THRU HELL AND BACK.....


The weather Saturday was perfect for running. The atmosphere was electric, people teaming about in their fluorescent yellow shirts. My number, 336 for you lottery people, was pinned on as was my championchip. After my brother-in-law Steve left(thanks for the lift) I kinda stood around and stretched, made some small talk with 2 ladies who were team in trainers, and waited for what seemed like ages for the race to start.
The race finally starts and 3 minutes later I cross the start/finish line hit my watch and try not to trip anyone as we startout. The first set of hills meets us about 50 yards into the race. What looks like one BIG hill turns into 3 hills with plateaus in between. The road is a sea of people and we're at the top before I know it. Pretty uneventful first mile, 10:33, a little slow but that's ok. 2nd and 3rd mile were pretty flat and at this point I felt as though I could run forever. 9:45 and 10:27 respectively. The first hill that I felt was somewhere in mile 4, but we made it without any real issues, 10:31. So far so good, my plan was to do the first 5 miles at a 10:15 to 10:30 pace and the last 5 in under 10 minute pace. So I purposely slowed down for mile 5 to get ready to pickup the pace, 10:58. Well wouldn't you know it someone decide to put all the big hills in the last half of the race. The route had 2 out and backs, I hate out and backs! The first after mile 5 had the first of what I will call from here on out, "testers" Almost a half mile long with an incline of oh, moderate pain. At th end there was a lady directing runners back onto the course and I mentioned something about the hill being, "amazing". Not the word I wanted to use, but there was no need to swear. She said something to the effect of "yep", but I could tell by the look in her eye that this had just been a warm up. Then it was back out on the course for about 1/2 mile before the second out and back. Did I mention I hate out and backs? Oh by the way, mile 6... 11:01
About 30 seconds into the second out and back I realized I was running down hill and it was steep! About half way down this hill it hit me... I have to come back this way! Well let me tell ya it looked like Everest when I turned around. It loomed like a wall in front of us. I started up and at some point realized that trying to run up this tester was an exercise in futility so I walked the rest of the way feeling as defeated as possible. I missed the 7 mile marker, it was somewhere in that hellish out and back so I have no split until mile 8, 22:33. To be honest from here until about a half mile from the finish is a blur, except for the 10 seconds I saw my daughter. The closer I got to the finish the more people I saw, which helped. I crossed the finish line with the last burst of energy I could muster and stop the watch, 1:48:03. The volunteer at the finished asked if I needed help removing my chip. Since there was no way I could bend over without passing out I said yes and thanked her as I wondered off. Two bananas and a cookie later I left feeling about as tired as possible, but at the same time really pleased and proud that I did it. Every thing about the race was a positive, yes even those damn hills!

R.P.D.

P.S.
Race results...69th out of 70 in my age bracket (whew) 823 out of 870 O.A.F.

The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible. Arthur C. Clarke