1:50:00 Pacer
Wind, rain, hills, and lots of enthusiasm on the course today.
Update:
I was a little nervous about this race after taking so much time off with the kidney stones. Running the distance wouldn't be so hard, but keeping it steady with a smile on my face could be a challenge. I did a lot of short training runs with my daughter, Karina, and not so many long ones. And... like I wasn't worried enough already, a couple days before the race, the team captain sent the pacers this little note:
..."PLEASE: The course starts downhill…do not go out hot, finish hot or walk it in. You are a moving time clock and are expected to finish within 30 seconds before your goal time. It’s best to not go by your watch time and miles since courses are marked a bit long and garmins can be off. Get your goal! Help call out water/nutrition and keep them motivated"...
Ok, now the pressure is really on :)
When I picked up my race packet Friday afternoon, I offered to help and spent the rest of the day getting people their stuff and explaining that you can only exchange your shirt for another size if there are any left over after the race. I had no idea how big this race was until then or why it is such a big deal to order the right size shirt when you register :)
1000 1/2
600 10k
1200 5k
I got to the start line early to pick up my sign and meet my co-pacer, Heidi. She is a super fast marathoner and has paced lots of races. We made a plan to trade the sign every other mile and the one without it would pay extra attention to the pace and keep us on time. That way we share the load and the blame if things get ugly :)
The course was a lot hillier than I expected. It started off with a long downhill that got everybody moving pretty fast then it stayed flat for a while and we started to gather a following. The toughest miles were 6 through 9 with some steep hills. That's also where the rain got heavy and a strong headwind decided to join the party. It was tough to stay on pace through that section, but we managed to keep it within reason. Once we cleared that mess there was another flat, easy section before the slog back up the last hill to the start/finish area.
We had a great crowd of runners hanging with us off and on throughout the course. There was one in particular that stuck with us the whole way until we encouraged her to leave us behind for the last mile. I can't remember her name now, but it was cool to see her finish strong and meet her goal.
I had such a good time I signed up to pace another 1/2 in August(1:50) and a full in September(3:50).
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