QC Distance Classic Race Review

Getting ready to write up my race review of my first Triathlon I remembered I completely neglected to write a race review of the QC Distance Classic, so here goes.

Race started off pretty well, I was running with a buddy from LU, Jay G. who had a pretty similar time goal. The first mile was pretty quick and a little deceiving since it is a gradual downhill slope. Mile 2 starts with the only uphill section and I felt pretty good chugging up hill, for some reason I like running uphill. At this point Aaron M. and Chad U. caught up and passed us, I knew they both had more aggressive goals for this race so I was happy to follow them for awhile and hopefully pick up some time on my goal. This may have been a mistake, somewhere around mile 3 when we were hitting 7:45 pace and Aaron, Chad and now Jay were all pulling away from me I realized I was not going to be able to hold that pace for another 10 miles and I had to make a decision to just let them go. Luckily for me at this point in the race there was a lone port-a-john and even though I didn't "need" to go I decided to stop anyway, that would allow the other 3 to move far enough a head that I wouldn't see them anymore and I could just run my own race. As I was diving into the port-a-john I heard someone yell out "No Josiah, don't stop" I didn't realize it was Nick and Katie, other LU running mates till I passed them a little later on a down hill section.

After making our way down to the District and we lost all the glorious tree cover it started getting warm and I was starting to feel it. I was 5 miles in and felt like I was starting to lose it and might mentally break. As I was heading towards Sunset Marina Katie passed me and asked how I was doing, I told her I had felt better and I was getting hot, she ran just in front of me for a while before taking off. I was joined shortly after by Nick as we were getting into the marina, and it was just in time too. Nick kept me company (and kept me moving at a good pace) while he told me how he had recently proposed to his girlfriend down at Sunset Park. The combination of Nick's company, the shade of tree cover again, and 2 water stations really revived me and as we hit the 10 mile mark I was suddenly feeling very good again and started to pull away from Nick, he encouraged me to get going and I did.

A little after mile 10 I could see Chad just up ahead as he was pulling over to the side under a tree, as I went by him I tried to give him some encouraging words, Nick saw him too and stopped to talk with him. I guess he got light headed and his heart rate shoot up real high. Later after the run we were talking about it and he figured he didn't carb load enough the days leading up to the race and he was just out of fuel. He still managed to finish strong which is a testament to his drive and determination, had I been in his situation I may have called it a day.

The last 2 miles I ended up running with a guy who was training for Ultra distances and was running his first road race, we chatted a little and fell into a nice rhythm. At the 12 mile marker I told him I was going to turn it up and finish strong and he said he was going to try and keep up. I passed a number of people on the last mile, some who were moving pretty slow and even walking, digging deep for the last little bit to get them to the finish. It's always amazing to see people push themselves beyond their limits to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other dedicated to relentless forward motion.

Rounding the turn back into Augustana and making the way onto the track I kicked it up a notch and was ready to sprint to the finish in the last 200 yards but right in front of me was a trio of women who had all clasped hands to finish together and I wasn't going to ruin their moment by being an ass and sprinting around or through them for a couple extra seconds off my time. I coasted across the finish line in 1:43:45 for a new PR shaving nearly 7 minutes off my time from last year. I was very happy with my performance, not because I set a PR, but because at one point when I was feeling pretty awful around the 5 or 6 mile mark I had thought about quitting and just calling it a day. Looking back on it now, it wasn't anything physical that was going to make me quit, but it was a moment of weakness mentally that almost convinced me that physically I wasn't capable of doing it. I have found with endurance sports that being mentally strong is just as important, if not more important than being physically capable. All the training in the world won't do you a bit of good if your mind convinces you to quit or that you can't do it. Oh and it helps to have friends on the course who come along at just the right moment to carry you through the rough miles too...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.