Sorry about no awesome race pictures of my brothers whizzing across the finish line...my personal photographer was running, too, so I might have to post some ugly MarathonFoto picture in all their pirated glory later (please excuse the watermark).
I had a WEIRD race. It was weird because I felt bad the whole time - like I was dehydrated and it was a lot of effort. This is the second race I ran where I started out dehydrated, and both had the same thing in common: two hours before start with no water available! I think I'm on to something with these races: I have GOT to hydrate better, the day before and morning of the race. And I guess I could skip the half-bottle of Chardonnay the evening before and the mugs of coffee early in the morning, right? But despite that, I did make my time goal - BARELY - finishing in 47:59. I'm happy about the time but I still feel like, "Ugh, bad race" even though it really wasn't. The weirdest part was after the race though. As I crossed the finish I was kind of gagging a little - just a little racing habit I have when it's hot out, sorry folks. I got pulled into the medical tent! I promised the EMTs I was ok but I think they just wanted me off the finish line. They made me sit, but then they started rushing to help a runner who collapsed at the line. Since they put him in a wheelchair, I got up to move out of their way. And another EMT walked over and started shouting at me and actually manhandled me out of the area! I was so surprised I could barely blurt, "I'm here because the EMTs made me sit down!" and he said, "Oh, oops, you're in medical? Oh." Well, too late pal, you already physically shoved me outside the police barricade! Only me. (however, I do want to mention that all the other EMTs were so sweet and helpful. This guy was an aberration).
And how did the fam do?
Wonderful of course! Dad walked it in 80 minutes; David actually shaved 10 minutes off last years time and finished in a little over an hour.
And the brothers? This was Sam's first big race. He ran his first actual race last week, a 5k, and placed 2nd in his age group. Today he ran in 43:06 and was in the top 500 finishers! He also got a chance to talk to one of the Kenyan competitors before the race, who very politely inquired about Sam's goal time!
Abe did well at 36:29,placing 55th, but I think he's a long distance runner at heart. His 1/2 marathon time only added 6 seconds per mile. However, he had some shoe complaints: he wore new racing flats today and decided he doesn't like them at all. It's his first pair of flats.
We had the family and some friends over for lunch after, and now I'm seeking COFFEE.
Happy Easter to all!
Great job!! I finished in 57, which shaved 5 minutes off of last year's time, so I'm pretty happy. My pace was only a few seconds faster than my 1/2 marathon pace too, oddly enough. I kind of blame that on the fact that the CCC is such a crowded race and the 1/2 marathon I ran at the Stennis Space Center in Nov. wasn't crowded at all.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, despite the dehydration! So hard not to have a beverage or two the night before, huh? I actually had a few last night too, thankfully the race I did today didn't start till 11am, then I went and finished my miles for my long. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou got some speed demons in your family there!
Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteShelly, great race, sorry I didn't run into you!
And Britt, I think I need to start bringing a bottle of water with me. I can REALLY tell if I haven't had any in awhile. During the day I usually drink 1/2 to 1 gallon of water because I have a crazy water guzzling habit, so I think I'm really sensitive if I skip it!