Just before the New Year, I had finished reading the most amazing book "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand. I drew so much strength and inspiration from this book which was the catalyst for me to really focus my training for The Georgia Death Race. Every fear I had since April 2012, when I first heard about the formation of this race, was relinquished after reading this book. I knew, no matter what, that I would be a GDR finisher.
With my goals in mind, I continued forward in my training and really began to step it up a notch. However, everything I had trained for had also just kind of fell in place at the same time. I was running more trail miles on harder trails and recovering very quickly. I was getting faster and stronger and losing 20 pounds since last June helped too. I had the opportunity to run with other GDR runners who were much more experienced than myself and who inspired me so much to run my best. I woke up everyday with GDR on my mind and everyday had a plan that would help me succeed. I was driven to do what it took to be able to finish. My primary goal for GDR was to be able to "complete" this race. I was not looking to win or place in the top 3. I am just not that fast or that strong. I only want to do my very best. I also want to finish strong and in a way that I can keep running in just a few days after GDR. I just love to run and want to feel good during a run and after a run.
I had so much fun training for this race! I was lucky enough to meet so many people through training for this one race. Since, I live relatively close I decided to learn and run as much of the course as I could. It just all fell in place and to my surprise I had run all of the trail sections by early Feb. and all but 6 miles of the dreaded forest service roads for this course. I knew this course in my sleep! And, to my surprise other runners were emailing to ask me questions about this course. IT was shocking that anyone would even ask me course directions! I am directionally road challenged but somehow I am no longer trail challenged! LOL IT made me feel like a "real" ultra trail runner probably for the first time ever that people actually wanted my advice on what trails to run, where to start, how far was it from here to there, and how long do I think it will realistically take! Wow!
Six weeks before the race, I felt very ready for GDR and knew that completion would not be a problem. My previous fears had turned into excitement for the race. I could not wait to start. I dismissed my previous time goal of 20 to 22 hour finish and replaced it with a sub 18 hour finish. I even thought briefly that close to 17 hours might be attainable on a good day, but that might be an ambitious goal. I had time goals for different sections of the course and knew how fast I should be able to run each section based on previous training runs. So, for the remaining weeks till the race, I just re-ran sections of trails over and over again. I was lucky enough that someone was always willing or able to run with me and also sacrificing much of their time and sleep as I start early. The people who trained with me for this race will undoubtedly be friends for life. I appreciate them so much! And, of this writing we are still training together and keeping in touch for future runs.
Just when my confidence is at an all time high about my ability to finish this race is when I get injured about 5 weeks before the race. I am running with John and we start at Skeenah Gap, go down the BMT a few miles come back up and head towards Vogel on the DRT. It is 19 degrees at the start and at times windy and sunny, and at times, shady, windy, icy, and snowy. I am running very well and strong, surprisingly strong given the really cold temperature. We get to the top of Coosa, and I'm excited because we are just 7 miles away from the finish and running down Coosa is fun! We have actually ran pretty fast for just over 19 miles, and I'm excited that I feel so great and the easiest part is yet to come!
We start down Coosa and it's not long at all when my left knee hurts really bad on the steep descent. I have no idea what's wrong but my knee physically will not run down the hill, but I keep trying. I have run through a lot of pain with various other injuries or just plain soreness, but never have I had a body part just not willing to function properly while running. This is something that I am physically not able to run through. I tell John that something is wrong with my knee. It's tolerable to walk or to stop and it's tolerable on flats or uphills, but the downhill is excruciating. John encourages me to stop and take a break. LOL He doesn't know me well. I tell him, no, I can't stop..I'll just keep moving. I am apologizing for slowing us down, but he's so nice telling me not to worry about it, but I am upset about this. This happened out of nowhere as I never felt anything wrong and no sudden pain or anything until the descent. We get down to an icy small waterfall, and I am so hesitant to cross because my leg/foot is not stable and I can't jump across it. My fear is if I step on the icy rocks to cross that I will fall down the waterfall. John crosses first and helps me over. I am so worried about this knee pain and loss of function but also grateful that I am not running alone in the freezing cold and grateful that it happened on the last 7 miles and not in the middle of this hard training run. We finish out this run at 26.25 miles and well over 9,000 feet of climbing for the day.
So, the next day I called my friend Laura asking her for advice as I have figured out it's my ITB. The next 10 days or so I take it very easy and run very easy roads and resting my knee. The pain at times is pretty bad especially in the mornings and at night and even while running. I am worried about the Asheville Marathon in less than 3 weeks and even more worried about GDR in 5 weeks. I get down on myself about it that I have trained so hard especially since last June to have raced all the races I wanted to race last fall and that I am so ready for GDR and then this happens! But, then I just pull myself up by my boot straps and stubbornly decide that my goal all along was to just finish this race. I can still climb, I can still run, I'll just have to walk the steep descents. I won't finish GDR in the time that I know I can run it in, but I will finish it no matter what! I didn't do all this for nothing! LOL
Also, I know that even though I am now injured that really my training 5 weeks into this race is basically done. There is not much more I can do to improve my race time and this is just a period of "maintaining" my training until race day. I am really not going to lose much in terms of speed if I have to take it easy the next 5 weeks.
The hay is in the barn ! All, that's left is to race!
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