My friend Leslie from Iowa called me a few months back and asked me to pace her at this race. I'm glad I agreed then, because man alive I wasn't ready for a marathon. I'm old, slow and broken :D
We went up Friday night after I FINALLY finished mailing out the awards for Brineman, but got there around 10:30pm so it was off to bed.
Adam came with me, because he was being abandonded Saturday by everyone else and he wanted to run the 5K anyway. He had to play his tablet and wait in the car (with my phone so he could call Leslie's phone/me if needed) until the alarm went off and then he lined up for the 5K and ran. Afterward, Joshua Hansen said that he would watch him as they did the aide station at mile 25.5 - It all worked out perfectly.
Leslie did a great job, but it was hot and she is used to humid and sea-level running. I tried to get her to drink more...but she realized she was quite dehydrated AFTER the race was over. Her quads gave out from the downhill around mile 16 and it was a struggle from there to the finish. Not only with sore legs, but the heat and wind were crazy! The last 4 miles of Huntsville is hard anyway, but with the exposure, wind and heat it was really rough this year. Earlier I had taught Leslie that pouring water on herself was wonderful evaporative cooling and I carried a water bottle for her and an ice bag when they were handing them out at mile 23. But, she just didn't tolerate it as well as she had hoped. at mile 20 the time was 3:22 and I was hoping we could get in under 4:30, but that didn't happen. I was a slave driver and wouldn't let her walk except every other aide station and I kept pulling her along. I told her she could slow her pace, but not walk. It was always harder for her to start running after she took a walk break because her quads were so sore. Finally we got to Adam's aide station and I got to see Janet. Her husband just passed away a few weeks ago and I hadn't seen her since! I spent too long embracing and crying with her, because catching back up to Leslie to finish with her was HARD! But, we got to cross the finish together and she still crushed her PR by about 5 minutes!!
We hung out the rest of the day at their condo in Eden (tried to get Adam's 1st place in AG award, but they ran out? so they are mailing it to him) then went to dinner, had ice cream and chatted until the cows came home! She has an awesome group of people that she runs and trains with. Sunday morning was more chatting and massage time (Scott brought a chiropractor's massage thing...it was awesome!) and then I took Leslie and her friend to the airport on my way home and attended church.
A great relaxing weekend! I needed it after this past week of driving 150+ miles/day because my other half of carpool was gone.
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