Today was the big day, and the first sunny day in what felt like weeks. George and I drove to the Hillsboro Stadium for the start of the race, meeting up there with Lis, Connie and several of their other friends. I kind of knew the course was going to be hilly ~ I just decided to ignore that fact.
With a big group wave to the helicopter flying over our heads, we took off from the stadium on lightly rolling hills for a few miles. The start was pretty crowded but we weren't trying to set any speed records on this thing so we just made our way along. I didn't expect to stay with Connie and Lis, I just decided to see how long I could hang with them. We ran across the overpass on Hwy 26 and out into the countryside. After a couple of miles of rolling hills, we hit the big nasties. Lots of them. Up and down, up and down. We ran quite a bit of those hills, but took a few walk breaks on them, too. Connie had just run the Newport Marathon last weekend, so she was taking it easy and me, well, I just like to take it easy. ;) Not that it was. Sheesh ~ did I mention up and down, up and down. I hung with them, though. There was one uphill where I stopped for a little walk break and realized this was the point where I was going to let them go, or I had to catch up and stay there. I decided to catch up. (pat on the back, thankyouverymuch).
I was surprised when we ran past Roloff Farms. The Roloffs are the subjects of TLC's reality show, Little People, Big World . I knew their farm was out there somewhere. I just didn't realize we would run right past. If I were a Roloff I would've set up a a little lemonade stand out there and cheered us on, but hey. I'm just sayin'.
According to the elevation map I'd glanced at, I thought the hills would be behind us at mile 8. I kept focusing on making it to mile 8 and the smooth sailing that would follow. That would have been great if it were true. However, it was not. Yes, the big hills were behind us, but there's not much out there that's flat. It rolled along for the next 5 miles in a series of small but torturous hills. It was hot out there. Turns out the 4-bottle nerd pack was a smart idea as I sucked down all 40 ounces of liquid and munched my way through lots of Sport Beans and such.
Somewhere around mile 10 Connie checked her Garmin and told me if I went hard the rest of the way I could likely set a new PR. I had no idea I could even come close to that on this run and wasn't remotely trying for it. Oh man, that was tempting, but I knew our final push took us uphill (again) onto the overpass and then up a gradual incline nearly all the way in, so I decided to stick with Lis and Connie and leave the PR for another day. I had already done so much better than I thought I would, I was proud of myself.
The finish was inside the stadium ~ there was a loudspeaker calling our names, a crowd cheering, George and my nieces and nephews just inside taking our picture, my brother in law a little farther down doing the same, and my 11 year old niece chased us hard to the finish line. As always, the very best part of the race is having it behind you. :)
We collected medals, posed for pictures, then climbed the stadium steps (whose idea was that?!?) to get our Jamba Juice and hamburgers. I chatted with my 5 year old nephew about Elmo and aliens and showed off the giant blister on my toe.
Such a great day. :)
oh... and I missed my PR by 4 minutes. Not too bad considering those hills!
1 comment:
Only 4 minutes! That is excellent with ALL the hills. Good for you!
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