OUR RACE REPORT

It was COLD at the start a freezing 31 degrees. Good ol weather on the computer forecasted low 40’s so I didn’t pack gloves, hat or sweatshirt. I run in low 40’s all the time and just wear long sleeves, but this was much colder than anything I was used to. I needed more clothes! I used the porta pottys at the stadium (where the finish was) but you had to walk up a hill (about a ½ mile) to the start. After hanging out there ( amongst houses, no potty’s) I needed to go again, but alas…no facilities. I knew I would be taking advantage of that porta potty at the trailhead, line or no line. I also decided at this point to let son run his own race. He was supposed to stay with me but I didn’t think that was fair and told him to run his own race. The gun went off and we went down that ½ mile hill we just walked up and right away my knee started to complain. (hills and my knee don’t like each other). I decided to just hang in and do what I could do. I kept running and found my son at mile 2 waiting for me. We ran together to the trailhead and stood in line more than 5 mins for the doggone potty. Then started the dirty part. Mud, mud so thick and slick that it would and did goop on your shoes so that they were extremely heavy. Then when you would hit really wet spots you had to pray you remained upright as the footing was treacherous. I worried at times that it was going to suck my shoes right off my feet. NO JOKE! The trail for the first 2-3 miles or so was about 4 feet across. After than it narrowed to single file. This made for tough passing as you had to plan it carefully. There was so much mud but also roots and rocks and we forged 8 creeks, 2 requiring wet feet to get across. Are you getting the picture. This was NOT a pr course. This was NOTHING that I was prepared for mentally or physically. However, it was incredibly beautiful and a lot of fun. I passed a lot of ppl on the uphill portion. The hill training I did paid off! However, with conditions….I was 3 "miles" off my pace when we hit the tough part of the course, the steep incline. I was pleased with my progress though. I have to tell you when I crested this hill, I was surprised that I was still feeling good. This was at mile 8.2. We were now looking at downhill for the rest of the race. I truly expected to hit the wall between here and the finish. Why? Because fighting all the mud and having to run up the inclines and so forth took their toll. I was sure I was spent or about to be. I decided to run as far as I could, what the heck gravity was my friend. I passed 12 people coming down that hill. Can you believe that? Woo hooooooo. Once I left the trail head and got back on pavement, I decided to start walk/running it. The downhill had taken its toll on my knee and my quads were aching too. I still felt good cardio and energy wise though. This was such a good mental thing for me to realize that I was doing so well in the second half of what surely turned out to be the hardest half marathon I have ever ran. I finished in 3:01:25 clock time and 3:00:15 garmin time. Don’t have my chip time yet. Now my goal was originally to finish in 2:30. Why does she sound so happy you ask? Let me tell you. There was a Kenyan at this race. I introduced myself, (almost asked him to sign my shirt but didn’t) and casually asked him how long he anticipated it to take him to do this race. He just as casually said "ONE HOUR". Incredible! He finished second…..with a time of 1:23:17 and the winner finished in 1:22:49. I figure he was definitely an elite and almost ½ hour off his projected finish time. Well guess what….so was I. I can live with it. It was a wonderful experience. Tough course made tougher due to all the rain in the last week. We came, we saw and we conquered.