Where do I start? Temp 65, windy, humidity about 75%. I would like to say it was a good day, but it wasn't. Tara and Megan ran at 7:00 am. They had a great race and were very excited when they were done. The Marathon started at 7:30 and the Half at 8:30. We were at the Fargodome at 6:15 am. Needless to say it was a lot of waiting around. I hate that. We started out at the 2:10 pace, because we kept getting pushed back as more people lined up. Ron told me to just run my race and we would meet at the finish. I started off feeling pretty good. There was a lot of jockying around and passing. I do wish the walkers would move to the side. That is just one of my gripes. The road for the first 2 miles is narrow and it gets crazy. My legs were starting to tighten up at mile 3 and I was thinking that's weird. I realized about that time that it was really hot and muggy. The wind was actually a blessing. Well by mile 5 my legs were really protesting and the bumps, we call hills, were giving me trouble. Also weird. I opted not to wear my Garmin because I didn't want it chirping at me the whole way. So I had no idea what my pace was. At the 10K my time was 54:36:00. I was kind of surprised. My legs were not cooperating at all, by mile 8 I knew there would not be a PR today. The heat was really getting to me and I usually don't mind the heat. Well I started thinking about Ron at this point. He hates heat and if the temp gets much over 60 he really struggles, then throw in some humidity. I had no idea how far back he was, but I was getting kind of worried about him. At mile 9, I considered walking. Have never even entertained the thought of walking on a half. I have never felt worse during a race. So I pulled off and waited for Ron. I waited about 7 minutes and was getting worried. I called Jared and Kaylie as they were biking the course and I had just passed them. Jared said he was back quite far the last time they saw him. And he was struggling. Still no Ron. I waited a few minutes longer then started out again. I just had such a nagging feeling about him and about 2 1/2 miles before the finish I pulled off again and waited and waited. I called Jared and he rode back along the route and finally saw him. When he caught up to me he was not good. He was running like his legs were sticks and he was on auto pilot. His pace was slow and we walked some just to get him to the finish line. I knew if I kept him moving we could get in under 2:30:00. We made it and we entered the Fargodome together to screaming crowds, loud music and the finish line. Awesome! And he was quite happy with his time, all things considered. So it was not a great running day, but it was a great family day. Off to Colorado! Woohoo! |