Race Report: Christmas Caper 10K, December 19, 2020.

I ran the Christmas Caper 10K today in an official time of 41:01.

As you can probably tell, it wasn't a great race.

This race, like several others in the PVTC Ed Barron series, was held on Hains Point - a ridiculously flat and fast route if it's not windy.  And it was not windy today, so score!

It was fairly cold, though - in the mid-20s.  I debated what to wear, and eventually went with tights and a longsleeve shirt.  Did my standard warm-up, and then trotted over to the socially distanced start.

We started off, and immediately 3 other women pulled ahead of me.  I let them go because I wanted to start conservatively.  And then after an easy start I started reeling them in.  I passed one, two, and then kept the third in my sights.  The course was essentially a double out and back - my plan was to run the first lap conservatively and then open up for the second.

I had felt OK but not great during the warm-up - just stiff and tight.  Many times, I'll feel one way when warming up and then completely different during the race.  That wasn't the case today - I just felt cold and stiff throughout.  And then my chest started tightening.  

I tried to relax and work through it, but somewhere after the third mile, I pulled over quickly to use my inhaler, then jumped back in - getting passed by a woman and slotting in to third.  Once I started up again I was able to make up ground, but things worsened as I did so.  So I pulled over again about a mile later to take two more puffs.  That was enough to finish the race but it sucked.

My splits ended up being: 

Mile 1: 6:30

Mile 2: 6:24

Mile 3: 6:18

Mile 4: 6:38 (with stop)

Mile 5: 6:45 (with another stop)

Mile 6: 6:26

Last .31 (my watch read a bit longer than the course) in 1:58.

So not the race I wanted or the race I thought I was capable of.  It happens, I guess.  Cold dry air is one of my asthma triggers, so in retrospect this wasn't a complete surprise.  I'm also due for my next Xolair injection on Monday (once a month medication that controls my asthma) and that may have played a role here also.  The Xolair seems to wear off towards the end of the month.  (I have been offered the option of getting it every 2 weeks, but I'm really reluctant to do so since that would double the time I spend each month in a doctor's waiting room.)

I do believe that the good races balance out the bad ones; so this one may just mean better races are on the way in 2020.  I had a similar bad race at the Monument Avenue 10K a few years ago - same exact experience except that the cause was high pollen not cold dry air.  And I ran some great races after that one.  Bad races are the prelude to good ones.

[two obligatory Covid 19 notes:

1) I'm as sure as can be that this is asthma and not Covid 19.  I know shortness of breath can be one of the symptoms of Covid 19, but that's unexplained and consistent shortness of breath, not momentary shortness of breath due to a known trigger. And Covid 19, to my understanding, does not cause brief attacks that are remedied with an albuterol inhaler.  Plus I have no fever, chills, cough, sore throat, loss of taste/smell etc and pulse oximeter reads great.

2) yes, I know that one of the recommendations for those with asthma triggered by cold dry air is to wear a buff or similar.  Believe me I've tried.  I tried several times pre-pandemic.  Doesn't work.  Breathing the super humid air that results while running is another asthma trigger.  Can't win.]