Run With Garrison

Aloha,

This past weekend I ventured back to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Ohlone 50k. The course is super hilly with 7800 feet of climbing and 7400 feet of descending trails traveling from Fremont to Livermore. The course was absolutely amazing and the race organizers did a top notch job! I am seriously impressed by everyone involved in this race. Big thanks to the race director, staff, and amazing volunteers!!

The morning started with Blaine and I heading over to the race start. I was feeling ok, with my hip being just a bit sore. I have been fighting off some hip/pelvis pain over the past 4-5 weeks and I have limited my training over that period of time. However, I have still been putting in long races 5 of the last 7 weekends. I have been hoping that the bits of rest would help with the hip discomfort and I had only run 3-4 times since our return from Europe. The plan for the race was to just run even, smart, and stay within myself. I really wanted to see where I stood heading into the San Diego 100 in a few weeks and work out any final kinks. Before the race, I was mentally scattered. I actually forgot where my racing sunglasses were! Unreal! I was glad Blaine was there to help me out of my haze and keep me laughing.

The race starts out around 400 feet elevation and travels up to the top of Mission Peak during the first 4-5 miles. This is about 2100 feet of climbing right out of the gate. I felt nice and controlled, but a little tight. (Yes, I lost my right shoe in a mud bog along some single track on the climb–nothing like blocking about 10 runners on the trail while I went back into the bog to retrieve said shoe). After the climb, it was a beautiful, long descent into Sunol—around 9 miles into the race. This would be the only time I would be able to see Blaine along the course since this was the only crew accessible spot on the route. I was feeling ok and it was nice to catch up with old friend Suzie Lister at the aid station. I filled up with Skratch labs secret drink mix and made my way onto the really long part of the day. We would spend the next hours climbing to the top of Rose Peak–around 3800 feet. Along this next bit of the course, I found myself walking more than normal and I was feeling increasing pain in my right hip/pelvis area. The entire course was either up or down and as the day went on, things felt worse and worse.  Miles 12-20 felt like–Well I just started feeling awful. I could feel my hip getting worse and my spirits were heading that way as well. I was no longer competing. Heck, I was walking so much–I was hiking more than running.

After about 20 miles, I mentally hunkered down and decided to just focus on getting home to the finish line. I knew Blaine would be worried about me after about 5:30-6 hours. That meant that Pauline would be worried about me from Oahu, since her and Blaine were texting during the race. I tried to not think that I was letting anybody down with such a rough day.

I finally made it to the finish line in 7:40–This is funny because that is the goal time I set for myself at the Dick Collins 50 MILER coming up this October. This was by far the toughest 50k I have ever run and it was also my slowest. At the finish, my hip/pelvis felt pretty bad and we just jumped in the van and headed back home. Blaine, Pauline, and Dan all did a great job talking me through a tough afternoon and night and I am completely grateful to have such an amazing support system!

As for the future racing plans—I am heading in to see Doc Florimonte here on Oahu Wednesday morning to see what our next steps are…Rest? PT? Orthopedist? MRI? We will see. I am very open and I just want to run and train pain free again. I am 90% certain that I will not race the Hibiscus Half Marathon this weekend here in town and I am starting to wonder about the logic behind racing the San Diego 100 in a few weeks. I don’t have to make that decision quite yet, but I want to be smart and make the right decision. I don’t want to show up in San Diego if I am not healthy and ready to compete.

I will keep you all informed as I know more!

Thanks for reading..The next few blogposts may be more like corewithgarrison.com or yogawithgarrison.com or eatbetterwithgarrison.com

Also, please check out these sites–Amazing products that really help make my journey more enjoyable and successful

http://www.iruninternational.com  Amazing headphones, socks, laces, and more

http://www.skratchlabs.com   The best drink mix in the business!

Mahalo

Michael