Sat 6/16 - AM 80 minutes incl. Mt. Washington road race

Utter garbage. After last year's travails spending the night before the race in a leaky tent during a torrential downpour, I figured to match or exceed my performance from that day even with a dodgy calf and less fitness. Instead I went two minutes slower on a nicer, drier day. Bit off far more than I could chew early on, difficult to judge on a course like this unless you run it regularly I suppose. Started to fade in earnest just after 2 miles. The middle third of the race was awful. I sank like a stone through the field, getting passed by what seemed like dozens of people. Feeling completely powerless to stick to any of them as they went by. This is also when I realized that putting sunscreen on my forehead was a bonehead rookie mistake as the sweat carried it right into my eyes. I was wearing a hat too, making it even more stupid. Passed halfway in 33:40, 30 seconds or so slower than last year which means the bulk of the slowdown this time came on the upper reaches. Which is ironic because relative to the people around me I "rallied" in the final 2 miles, passing a few people back and holding off a few more that I could hear getting closer in miles 5 and 6. Even at the time this was happening I knew in my bones it was because of the time spent at altitude recently, and not any reflection of things actually going well. Finished with my central nervous system rubbed completely raw by the effort expended, with a headache that lasted most of the rest of the day. This dud makes a solid month of mediocre results at best. Overall less fit than a year ago at this time, which is frustrating to be sure. More frustrating though is the ongoing inability to get a decent night's sleep thanks to a terrible rut of late bedtimes. I paid for that today. The cherry on that shit sundae came when I prewoke my alarm by 90 minutes this morning and couldn't really get back to sleep after that. So while I certainly got more sleep than the night before last year's race it wasn't that much more. Until and unless I can get my shit together on the bedtime front the mediocrity will continue. The horrible trip here yesterday didn't help either of course but in the grand scheme of things wasn't the determining factor in causing this turd. On the positive side, the calf didn't bother me in any way that I could tell, and only moderately stiff afterward. Plus I got multiple toothbrushes from the main event sponsor, thank you Delta Dental.