I ran the Striders Half Marathon today. I wasn't expecting much from
this race. I haven't ran all week because my arthritis has been acting
up. It wasn't much better today, but I have signed up for the whole
series and want to complete it. So I just ran conservatively today.
I checked the weather report last night and it said the weather
would be about 20 degrees and a severe storm warning was in effect
until noon today. I decided to dress warm. It was snowing at home when
I left but at the race start it wasn't bad, there were a few snow
flurries.
I did a 2 mile warmup and realized that I was dressed to warm. So I
took my wind breaker off and tied it around my waist. I thought about
tossing it in the bin to be picked up at the finish, but thought I
might need it if the weather changed. That was a good idea. I was
wearing my wind breaker pants, long sleeved mess t-shirt with my
twinkies shirt over, thick gloves, and a head band.
My first mile was 7:21 and my second was 7:30. I felt pretty good
and decided to maintain that pace for a while. After about mile 4, the
miles seemed to be flying by. It seemed like I had just passed a mile
marker cone, when I we see the next one coming up. This lasted until
about mile 8. After that none of the miles seemed fast, or were fast
for that matter.
At mile 8 the wind came out fierce and strong. The course turned
several times but never turned out of it, we had either a crosswind or
a head wind for the next five miles. There was an aid station at mile
8.5 which had Gu. I grabbed a Gu and gulped it down, it was chocolate
mint flavored. I grabbed a water to wash it down with, but had actually
grabbed Gatorade. Chocolate Mint Gu and Gatorade. That's quite the
combination. Somehow, I managed to keepit all down. At about mile 10,
the wind really picked up. Strong and COLD. I took my wind breaker off
my waist and put it back on. That helped, but the wind was a challenge.
The final few hundreds yards of the race was actually with the wind.
Wahoo. I finished with a time of 1:43:31. Nothing great but pretty good
considering the week I have had and the wind. After the race I went
home, showered, and went in to work. I am back home now and I'm quite
stiff and sore. Time for some rest.
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