Peachtree City 50K

It makes absolutely no sense that I would write first race report on the first race that ever DNF'd by my own accord. That said, I’m lying in bed exhausted, sick to my stomach and my head spinning but I can’t fall back asleep because I can’t get this race out of my head. I’m probably writing this looking for an answer but I also know there are people wondering what happened today at the Peachtree City 50k so here it goes.

All I can think about right now is that…

…maybe I picked a horrible week to drastically change my diet

…maybe I really have a stomach bug

…maybe I’m just exhausted from the last couple months

…maybe I should have eaten more before the race

…maybe my 4^th ultra in 8 weeks was a little to much

…maybe this

…maybe that

…maybe I just blew it like UGA last night (the race director did warn us about golf carts, stray dogs and angry Georgia fans on the course)

So let me give you the background leading into this race.

1. I decided last weekend to go vegetarian along with completely giving up caffeine, so I was on my 8^th day without meat or a coke. I won’t lie…giving up meat wasn’t hard but the caffeine withdraw kicked my butt.
2. Like I mentioned before – in October I ran three ultra marathons. In total, I raced more than 110 miles last month plus added on another 100 miles training.
3. I started a new job recently within KP. I absolutely love my new job but we had a big meeting last night and my boss and I have been busy preparing over the past month or so.
4. And of course, there is the rest of life liking being a good father and husband. I’ve been trying so hard lately to balance work, training and spending quality time with Tyler that it does get a little stressful.

All that said, I had little bit going on coming into this race. I feel like I’m making excuses (and I really hate excuses) but it’s hard not take all that into account. Either way, I knew coming into this race that I wasn’t as pumped up about it as have been with my other recent races. Still though, had a goal though of running between 4 and 4:10 and I knew I could do it if I really stayed focused and stuck with my plan.

So Emily and I left the Medical Group awards banquet early last night so I was able to get to bed by 10:30 and get a decent night’s sleep. I woke this morning at 4:57 on my own before the alarm clock went off 3 minutes later. I ate a little bit, took a shower and headed down to Peachtree City. I felt a little more excited than I had earlier this week.

Once I got there, I set up my aid station, used the bathroom, made a bottle of Perpetuem for the start of the race and said hey to a few GUTS runners. When the gun went off, I fell into a nice 7:50 pace. The 50k and 25k runners started together but I was figuring at that point that I was either 4^th or 5^th in the 50k. The first lap felt just right – not too fast and not too slow – 39:44 (7:41 overall pace). The PC 50k is 6 laps of just over 5 mile each. I spent that first lap and most of the next 2 running side-by-side with a younger runner (I think he had a Westminister Cross County sweatshirt on). When the pace between us got faster than I wanted to go for those first few laps though, I backed off and he also did for a while. I finished the bottle of Perpetuem during the second lap and refilled with water. During the third lap I had Hammer gel and finished the 3^rd lap in 2:01:20 – right on pace. By that point the other younger runner had picked it up a little built a 40 second gap between us (I timed the difference during a short out-and-back section on the course. I was excited coming into the main aid station/check point though because he had stopped and was at his chair stretching. So, not needing anything, I breezed on through hoping that I could build a little gap myself.

At this point, I think he and I were swapping 3^rd and 4^th place but I’m not positive. Unfortunately though, it didn’t take him long to catch me and start to build up another gap. I was tempted to push it but wanted to make sure I saved some for the final loop. During the 4^th lap I slowed my pace a little (up to a 8:10 pace) and I started to feel it in legs a little but nothing that I knew I couldn’t handle compared to the TNF 50 a few weeks back. At the mid-loop aid station I decided to fill my water bottle with sports drink. Turned out it was full strength Gatorade. I tried not to drink a lot but I was thirsty so I drank about half. If I don’t have a stomach bug, then that might have been one of the things that I upset my stomach since I never drink Gatorade.

Over the next couple miles, I knew something wasn’t right. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I just knew that I didn’t feel right. I got into the aid station/check point at 2:44 for 20.7 miles. At this point I was still basically on target if I could hold my pace and have a decent final lap. As I came into the checkpoint my stomach felt a little “rumbely” so I ran over to the bathroom. I spent a couple minutes waiting to see if my stomach was going to be upset but nothing. When I came back out, Sean Oh was coming into the checkpoint.

Unfortunately, at this point, the wheels had come off. I grabbed something from my chair and headed out with Sean. He had a Coke and gave me a few sips. I was really hoping the caffeine was give me a boost but I felt like the life had been sucked out of me. About a half mile from the checkpoint I told him to go and I stopped. At that point all I wanted to do was curl up in the leaves and go to sleep. It was almost like a sleeping pill had kicked in. At that point I stopped my watch and called it a day. I started the walk of shame back to the check point. After I passed a couple people I told myself “Damnit, you can’t quit. You’ve never quit before! Pull your @#$% together.” I turned around and started running again. It was useless though. Just when I started to see Sean again in the distance, I was ready to lay back down in the leaves and go to sleep. So once again I stopped my watch and started the walk of shame back to the checkpoint. A lot of people asked me if I was okay and once person even insisted that I not quit and join him. I really wanted to so badly. Here I was quitting a race that I should easily been able to finish and I felt like a complete loser. I got back to the checkpoint, found Susan Lance and told her I was dropping. Again, I felt so bad because she was cheering me on all day and I know she shocked I was quitting since I had been doing so well.

So I packed up my stuff and hit the road. My vision seemed a little off and it wasn’t long before the nausea kicked in. I fought it hard all the way back to the house and barely made it. Once I got home I was white as a ghost and I threw up twice and hit the bed. I must have been asleep in seconds. I was hard asleep until my phone woke me up a couple hours later. I drifted in and out for a while before I decided to grab my MacBook and write this. I still feel exhausted, my stomach hurts and still I’m a little light-headed but that may be because my stomach is empty.

I know I have to move past this race but I also know that it’s going to eat at me for a while. My life is about three things - family, work and running – family obviously being the most important. When I don’t perform as well I feel that I should at any of those things, then I’m hard on myself. I guess it’s the German in me and the way I was raised.

At this point I really don’t know what went wrong today. It could have been one thing or combination of multiple things but either way I came up short and essentially blew what would have been one of my best races ever. I know there will be other races and I need to focus on Rocky Raccoon 100 but this one will hurt for little while.