The Bunny Trophy

2011 Rockin' Rabbit Half Marathon 

I must admit I write this with a bit of humility still hanging over me. Two weeks ago I put forth my best effort in my goal race at Labor of Love 50 miler, coming up short at mile 22 with dual hip flexor injuries. I still question my decision to stop, and having given myself two weeks to recover I calculated the odds of returning to the game under the conditions of Rockin' Rabbit. The two races are hardly comparable but worth looking at the extreme differences. LOL started early at low elevation, in extremely cold weather, with a significant challenge of hills and elevation climbs at healthy grades all on paved road. RR did have a nice little climb within the first three miles then again at mile 7. The course was mostly paved road bike trail with the last three miles hard packed dirt trail through the infamous 6-Tunnels to Hoover Dam. The day was beautiful and the downhill course proved to be fast. But that's where I held to my concerns in not wanted to aggravate my hip flexors any more than I already had during LOL.

Debbie dropped me off at 0630 for my pre-race rituals. She drove on to the 5K start where four of our friends met her for the 5K. Back at the start for LOL, for some unknown reasons my HR kept leaping off the scale when I wasn't even running. Once I did start my HR only stayed at threshold regardless of all efforts to keep it down.  RR was a nice easy day with no excitement and even though we had a slight grade to our run my HR never increased beyond 160 until mile 10.

LOL turn-around point at mile 11 was the beginning of the end. Now moving in the direction of the start/finish I was on the downhill portion (mostly) and it was then my hip flexors began to ache. Nothing like muscle fatigue, but definitely right in the connective tissue on both sides. Thus, my concern at RR was the lengthy downhill from mile 7 to 10. Over three miles of heavy downhill grade threatened my injuries resulting in a loss once again. However, it wasn't to be. While I heard some faint cries from them, I didn't actually hit some fatigue until the dirt portion where I simply could not get the traction I wanted. 

Thus, during the race at LOL by the time I hit mile 12 I was pretty much doubled over, walking at every opportunity and by the time I hit mile 22 at the start/finish I knew I was thru. As for RR? Even though the dirt track gave my legs some resistance (ironic) I was still able to keep a pretty good pace through it and finish strong. To my amazement, due to the ladies wanting to hang around for the raffles, I eventually found out that I came in second place in my age group!

Anecdotes: During LOL i was visited frequently by fellow runners checking me to make sure I was okay and if I needed any help. This happened over a long series of miles and I was quite impressed with the quality of people at this race.

RR, on the other hand, gave me a souvenir. Somewhere between miles 3 and 5 I was slowly passed by a young 20-something-blonde-playing-on-her-cell-phone-as-she-ran type runner. I wasn't moving slow and the pass took a while, but she must have thought she left me behind as suddenly and without conducting the courteous over-the-shoulder headcheck, out of her right side nostril she blew out some foreign substances that whizzed past my shoulder simulating a rifle shot. The glob of goo narrowly missed my bright white and red Hammer running shirt and the main slug of destructive slime sailed off into the desert to feed some insects.

What I did get was not GUN-powder residue but RUN-powder residue. I viewed the fine white mist as its cloud caught a wind pattern and sought out my sponge-like existence. I immediately felt my temperature rise in a sad mixture of surprise and anger, yet the overspray gave me a little respite from the heat due to the cool shower of post-nasal drip mist. MMMM.....Deee-lish. I later thanked her for the present, to which she had not much to say. I am trying hard not to stereotype here, and in the interest of keeping myself on the mature side for a change, I will let it go and fall where it may. My apologies if it hits anyone.



So the Bunny Trophy wasn't the only trophy I came home with, and that's okay with me. My hip flexors are happy again, I have a new goal race scheduled for this weekend, and I get to go camping too. What more could a runner ask for except maybe a shower?