This is our bib wall as of 9-12-10...we have logged 145.5 miles so far, with 9854.5 miles to go in the next 42 years (which means we each need to average 117.3 miles per year until we hit our 50th wedding anniversary!!!!)
Us, at home after the run......thanks to photographer Jackie for the quick pic!
Chris, ready to tackle the Tower Run 8K!!!!We woke up Sunday morning to sunshine and a house full of kids.....my fave way to wake up :-) But, with a grueling race standing between us and the rest of the day. We got dressed, and Chris went to get the babysitter while I got the monsters up and fed. This was the first time we've ever left after the kids woke up, so I was a bit nervous about how Jill was going to handle seeing me leave, and having the babysitter stay.......The kids were eating when Chris and sitter got back, we said our byes and hopped in the car. We wanted to get there a bit early, we've never done this race, and we wanted to avoid the get there and line up-ness that happened at the Panic......We arrived at about 8:30, easy parking and packet pick-up, race starts at 9am. Whew -- what a relief to not be rushing before the race. We got our bibs on, visited the bathrooms (thumbs up for indoor plumbing at a race) and studied the course map. We wound up talking to a guy who actually got lost last year, so we tried to really study the map!!! They did pre-race announcements (with a caution on how to stay on the course!!) and then the group of us (only 164 runners and 15 walkers -- the walkers did a 5K walk) headed over to the start line. My whole goal for this race was to come in under 60 minutes.... It is a point-to-point measured 8K, which means they measure from point A to point B to point C, however the easiest way to get from point A to point B will likely involve you adding more distance b/c the terrain is impassable, or too hazardous. 8K is 4.97 miles, but rarely anyone does this 8K in less than 5 miles!!!
We start off by running through the parking lot down a path to the beach. I HATE RUNNING ON THE BEACH!!!! We have about .67 miles to run on the beach itself, which almost EVERYONE went down to the water to run on the packed sand waterfront (thus adding mileage), to get out of the beach was a slight uphill to the dune that was a severe sand uphill to the boardwalk... I don't think anyone ran up the dune -- it was super soft, loose sand, and VERY hard to even walk on, let alone run or jog. After this part we head into a trail area around Lake Kai, here we spend the next 1.37 miles running on a loose sand/packed sand/ mushy weeded area around the lake -- they actually hung little pink markers out there to help us keep the course. 90% of the journey around the lake was a single path, no room for passing (or walking without pissing off the people behind you) Once it doubled out to two lanes, I hopped in the left lane to walk.... I knew from the course map that there was about .3 miles of double lanes here, and after we got out of the trail, it was all road and pavement.....so I decided to walk till then, so I could hit the road with fresh legs to give it my all. Once we hit the end of said trail, I started running again, and ALOT of the people who passed me while I walked the trail were now forced to walk the pavement due to fatigue from running those 2+ sand miles....hmmmph, silly people. I passed nearly everyone who passed me while I sand-walked, except for one girl -- and I spent the rest of the race trying to catch her (I never did -- we kept the same pace and while she never gained on me, I never gained on her either) We hit the 3 mile mark and things were going well -- I was really disappointed with my time thus far, but thought I could make some time up before monster hill. There were a few small hills in the middle section, though nothing too big or too treacherous. Then, we round the corner to Monster Hill. This baby seemed straight up, and I mean STRAIGHT up... my Garmin had it at 227 foot ascent, and 496 feet long, I have no idea what kind of grade that is, I just know this thing was brutal!! I walked up the steepest part of the hill, then we round a corner, have a slight downhill, then another slight uphill, then we get to the cement steps to get to the water tower (the Tower part of the Tower Run) The steps are those annoying 6 inch riser steps -- you know, the ones that are really hard to run b/c your feet naturally wanna do an 8-10 inch step......and they were about 18-24 inches deep, just completely un-natural for your body to adapt to easily....after making your way up the steps we had to do a lap around the water tower, then back down monster hill. I had seen Chris coming down the hill as I was going up, and I assumed we were almost done (my Garmin had the hill at mile 4.21) As I round the corner after coming down the hill, things got really confusing. The walkers went one way (to the finish chute) and the runners had to go another way. At this point I was really pretty much alone, and just trying to follow the signs for where to go. There were volunteers out there -- but most of them were on their cell phones and not paying any attention to the racers!!! At one point, I went down a hill and was rounding a corner when I heard people yelling at me to get back on the course -- I had run right past a volunteer and she never even told me I was off course!!!! So, I had to back-track (UP the hill) to get back on course!!! After that, I was feeling really discouraged, and not knowing where the finish is was making it really hard. i couldn't rely on my Garmin b/c I had no idea exactly how long the race would be when ran with my terrain choice, so I tried to stay positive and focus on my breathing! As I went up the last hill, I was praying, literally praying, that God would grant me the strength to finish this, and to finish it running. A volunteer at the top of that hill told me I was almost done, and to finish strong, and she has no idea how wonderful that sounded right then!!!! I glanced at my Garmin to discover that I was in the 51 minute range, and I had less than 9 minutes to finish this -- and I had NO idea how far I was from the end!!!! A little ways further, I heard the cheering of the finish line, and Mr. Hotness yelling at me to finish strong. I had nothing left in me to sprint the finish so I coasted in. This race was really, really tough and physically and mentally demanding!!! I know it was really tough b/c the guy who won it ran a 6:14 pace (5 mile winners are usually in the 4:57-5:03 range!!!!) It was really nice to sit down afterwards and dump the sand outta my shoes -- there was so much sand in my shoes, that it actually made my shoes too small and gave me blisters from running in shoes that my feet were crammed into while sharing space with the sand!!!! Chris went to check the times, and came back to tell me I got 4th in my age group -- I missed 3rd by less than a minute!!! But, you know, aside from running off course for about 25-30 seconds, I can not think of anywhere that I could have given more to make up that time to take 3rd place -- I really feel like I gave it just about all I had, so I am happy with being the first loser in my age group for this race!!!
We will definitely do this race again next year, but we are planning on cramming 3 races into 2 days next year :-) Just for the "yeah, we did it" privileges :-)
It was also nice to know that my sitter was taking care of the monsters, and Jackie agreed to head over to feed them lunch b/c we were gonna be a bit later for this race.....I am so grateful to have so many people who love me and help me take care of my babies!!!!
Finish Stats:
(I wound up running 5.15 miles.....no idea what C ran b/c he forgot his Garmin at home :-O)
Chris:
48:38 ~~ finish
9:46 ~~ average pace per mile
7th out of 10 male 30-34
69 out of 164 runners
Julie:
53:49 ~~ finish time
10:48 ~~ average pace per mile
4th out of 10 female 30-34
105 out of 164 runners
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