20 mile drop

Today started early!  A 6:20 bus ride from Fairport Harbor Beach to Chardon Square. It was COLD.  20 degrees ~ thank goodness the wind wasn't blowing.  We hopped off the bus and were among the first in the port-a-pot line for the 8 port-a-pots.  Then Kelly & I found a semi-heated stairway on Main Street.  It was the perfect place to wait for the start.  Because when we left our safe haven, I had to cuddle with Mike to have some warmth.  Wore two layers on top, tights & a skirt, a buff, headband & gloves & it was pretty good.  I took a really easy week because on Tuesday ~ at the tennis match ~ my foot started to hurt?!?  It was better by my Friday run ~ but I could still feel it.  Didn't bother me at all today.  And my legs weren't tired to start the race ~  So I'm happy with that.  Lots of people do a shake-out run the day before a race.  I've always taken a rest day.  Don't know if I should change that or not, but I've been doing pretty well with what I've been doing.

So the race...the 20 mile drop starts on the north side of Chardon Square.  We ran counter clockwise around the square...and around again.  This year we turned right onto route 6 & through a neighborhood before we hit 5th ave to get to the bike path.  Then the race takes the bike path until it ends at Reider's Market.  Then it goes through the same neighborhood where we ran Glow in the Dark.  This is a tough little neighborhood because there are some ups.  We wove around until we got to the Greenway Trail.  This is advertised as mostly downhill...but I swear, that trail is uphill both ways.  I ran this whole first half of the race very well.  I ran between 7:45 min/miles to 8:17 min/miles.  As I passed the first water stop at mile 3 I saw a guy in a green sweatshirt walking and drinking.  As I ran by him, he fell into step with me.  We ran to the next water stop, where he walked & drank.  Then he sprinted up to fall into step with me.  I mentioned how the day had turned out to be better than I expected.  He grunted a reply.  He walked through each water stop & then sprinted back up to me.  I again tried to talk, mentioning something about the run, and he grunted a reply.  Totally weird for me to run with someone and NOT talk.  Even Mike talks some.  I would have at least liked to know his name so I could look up his time.  

I hit the half marathon split at a PR pace: 1:44:18.  That was quite an adrenaline rush   I was pretty talkative about it.  After the next water stop, green sweatshirt guy did not sprint back up to me.  Guess he really didn't want to talk.

Then my pace started to fall back.  8:23, 8:32, 8:29, 8:38.  I caught Dodd, who was dying, at mile 16. a He had just eaten something so I encouraged him and moved on.  Hit mile 18 & 19  thought I was going to die. 8:58; 9:28 ~ and I had that brain fog.  I had to focus.  Look down.  Breathe.  And the fog would clear.  My legs were fine, but I was low blood sugaring or something. {or mentally weak}  I sped up a tad for the end & immediately after I saw Leslie & Crystal & Becca.  Thank goodness Becca handed me a banana {even opened it} because I felt sooooo much better after than banana.  I needed to take in more fuel.  The beef jerky was really frozen & it was hard to eat.  I had part of the chocolate at mile 6.  I should have taken more of that at 13 & I would have done better.  I did take Gatorade {and it was blue!} at the last water stop...which helped me be stronger the last mile.  The finish was 100 yards on the snow covered grass.  The 10 milers had pretty much made it a sloppy mess ~ so the footing was poor & it was up a hill.  This was the worst part of the race terrain-wise & considering we had significant snowfall yesterday, that's not too shabby.  Love that Verdi was MC'ing because I got a personal shout-out.  Trisha Dodd caught my finish face.  And apologized that it wasn't a better picture. I think that has more to do with ME than her picture taking skills.

My marching over the finish line wearing my finish face.

Love my Queen nemy ~ who rocked the 10 mile drop

A 20 mile PR ~ by almost a minute. 2:45:15.  Had to take a picture of the screen because my watch only had 19.90 miles on it...I must be a pretty amazing tangent runner...and I want to make sure I get the full 20 tickets for my 20 mile drop!  Mike also had a PR finish time & since it was the first time Dodd & Kelly had run a 20 mile race they PR'ed too.  We have gone from the Madison Group Run to the PRRG ~ Personal Record Run Group.  Ice Cream will be in our future.  Just not today, because Dodd is dying & I'm napping.  20 miles is a long way and my legs are soooo tired.  The only thing that hurts is my second toe on my right foot...other than that it's just sore tired tight muscles.