AM and the temperature was already at 80 degrees, with the typical Kansas humidity of 140%, or something close to it.  By the time I had finished warming up and stretching, I was already in a full sweat.  And the sun had not even come out yet!  This was going to be ugly.  I lined up with the 1:50 pace group, a suitable pace group for me, and awaited the starting gun.  And we were off!

The first two miles were nothing too difficult.  Started off towards the Sprint Center in downtown KC and circled around the Kansas City Star building, which proved that there are still newspapers being published somewhere.  By the second mile, we hit our first hill, the famed Hospital Hill.  It was not too bad, and I was still with my pace group, so everything was good.  Thing continued fine after that first hill.  Stopped and took in plenty of water at the aid stations, as the sun was now out and starting to bake the competitors.  At about mile five, we were up to the UMKC campus.  Ouch.  This was a particular brutal hill, and right about the time when my pace group was gone from my sight.  This hill had a steep rise and continue for what seemed like miles, when it probably was just under a half of a mile.  My legs were on fire by the time we got to the top, but I was rewarded with more water and a nice mile of downhill running.  We made the turn to start heading back to the start line at around mile seven.  Thankfully, they had some sprinklers set up to run through, and some nice spectators were handing out ice and spraying down people from their yards.  That was terrific, but I knew I was running out of gas. 

By the time mile eight came up, I resigned to the fact that I was not going to hit my pace goal, and that I just needed to finish the race, because I was sweating more than I ever had in my life, it was very hot, and now were were running in place that, despite being downhill for more than two miles, was devoid of any sort of shading.  At this point, I was being passed left and right, but I really didn't care.  Between the sleep issue and now the sweltering heat, I was just looking to cross the finish line, collect my medal, and then drink as much water as I could find.  Mile 10 is typically where it gets the most difficult, in my opinion, and this run was no different.  By the time we hit the Plaza, I was barely pulling in a 10 minute mile pace.  The Broadway Hill at this point on the course was all that was left from a nice easy finish, except that it was a hill of more than a mile in length.  Just a killer course layout, but they don't call it Hospital Hill for nothing.  Finally, the end was in site.  I was double fisting water and Gatorade throughout the last 5 miles, so I wasn't worried about being too dehydrated or anything, and my slower pace had given me just enough energy to push myself a little bit harder to make sure I finished under 2 hours, which became the goal after mile eight.  By the time I came back down into Crown Center and crossed the finish line, I could barely move.  I must not be in as good of shape as I thought, because again, I was getting passed left and right down the homestretch because I just could not move my legs any faster.  Props to those people, for sure.  I grabbed my ice cold, soaking wet towel and covered my head and face as fast as I could.  Sweet relief.  I picked up my medal, multiple bottles of water, frozen fruit bar, banana, and made my way out to where I could stretch out.  It was finally over.

Truth be told, this was hands down the most difficult physical activity I can ever remember doing.  My legs are still feeling it today, naturally, and I found myself asking why I do these things to myself.  I missed my goal by more than 8 minutes, I sweated

Hospital Hill is Here

Sorry for the alliteration, but it is time to race again.  Hospital Hill came upon us faster than I could imagine.  But lo and behold, the race is tomorrow.  I won't lie.  I'm lacking in confidence for this race.  I don't know why, but the hills have me worried.  Even though I have been practicing hills for months now, and I ran basically this same course in October for the KC Half, I find myself stressing about hitting my time goal, which really shouldn't be what the run is about.  It should be about having fun, and enjoying the hard work that went into preparing for this race.  I also think that since I feel about 3 minutes short of my goal in Abilene, that I have that stuck in the back of my head.  This race will have pace groups, though, and I feel that will be a major advantage.  Trying to pace myself, with my lack of experience, led to me flying out of the gates in Abilene, only to drag it home well behind my goals.  There should be no such problems this time around.  I have been practicing patience on my long runs, as well as on my pace runs for the past two months, so I don't think I'll be firing on all cylinders to start the race this time. 

This race will bring an end to another training cycle, one that started all the way back in the middle of January.  Hard to believe that just 14 months ago, I had not even laced up the running shoes, and now I'm thinking about why I missed running a half marathon in under 1 hour and 50 minutes!  I've pretty much ran the spectrum of race distances this time around, save for a full marathon.  I'm looking to go out with a flourish, and taking on the oldest road race in Kansas City and setting another PR would be a tremendous way to finish this cycle.  Also, I'm looking forward to a 7 week break from training logs and speed drills.  My body needs to recover, as you know that I am very fragile and seem to hurt easily.

The things I'm looking forward to the most this weekend include getting flip flops for finishing the race, eating at The Brick, and hammering down that ice cold Michelob Ultra after hitting the finish line.  HH is doing a unique thing starting this year, where they will be giving to the Half Marathon finishers a piece of a three part medal that will be handed out to finishers over the next three races.  Talk about crafty.  Now we all have to sign up for the next two races to complete the medal.  Also, US Soccer is taking on World Cup Champion Spain, but that doesn't really relate to the race.  Doesn't mean I'm not pumped about it, though.  Sparks and I are going to be hitting up the starting area around 545 to get a good parking space and just chill until race time.  Should be a rocking event.  Until next time...later.