the race started late, there were too many people standing in line for the porta potties - nice of them to want everyone to be comfortable, but it seemed the lines would never end

it was a free for all start, no corrals, since it was a fairly small race

several people did dress up, which was kind of fun, there was everything from a flamingo to minnie mouse and daisy duck. there was even a guy that juggled the entire way

yep, you got that right, he juggled the entire way - it was pretty impressive, he rarely missed - i guess that's one way to make running 13 miles interesting ;)

so, now for my run - i started out feeling great. the weather was perfect and i felt really good

at the 1/2 way point i was on track to do a 2:30 race, which i would have been absolutely thrilled with!!

at mile 7 i began to experience cramping in my calves and feet - foot!!! not again! the same thing happened to me in Richmond in October

long story short, i battled cramps the rest of the race - the worst was at mile 12 when my right calf cramped and contracted so hard, i couldn't put my heel on the ground

i worked my foot flat to the ground and sat down and removed my shoe and tried to work the cramp out, biting my lip to hold the tears back

a very nice woman stopped and helped me stretch and she found the cramp and massaged it and was able to release it - while she was doing this, another woman ran by and said 'you need to have someone pick you up'

i looked at her and said, 'i don't want to quit' - the woman who stopped to help me looked me dead in the eye and said - 'it's only a mile - take it slow, you can do it'

she walked with me for a little bit, i thanked her for her help and sent her on her way

i walked slowly but surely toward the finish line - wouldn't you know it the final stretch was straight uphill

i finished the final portion of the race with another runner that had experienced some problems, we commiserated a bit, but mostly laughed about the fact that things don't always go as expected or desired

we reached the final stretch to the finish line - 400 meters to go and we ran - at least i crossed the finish line while running

i could look at this race as a failure, but i choose not to - i finished, and i stayed strong - and i didn't quit - that makes it a success!

i may have started out at too fast of a pace given my recent training

mix in running on a harder surface as a part of training

walked around a bit - went to the food tent and had some fruit and water


i'm fairly certain that the cramps were a result of the surface i was running on - i haven't been training on pavement at all, i've only trained on the towpath, which is a nice soft surface




this was the first year for this race, and i think they did a great job for the first time -

it was a nice event

some kinks to work out for sure, but a good first effort