What do the words "run" and "rain" have in common besides the letter R? Well, sometimes, it rains when you're running in California. I've been incredibly lucky in the years that I've been active racing - during college, and then after the long break, resuming racing in 2006 - that it has hardly ever rained on any race that I've participated in - and this covers not only running, but the duathlons, triathlons and cycling events I've done as well. In fact, some of those rec rides were so hot I was wishing it *would* rain.
2007 was my best year running, I trained hard, I cracked my '06 5k PR by over a minute (to 24:57), and at the end I dragged my tired ass to the finish line at the California International Marathon and sulked for weeks because I was a stupid, spoiled brat who was whining by missing his target time of 4:30 (for a first marathon) by 9 minutes and 59 seconds, which is not that much of a percentage miss considering the distance and the overall time.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do running wise in '08, I toyed with it being the Year of the Half Marathon but after doing the Davis Half in February and running the Shamrock'n' 5K in March, I hit burnout and thought I'd get back on the bike, in particular, the single speed I had, and I managed to do a real number on my left hip, knee, back and left IT band by pushing a gear on that single speed that was simply too much for me. I did a couple of 5Ks in there - Doggy Dash and something else that I can't remember now - both of them were in William Land Park, I think - but I'd already started to lose run fitness because, well, my knee hurt and running wasn't much fun.
Running had started to hurt, because the IT band hurt. I had signed up for Buffalo Stampede but skipped it because my leg hurt, and skipped the Cowntown Half in '08 because my leg hurt... and it got worse, and worse. Two rounds of PT, and in '09 I was able to run the Cowtown 5K - not well, but I ran it, and the IT band got slowwwwly better but not much. Finally, I went and started acupuncture a couple of months ago, and things are *much* better. Not 100% - and along with decline in run fitness, I've gained some weight (although I've lost some) and acquired the dreaded "PF" - plantar fasciitis - in *both* feet.
I actually "discovered" the acupuncture therapist at Race for the Arts, she had a clinic at the post-race expo, and thought "why not"? I'd run that 5K OK, I felt better than I had in a long time but the IT band still was tight at the finish... and when I took on Urban Cow (formerly Cowtown - blame the race in Houston of the same name for threatening to sue the Sacramento Race over "name infringement" or something equally moronic) after doing some acupuncture - the difference - I feel my racing form coming back although fitness is going to take a while to come back - IF it comes back at all with 49 starting me in the face on Friday...
Apple Hill is an area of orchards and wineries located in El Dorado County, CA just east of Placerville and west of Pollock Pines in the Sierra foothills. There are two race distances - an 8.5 mile loop and a 3.5 mile loop. In '07 I did the 3.5 mile loop and picked the same distance for this year.
The race benefits Camino School, and is advertised as a "relaxed family race" but for those not used to running steep hills and who live at sea level - like me - the combination of hills+3000+ feet in altitude makes it, well, a challenge. Now, in '07 I was tapering for the CIM marathon and this was a tapering race (or whatever you want to call it) so I'd be sharp the first weekend in December when CIM is held. So I had great run fitness. I figured I would not run nearly as well today but having run the course before, I thought it would give me a good gauge on how "out of shape" I've gotten compared to 2007.
It was pouring when I got up at 5:30. Now, I'm not going to bitch about running in the rain; I don't mind the rain at all, but I did leave my Garmin - even though its water resistant - and iPod at home because I really didn't want to screw with either in the rain. I figured I'd get to the race site about an hour before start, walk the almost half-mile from the parking area to the start line, do the race, and then immediately walk back because the radar looked like it was going to pour all morning up in the foothills.
Its about a 45 minute drive from my door to the field by Camino School where you park, and the rain wasn't bad until I got up around Shingle Springs, then it really started to come down on US 50, then the fog set in as I climbed out of Placerville up to the Cedar Grove exit off of 50. Winter in Sacramento is mild, but you go just 40 miles over into the Sierras and it becomes rather serious business quickly. Can you say "Donner Party?" I knew you could (Wikipedia it). Its not that much farther east from Apple Hill where you get into the part of the Sierras that during the winter Caltrans requires chains (yes, I have a set in my trunk Just In Case). Sometimes, if its is cold enough, the snow level comes down to 1500' in places like Cameron Park, which is only 30 minutes from my door.
As I pulled into the parking lot across from the school, I was a little concerned as its just a big grass field, its raining, and I've had lovely experiences having trucks and cars pulled out of mud due to my 2nd ex's horse craziness. So I made up my mind to immediately head back to my car after the finish, and get the hell out of that meadow before the cars leaving turned it into a mud quagmire. It doesn't rain that often on this race - although once you get into November here, its essentially the Winter Rainy Season and it can rain at any time, but we don't get the days of grayness and raininess this early - those come in January, February and March.
I stuck my hand out the window after parking and figured that it was cold enough that I might want to go ahead and put on an underarmour shirt on underneath the wicking t-shirt that I had on with my North Face running 1/4" zip over it. I had a mini-umbrella in the trunk that I got out and used to keep my upper body dry until the start. I thought about tossing it, but folded it up and ran with it in my hand; its a perfectly OK umbrella and those things are $10 a pop, too.
People were complaining about the weather but thinking about one of my friends, who is an extremely good runner and is very ill (but recovering slowly) in the hospital right now - and who had planned to be at this race but became suddenly very ill a couple of weeks ago - I instead thought about how lucky I was to be in good enough shape that I would be able to run this distance without too much difficulty, and how cool it was to run in a counterclockwise triangle past wineries, the Jack Russell brewery, and apple sellers in the beautiful fall colors of the Northern Sierra foothills.
While we were waiting for the start, had the fun of watching the kids' races, and I helped a young man (who ended up coming in 2nd - I think - overall - of the 8.5 mile runners) stay dry with my umbrella as he changed into his racing flats. I chatted briefly with some spectators who confirmed my suspicion that a lot of people bailed on the race today (and the field was much smaller for both distances than in 2007) - I had picked up my packet on Saturday knowing that it was supposed to be pouring in the morning. The queues for the 8.5 mile race and mine were much shorter and we weren't packed in nearly as densely as we were in 2007.
If you want to take the time to look up Apple Hill, the race start, which as at the Para VI winery, starts and finishes going uphill, making this a unique little torture test if you don't regularly train in hills and altitude. The first half-mile or so is all uphill, along some very narrow roads, so you are packed in with a lot of grunting, gasping persons, including yourself, until the race turns onto Cable Road and you have room to run, and before you know it, you've run the first mile. Miles 1-3 go up and down but nothing like that first half mile, but when you get to the 3 mile marker, its *all* uphill and its a long, slow, torturous uphill on Larsen - and if you can keep running - no matter how slowly - you'll drop a bunch of people who are walking at that point and looking like they're going to throw up. Making this even worse this morning was we ran past an apple vendor that had DONUTS going and the smell... makes you want to quit running, stumble in, and start stuffing fresh hot bad for you goodies into your mouth.
Anyway, I digress. I could tell that I was not going to run this - even w/o the garmin - anywhere near my 2007 pace but the rain also slowed the pack down a lot on going up that first hill. Footing was a little treacherous and I was holding back a little because I did not want to fall and bust my ass (and get trampled in the process). I looked at my Timex at the Mile 1 marker and groaned at the time, but at that point the pack had thinned out and I started dropping people who had gone out too fast... on the way to Mile 1 I heard a *lot* of complaints about the course - a lot more than in '07 - in fact, when I parked, two young women - 20somethings - pulled up in a new Beetle next to me, and after scurrying around in the rain, bailed on the race, I think - or tried parking closer, who knows. Anyway, I pointed out "you know, this is not easy, but it beats getting poked in the eye with sharp stick!" and back behind me I heard someone mutter "lets find a sharp stick..."
Then my fucking shoes started coming untied, even though I'd double-tied them. This happened three times. I *hate* rolled laces, I don't understand why they put them in running shoes. Good old-fashioned flat laces - such as those found on Chuck Taylors - stay tied if you knot them a couple of times, even when soaked in the rain. Yes, I could get some Yankz - actually, I have a set, I'm just too damn lazy to figure them out and put them in my favorite pair of shoes for races - but you should be able to double tie the laces that come with your Asics and those bastards should stay tied.
So, the people that I'd dropped went trotting by every time I re-tied the laces, although I caught most of them even after the third time. I wished during the long downhills in between 1-3 that it wasn't so quite wet (felt myself slip on the road a few times) because I would've gone faster, but again, I did not want to fall and I did see a few people fall.
It will be interesting to see how I look on The Official Race Photos, which were taken just before the last hill and right before the ODOR OF EVIL, DELICIOUS DONUTS hit us in the face. I imagine I'm going to look extremely dorky carrying the umbrella in my left hand. In fact, I figure between being soaked to the bone at that point, tired, and not in my '07 run shape I'm pretty much going to look like shit, but I'll probably buy a race photo anyway LOL
As I said, I wasn't going to hang around because I didn't want to get my car stuck in the mud, but as I approached the finish, I kept looking around, extremely paranoid that someone behind me was going to streak by at the last second and make me look bad, but I had 50 yards of open space between me and the runner behind me. I still pushed (although I felt dead at that point) to have a strong finish. I was kind of dazed in the finish chute - we didn't need to cut off timing tags as Capital Road Race Management has switched over to the disposable tags now - and stood around until some kids from Camino school told me to move to the food and water to my left.
I grabbed a couple of granola/cereal/chocolate chip bars, some water, stuffed the bars in my face as I never eat breakfast for these short races - my stomach feels too crowded - and walked back up the hill, got to my car... as I'm walking to my car, I chatted with a guy pushing a baby stroller who remarked that it was harder with the hills - this was the first time he'd done the race - and I said "you live down in Sacramento, right?"
"Right."
"Well, that's near sea level - yes, the hills make this harder but we are also up around 3000+ feet up here. Oxygen isn't quite as plentiful - high altitude cooking rules start applying around 3500 feet."
"It is?"
Hmmm. You can kind of TELL driving up here that you're driving into the mountains...
I had fun. I hope that my IT band continues to improve, because even though this was hard, its great to be able to run again, and I was only 1:00 per mile slower than in 2007... and I'm not nearly in the run shape as I was then - and I'm three years older.
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