Good Morning,
It appears that I don't know how to upload pictures so you will have to click on them to see the whole things. Sorry
I'll start with my list of excuses why it should not have gone well:
- My allergies kept me up all night and got less than an hour of sleep
- My running has been erratic due to battling blisters for the past couple of week
- My knee injury over the last few months has curtailed my running with my longest run literally being a 9 miler in the middle of March with nothing longer than 7 following it.
- And, I was running in shoes that hadn't seen more than 7 miles ever at one time (My vibrams)
The race was a beautiful, the morning was perfect (actually a little warm) believe it or not. My buddy Mark and I decided to run together for as long as possible at the 9 minute pace. My goal was to run 9min/mile til the 7 mile mark and then push it if I was feelling "spunky" as my coach calls it. We started off pretty fast at 8:30s for the first three miles. Slow grade down hill into Soulard plus we both knew we were going to have to stop to get rid of excess water so we wanted to build a cushion. We stopped at mile 4, there was a line at the Johnny that cost us 2:07 according to my Garmin. We picked it backup up after the stop to run through Downtown. There were no major ups/downs but several long slow elevation changes <2% but almost a mile long. Mile 10 was a 1% grad for an entire mile that tends to get old but doable. Mark and I got seperated around mile 7 and I didn't see anyone else that I knew until the end of the race.
My over reaching goal was 1:55 and happy with anything under 2:00. My chip time was 1:58.xx and if I would have had to stop I could have pushed for the 1:55 time. Aside from a very very small blister on my right foot (less than the size of a dime) the shoes did great. My blister casued zero discomfort and was a non issue. The shoes (and my feet and legs) performed as well as I could have expected. I do need to find some shoes for the full distance marathon / IM. At this stage in my training a half marathon is all my foot could have taken in the Vibrams.
Rene did great too, she ran with the 2:10 pace group and finished ahead of them at 2:08. The most amzaing part is that she had an extended visit at the rest room and then sprinted to catch up and pass the pace group. She had two miles toward the end where she was running sub 8:40 which is fantastic. She was in much better shape at the end than I was.
We said goodbye to Tiffany, Ben, and Team Anderson who all had great races. Of note, Harry Anderson (who supplied our shirts) was over 300 pounds a little over a year ago and finished strong (GO HARRY) and Dawn F. husband Herb has been battling a bad bad bad case of Gout in his feet and finished. Lastly, Kyle Anderson sprained his ankle Saturday moving a TV. We saw he and his wife at dinner Saturady night and he was visibly limping. Nothing like going and taking 10,000 steps on a bad ankle the next day!
Great day had by all and I am amazed and inspired by the number of people with their own story, own challenges but achieve their goals anyway. As Ruday Garcia Tolson, the double leg amputee who completed an Ironman said (paraphrase), Don't feel sorry for me, my life is good. Sure, I have challenges but you don't see them stopping me" Only at events like this do you ever see things like this come out. You don't see them in training except when you have to push yourself. To me, the unrealized benefit of paying for and competing in races is seeing the "humanity" of everyone coming together to overcome whatever has happened leading to that point, that day, that race. It is truly inspiring whether it is Harry who is doing to to lose weight and take control, or the wheel chair participants slogging through mile 10, or any of the number of other stories.... It is truly inspiring to me and is a key reason why.
I've got today off of training (thanks coach J) with a swim tomorrow (thanks again) then it is back at it.
I have a long way to go but one day at a time! Now off to find those shoes!
Until next time
Tracy
I am so proud of the man you are and the iron man that you are striving to be. You did a great job on Sunday, and it was a lot of fun to run with you (or way behind you, whatever). I never would have done it without you, and it was a blast! Thanks! It made me consider running again, as long as its not through a hurricane, that is.
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