The Bert Nash Dash Summary
I ran my 5K today, starting at 4:20 in mid-80 degree weather and full sun. It feels great to walk out in the middle of the street in a big hoard of runners. It is fabulous to hear people yell and equally as fabulous to watch the casual shoppers stare at you, looking at you as if you are full blown crazy. It feels fabulous to take off with the crowd.
We headed west on 7th before turning south on Mississippi. I was looking at that almost 1 mile run uphill towards KU, and I felt wonderful! That changed right as I approached the Spenser. I started feeling like I was full blown crazy. The wind was working against me, and that uphill turn by Bailey looked impossibly far away. Crossing over that hill to the aid station was my first walking break.
After I passed through the aid station for water, I changed from a walk to a run, which sadly is slower than my power walking. Going through campus was only tough because I hadn’t fully recovered from Mississippi, but I could do it. Then I approached what I thought would be my break: the run down 13th street. Hahaha. Wrong. You use even more effort trying to not barrel down 13th street because if I would have let gravity take over, I would have ended up skidding down 13th street.
The next turn was at Tennessee, which wasn’t easy because by this time I was exhausted, but I trod along. Very slowly.
Then I hit 12th street. Despite its best effort to KILL ME DEAD, I survived. Barely. My heart rate hit 192*. I was moving so slowly, I may have even moved backwards a few times. I paused a bit once, and it took all the willpower I have ever had ever to make my legs start moving again. I started looking down at the street because if I looked to the top of the hill and saw how far I still had to go, I’d never make it. I have never wanted a jet pack more in my entire life.
I did make it to the second aid station in front of the Oread. That was the start of my second walk break because I could not breathe and I developed a side stitch, due to not breathing. I power walked** most of Indiana, only running again to cross streets where traffic was waiting.
Once I hit 7th, I started jogging again. This was the home stretch. I just had to make it to Mass street, where there was a small turn into the finishing lane. My legs were shaky, and I was starting to feel a little dizzy, but just a little, so I kept going. Slowly.
What people say is true. It doesn’t matter how beaten you are. It doesn’t matter how slow you are. It doesn’t matter if you are walking, people will cheer for you at the finish. There were these two boys, somewhere around 8-10 years old would be my estimate, who were on a corner about 1 block from the big ending crowd. I saw them lean out into the street to yell at the person in front of me. As I passed, they did the same to me. One yelled, “Go! Go! Go!” and the other one yelled, “I envy you! You’re what I want to be!”
I almost didn’t think I was going to be able to make it across that finish line, but I did, running very slowly. My family was standing just past the finish pads with a medal that they had made for me. I made it. And I wasn’t even last!
I did not feel very awesome right when I was done, but after I sat to rest my legs and we headed over to listen to some music, some awesome started to return.
Ask me now if I’d like to run this course again in the next month, and you’d get a big Helz Noes. Ask me if I want to run anywhere on Monday, and you may get a big Helz Noes as well. Ask me if I’ll do it next year, well, perhaps. Having a year to train will hopefully help me finish this course a little faster and without the walk breaks to recover from head wind and hills.
On a good note, I can feel some soreness in my thighs, but none in my calves. I’m sure I’ll be able to walk tomorrow–despite 12th street’s best effort.
*At least when I looked that’s what it was. I haven’t loaded my data from the Garmin yet. I could have been higher considering how painful my chest felt. I may have hit my true maximum heart rate on that hill.
**Which was probably just a casual stroll for most people at that point of my exhaustion. I walked as fast as I could.
