All things considered, this race turned out pretty well.
It was a bit cold at the start, about 37 degrees, which makes this possibly the coldest race I have done so far. Jenny and I were going to both run it and the kids were going to hang out in the car, but due to the cold temps, Jenny agreed to stay back with the kids. Arrived at the start fairly early (about 6:10), but not quite early enough to avoid the lines at the packet pick up. Got my stuff then had time for a little over a 1 mile warmup (about 1.2 miles I think). Was slow at first, but felt better after the warm up. But, time had run out and they were already playing the national anthem just before the wheelchair start. I was stripping out of the long pants and extra long sleeve shirt and was having trouble untying and retying my shoes. Made it to the start with just a couple of minutes to spare. First mile felt pretty good. It's uphill for a couple of sections, ending at the top of the Clearwater Memorial Bridge. The excitement of the start makes this first mile feel easy. Also, at about 0.5 miles into the race I saw Jenny and the boys cheering for me. I wasn't expecting them to be there, would not have blamed them for wanting to keep warm inside the car! So, that was extra nice to see them. The next mile starts off with with the downhill on the other side of the bridge. Also, an easy mile. Then, things felt hard for miles 3 and 4. My pace slipped and I didn't have a lot of fight in me. Just before the start of the Sand Key Bridge I was passed by a girl with a white long sleeved top on. I passed her back as we climbed the bridge, then she blew by my on the way down the bridge. Taking a right hand turn into Sand Key Park I was greeted by the cheering of at least 20 of the Striders (my running group), who were manning the aid station which served miles 4.5, 6, and 9. What a huge morale boost! Helped bring some of the fight back into me and got me kick started again. Inside Sand Key park, there was a turn that wasn't well marked, so I followed what everyone else was doing. I thought about going the longer route but was afraid I would be wrong and would end up being way far behind. Ok, couldn't worry about it too much, just keep going. I had some good miles after that, but never quite caught up to anyone for quite some time. Just after the 7 mile point was the turnaround where it got tough for a few miles due to the wind from the north. The wind slowed me down and my hopes of doing well started to fade again
Finally about mile 9, I crossed the street and then headed back up Sand Key Bridge. On the corner were the Striders, giving me one more boost to finish the race. I made some headway finally on catching up to the girl in the white top. When I reached the top of the bridge I willed myself to look to the left, out over the Gulf of Mexico and look right over the intra-coastal waterway. What a wonderful view! I wanted to remember this from the race. Once I got to the bottom of the bridge the wind was not so bad even though I had to head north for a little bit longer. As I approached the causeway back toward the mainland and the last bridge ascent up over the Clearwater Memorial Bridge I finally caught up to the girl and was able to pass her. The next couple of miles went pretty well, held them just under a 7:00 pace until I got to the base of the bridge. Did pretty well going up the bridge then found some speed as I headed down the bridge including the helix near the bottom. Jenny and the boys were at the bottom cheering once more. Kicked it in the final quarter mile. A bit worried about getting passed again, so that helped me keep up my pace. Talked to a few of the guys that finished ahead of me who also ended up with a short course. Then talked to one more person who was not short as they managed to get the runners routed correctly. I felt bad about this but there wasn't much that I could do about it at the time. The most inspiring part of the morning was the story that Jenny told me about waiting for me at the bottom of the bridge. She was waiting there with a rough idea of my expected finish time. She saw some of the runners who usually run about my speed (and sometimes I even beat some of them), go by and worried a bit. She said to the boys "Maybe he quit?", and my oldest son Andy said "Dad's not a quitter". Here's a picture of me taken by David (from the Striders) as I was heading into Sand Key Park.
Splits - 1. 6:53 - pretty standard, 6:40ish until ascent
2. 6:47 (+:14) - downhill, 1st bridge descent, mile marker off
3. 7:02 - didn't hold onto pace
4. 7:16 - pace slipped some more
5. 6:52 - got passed by girl, ascent up Sand Key bridge, descent
6. 6:47 - in Sand Key park, trying to catch girl
7. 6:45 - out to turn around feeling good
8. 7:15 - turned around into wind, girl slipping away, spirits sinking
9. 7:09 - boost from Striders, a little faster
10. 7:20 - closed gap at top of bridge w/ girl
11. 6:57 - caught up to girl and passed her
12. 6:57 - held steady
13. 6:38 (0.93) - last climb up bridge, down helix, finish!! After the race, I wanted to hang out for a bit but the family and I were getting kind of cold and I started coughing and was worried that the lingering cough that I had thought was finally gone was going to come back.
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