Andy Roberts - Gulf Winds 30k - Not my best race ever. But I saved a deer.

At the time I thought I had a bad race at the 30k last year. The thing is I was in great shape so even a bad race produced decent finish time. Last year I had calf trouble and from mile 10 to 15 I mixed walking and running to let off the pressure on my calf. I was so fit that I was still running quite well when I did run.

This year is different. My fitness is at best so-so and I knew I would not light up the course at the race. My goal was to run some miles at 7:30 and Some at 8:00 and finish with an average time of about 7:45. Not exactly how things turned out. This course is really hilly and I don't know if you can prepare for this race any other way but to run on the course. I did not do that, no opportunity. My run last weekend was quite hilly so I thought I would be ok. I also just planned on this being a training run so I did not taper at all for the race. Finally it was 24 degrees this morning. When I finished I had Ice on my clothes. That is 2 1/2 hours warmer than the start I still had Ice on me.

I ran well on the way out but the hills took their toll eventually I just could not run uphill at all. By 12 I was tired by 16 I was cooked. Mile 16 took over 11 minutes and I was not sure I would be able to run at all the rest of the way. Finally I hit some flatter terain and was able to get moving. My aches and pains dulled for the last couple miles and I finished up running. 2:31:??

1 - 7:45
2 - 7:40
3 - 7:34
4 - 7:38
5 - 7:35
6,7 - 15:49 (probably a 7:40 and an 8:09 there was a water stop here) and this is the really hilly part
8 - 7:52
9 - 7:50
10 - 8:33
11 - 7:43
12 - 7:57
13 - 8:11
14 - 8:46 Walked some
15 - 8:16
16 - 7:45
17 - 11:21 --- Boom Stick a fork in me
18 - 8:11 - Things flattened out
.6 - 5:13

The story of the day was that as we were going I saw a deer stuck in a fence hanging from his leg. 3 of us went over and I bear hugged the deer and lifted him up while another guy got the leg free. Unfortunately when I set the deer down it was obvious that the leg was in a bad way. I hoped he would run off but he just layed there. At that point there was nothing else I could do so I continued on. The deer was gone when I got back so somebody had done something with it because I assure you it did not walk away.

So I will see how I feel tomorrow after this run and start assessing if I should attempt the Tallahassee marathon in 2 weeks or just rest up.