Kelsey Toney

Hey guys, sorry that this race report is a little behind schedule…

So, The Bloomin’ 4 Mile is a club race put on by the Dallas Running Club. It is at a pretty and woody lake in Dallas, and was well attended. There were something like 500 runners at this race.

When I woke up in the morning, I wasn’t entirely sure it Daron would be coming. After all, it was just a “little race” and not terribly exciting, and not really a big goal race, so I had no expectations. In the end he decided to come, which meant so much to me. It really makes a difference when you have someone waiting for you at the finish line.

For breakfast I had a peanut butter and bananawich, but I kept gagging and didn’t really want it… that was weird. I also decided to see what effect caffeine would have on my race, so I went to the tea shelf. The only tea that we had that had any reasonable amount of caffeine was a box of lipton chai bags (which you would later add to milk to make a latte), which I drank black. It didn’t really BOTHER me, but I need to remember to get a tea that is a little less… spicy…

At the race, I got my bib and started stretching a little bit. I really didn’t feel very excited, and I didn’t feel like myself… so the mind games started early.

I lined up, kissed my man, and set off.

I KNOW I started at the wrong pace. I could just feel it. I’m not sure if I was feeling a need to keep up with others, or if I just misjudged, but I rectified it as soon as I could. I felt pretty much fine all the way to the turn around point at 2 miles. Right at about 2.5 miles, the trek that was downhill on the way there, was now uphill (obviously) and I decided that because I felt a little dehydrated, and a little too hot (HRM said my bpm was 194) I should walk up the hill. That took about 1.5-2 minutes.

After that, and after dealing with my “disappointment” at taking a walk break (and yes, I know I shouldn’t be upset about walking) my little heart just felt heavier. I really needed water, and knew that I wasn’t going to be getting any until about .5 miles from the finish line, so I kept going. At some point, my HR got too high again, and I decided that I would walk until I got to the 3.5 marker. This walk lasted about a minute, so I wasn’t too far from it anyway.

When I saw that sign that said .5 miles to go, I just wanted to be back to the finish so I could GET it over with! My legs felt like they weighed about 200 lbs each, and I was just all blah. Rounding the last corner, with the finish in sight, I couldn’t really even sprint to the finish!!! Daron commented later that it was the first time he saw me after the finish line that I didn’t look completely spent.

Anyway, Despite all of that, I am not disappointed in my performance… I know that some days just aren’t good running days… even RACE DAYS!

Even more disappointing than any of that, is that when I uploaded my garmin data, somehow, my race data, and data from one other training run just vanished!!! I really wanted to see my split times… oh well.

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Results and Pictures

BIB 1232
AGE 25
RANK 376/430
TIME 48:06.4
PACE 12:01/M