Half marathon #33 is in the books! Just 6 weeks post bladder surgery. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't close to my normal half race time, but it still was 13.1 miles for a finish and another half in the books.
The Blues is usually earlier in the January and the race has been known to have some bad luck with weather. It is either freezing or raining. Last year the race was canceled due to a winter storm that brought in sleet and ice. The conditions were just too bad to host a race. This year they moved the race to the last weekend of January and guess what.... RAIN... and a boat load of it! I think this is the first ever race I've done where it literally rained from the start to the finish! I'm glad I wasn't trying for a PR. Although we saw several MARATHON winners pass us between miles 10-13... Yep they were finishing 26.2 miles faster than I was finishing 13.1 miles! Talk about BEAST.
Just being 6 weeks after my surgery, I had asked my doctor if I could walk the half. He said yes so that was my plan. I would walk the half with a little jogging added in. I was happy to meet up with a teammate who also planned to jog/walk the half and we ended up staying together the entire race. It sure made the time go by faster and I enjoyed the company. I had my cell phone in a zip lock bag to keep it from getting wet and had not taken it out due to the rain to take the normal pictures I would have taken at the race. Heck I didn't even take a picture at the start! Kathy got one of us at the start line, but not sure it came out. I haven't seen it yet. She didn't keep her phone out for us to check it out because it was RAINING and the buzzer was going off to start the race. At mile 12 I told Katherine we needed to grab a picture real quick while the rain was somewhat slacked off. So here's my only picture I took on race day.
Proof we were out there.. ha
I have never been so wet in my life!!! And I've never worn a rain jacket an entire race either! One time during the race, Katherine bent over to pick up something off the ground and her jacket hat had been collecting water and it dumped out all over her head and shoulders. It was like something you'd see in a movie. LOL We were both ready to get to the finish line and get them wet clothes off!
We didn't even take a picture at the finish nor even go to see what type food they had at the finish line. Usually you can see the after race party area full with people eating and showing off their medals. The after race area was empty. No one was hanging around. I think everyone did what we did and go directly to their cars and try to get their wet clothes off and get some where dry and warm.
I did take pictures of my medal once I got home and I also compared it to a past blues medal.... take a look at the size...
Not near as big as one I've gotten before, but still a cute guitar. I believe this is the 5th time I've done the Blues. Maybe next year I'll skip it since the weather always seems to put a damper on the race. Maybe that's why they call it the BLUES... ha I certainly had the blues while doing 13.1 miles in that nasty rain. The crazy things we do for a t-shirt and little medal. :>) They do say runners are CRAZY.
I'm glad it's done and now that I'm 6 weeks post surgery, I can start adding more running into my training and hopefully build back up to where I was at several months ago.
later, D
"Jesus waits on the porch. He stands on the threshold. He taps.... and calls. He waits for you to open the door. To pray is to open it. " Max Lucado before AMEN
Glad we did this together! I'm not sure I would have finished as strong if I had been by myself! Races are always more fun with friends...especially if it's pouring rain the whole time!
ReplyDelete