I had no idea what to expect. Mid August was my last double digit run. Right after, I tweaked my Achilles and then just as I was feeling better, I hurt my knee. That kept me off running for a while and then short miles when I came back. So, I felt out of shape and worried about my knee holding up.
Because of the above, I wasn't sure how to pace the race. My ego wanted to keep me under 2:00 hrs, but I really thought the best I could realistically hope for was about 2:05. So, as I lined up in the corral I decided to keep the 2 hour pace group around me, stay with them as long as I could and then around mile 10 see what was up. That plan lasted all the way til I crossed the start line :)
Everyone knows starts are crowded and this one was no different, so I immediately lost the 2 hr group and found myself around the 1:55 pace group. I knew hanging with them was not an option today, so I let them go but for the first few miles kept them in my sight. I was running by feel and my mile paces were pretty consistent (8:55-8:58 mainly). I was pleasantly surprised.
The first 6ish miles were right along the coast and had a pretty strong headwind, so I thought if I was hitting this pace going into the wind, when we turned around, I'd have the wind at my back and while I probably wouldn't get faster, the tail wind may help me keep my pace. Ha!

Long straight aways are boring to me, but I had some things to occupy my time - a woman running in a raincoat - even zipped up! Um, it was a hot and humid morning with no rain and no rain in the forecast. Why oh why were you running in that get up?! In addition to the coat, she was wearing capris. In case you're wondering, I was wearing shorts and a tank like almost everyone else, so she was the oddball not me ;) The wearer was an itty bitty thing, so she was not wearing it to sweat off some weight. Maybe she was so small she was cold??? In any event, I passed her about 1.5 miles in and never saw her again. Hope she made it. I wish I thought to pay attention to her race number, so I could check on her.

She wasn't, however, the only overly dressed runner though. About half way in I came up to a woman running in long sleeves and a long skirt. This was not a running skirt, but a kinda normal straight line skirt! It was down to her mid-calf area. She was also wearing Vibrams and had a long grey braid down her back. I think she may have been dressed like that for religious reasons. Whatever the reason, I marveled that she could actually run in that skirt.

Then there was the visually impaired woman tethered to her guide runner. At least I think she was visually impaired. i ran near them for a couple of miles and it did not appear that he was guiding her at all. Then around mile 7 they untethered and the guide tethered himself to a visually impaired man. This runner did appear to be relying on the guide. But where did he come from?? I did not see the exchange from the beginning, so I don't know if he was running by himself or met them at that point in the course. The now untethered woman started walking, so I don't know what happened to her. Watching them and thinking about this kept my mind occupied so that was nice!
I ended up passing the tethered duo and did so with another 2 runners. As we passed one of the runners remarked about the tethering and didn't understand why. I explained and then we became running buddies! He really was a talker. At one point he even asked if he was talking too much. I told him it was a nice distraction. He and his friend eventually pulled ahead of me for a few miles until I caught and passed them in the final mile.

When we made the turn to head back to the start -around mile 6.5, we were about 3 streets off the beach and now protected from the wind. So NO wind at my back!!! Why don't you ever get help from the wind?? It's got to be a conspiracy!!
After mile 8 I was in new mile territory. How would I hold up for the final 5? I was a bit worried and did find myself slowing down. I had to focus and was able to manage to keep my pace sub 9 for the most part. I told myself it was only 5 miles and anyone can run 5 miles. Then 4 miles was just Cady way to Phelps and back - part of a normal easy work out. Then I told myself I only had to get to mile 12 cuz anyone can run 1 mile. Of course, the last mile was the one over the causeway, but still...
As I hit the causeway I expected to slow down, but surprisingly I sped up. My legs felt good. Unfortunately, I had reached my aerobic limit and I felt like i was going to hurl! I tried to ignore it, but there was too much up to go and I was really, really, really close to throwing up; so I had to slow down as I thought throwing up would be more time consuming!! And really gross. It seemed like forever, but I finally, made it to the top and was able to settle my stomach as I headed down.
After getting down, my bib came off half my run belt (one of the holes ripped through somehow) and was hanging down annoying me as it rubbed on my leg. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have ripped it off the attached side and just held on to it for the final .3 miles or so. Instead I stopped and reattached it! That was not the smartest move. I only lost about 15-20 seconds (I guess) and it didn't affect my AG ranking, but how dumb!
I picked things up a bit for the final push across the finish and brought myself back to the brink of pukedom!!



Be in better shape!

Grabbed some water, walked around a bit, found S, stretched a bit, found some other friends and then left.


lack of training.


I don't know that I really like this race. It is pretty much a couple of long straight aways with a causeway crossing. It is run along the beach, but you can only see it here and there -and only on the first half, because they let them build condos on the beach side! Still, it is obviously a pretty fast course.