Gate River Run - Run15k

It was SOOOOO windy!!! Going through downtown it was intermittently windy between buildings, but when we made the turn onto the Main Street Bridge it was just a huge SMACK of wind in the face! Everyone was leaning WAAAYY forward just to keep moving forward. Then an occasional gust from the side would come and I could see everyone ahead of me running sideways in unison!

Then we went onto the road and ran along the river a little ways. The water was so choppy and the wind sent spray all over the road (and the runners!!)

By this time it's ~2.5-3 miles into the race. I was thinking how proud of myself I was because just a week ago I tried running for the first time in weeks, went just 1/2 mile and my knee started bothering me. I was also wondering how long I could keep this up with such little conditioning. But, I just kept thinking about 4 minutes at a time, take a drink, and wait until the next 4 minutes. I never thought about how much further I'd have to go.

At least, not until we started uphill at the entrance ramp of the highway at ~mile 8, where we were approaching the Hart Bridge. It's a very high, ~1 mile long bridge, which I wouldn't mind if it weren't so windy. The wind was mostly blowing left-to-right, pushing everyone sideways, but then it would blast from other directions as well. THAT was the scariest part for me...when I would look down at the grate that made up the bridge, PRAYING that I keep my footing. I don't WANT to know what it would feel like to fall on those things!

Well, I only walked a little bit near the top of the bridge (maybe 20 meters or so). Coming down the bridge was plenty hard too, because of the wind. One amazing moment during that portion was that a fireman wearing FULL GEAR (hat, firefighting pants and air tank on his back PASSED me! He was amazing! We were at mile 9 by this point and he was passing SOOO many people!

Finally I got to the entrance to the stadium and I knew I only had about 1/10 of a mile to go. FINALLY! I got to the opening to the field and saw the finish clock. Just under 1:24 and not that far to go. If I bust a gut and sprint, I can go under 1:24. So I started onto the field to sprint, and a HUGE gust of wind blew into my face! UGH! I'll NEVER get there! But I saw that firefighter ahead of me, finishing. If he can do it, so can I! So I just lowered my head and did my best.

So my watch/chip time still kept me under 1:24. Not bad, considering.

Have healthy knees, train, etc.

Stretching, walking, ice pack on the knee, eating, drinking, etc.


Left knee really bad and had to rely more on the right one, which has been chronic for some time now.


I'm very proud of how I did in this race. My time was, by far, nowhere near what it would have been had I been healthy for it, but I still averaged sub-9's for the race, so Im happy. My knee is very unhappy right now, but I'm working on that next.

As far as the windy conditions go, OMG! Someone told me that during a hurricane they close the bridges to traffic at 45 mph. Well, the winds today were reported at 25-35, with gusts to 40 mph!