Jesse Owens 10K - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good - 1st place in my age group and 16th overall out of 124.

The bad – running slower than my longer tempo runs. I came out to fast and with the humidity I was sapped by the 3rd mile. 1st mile was 6:20, 2nd 6:41, 3rd 6:58, 4th 7:03, 5th 7:19, 6th 7:16, last .26 at a 7:05 pace. I really had to work hard to maintain the pace on the last half. I was pushing my limits when I reached the running track at the finish. Usually I have something at the end, but I pushed and my body pushed back. As I rounded the track for the finish all I could focus on was the finishing line. It was some of the hardest running I have ever done. I had reached the end of my envelope and it was not even a PR.

The Ugly – the last thing I remember was stopping to let them pull the tag off my bib and hit the stop on the Garmin. I had passed out and I did not regain consciousness until I felt myself being guided/carried to the track infield. When I fell the race director and a friend caught me and kept me upright. When I got to the infield a doctor/medic helped me to keep walking. He kept telling me to walk and to keep my eyes open. He also explained what happened. As he explained it, when I stopped at the finish my blood pressure had dropped very low and the brain just shut down. It seems that the legs in motion produce a pumping action and when you stop you lose that. This is why he insisted I keep walking. He said if I had been allowed to lay down I would be down a long time and would not feel well the rest of the day. He got me some glucose and told me to hold it under my tongue. Looks like I just ran out of juice. I did feel better within a short time. I drove home and even mowed grass that afternoon.

I believe weight loss caused me to run out of glycogen and bonk. Until my weight hits bottom and stabilizes I will have to be careful. My weight had dropped all week and reached its lowest point on race day.

The race was great and they do a wonderful job with it. Trophies are usually 5 deep. I try to run it every other year. It was a great race and I learned a great deal about the limits of my body.