Sunday, February 1, 2015

#13




**This race happened like a month ago, but I just haven't gotten around to documenting it! Life...it's crazy right now, but crazy good!

So, I'll take you back to 12/31/14.


After waking up the day after Christmas with a horrid little “gift” (sore throat, fatigue & some good ol’ nausea) and having to take a few days off from work, I probably shouldn't even have been out there on NYE. 

With weather predictions getting colder and colder, rain and maybe even ice on New Year’s Day, I had pretty much decided that I’d only get to do one half of my double and was really kind of sad about it.

The NY Double of 2014/2015 just wasn’t meant to be, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try and knock it out of the park on day 1.

I met my MRTT friends bright and early Wednesday morning because this marathon wasn’t just a marathon.  It was a marathon + a 5k.  An ultramarathon of sorts?

I ran the 5k easy with my friend Kelly (who just happens to be running for two!) and we became Team Penguin and Pistol Pete (see our hats).  The 5k pretty much flew by. 

The rest of my friends and I met for a picture and a few of us went back to our cars to warm up before the half and full marathon started.  That’s the great thing about this race.  There are no parking fiascos, if you forget something you can easily run back to your car, or in this case, use it as a refuge of sorts!

Warming time was soon over and the race started.  This particular race is a looped course of 6.55 miles.  So for the full (do the math), it is 4 loops around.  Now to some, this might sound really dull and monotonous, but in all actuality, it is *really* fun!  There were a few brave MRTT souls along with their mini’s that came out to cheer for a bit, so I saw them several times.  Plus, you get to see lots of friends and acquaintances between 6 & 8 times on the course.  It’s great to get that extra lift, a high 5 or even just a smile.  The drop tent is also key.  Because it was a cold day, I realized after my first lap that I was sorely overdressed and was able to drop clothes, pick up snacks, etc. each time I circled the course.  The race director is pretty amazing the way she thinks of all of these things…(an ultramarathoner herself). 

My celebratory #13 at mile 13 pic.

Since I wasn’t sure (ok…I had pretty much made up my mind) that I was going to run the next day, I decided to push the pace on this day.  I maintained a 10-11 min mile pace the entire way.  Towards the end it was getting cold and despite all of my layers my feet & legs were getting pretty cold and I feel like it slowed me down a bit.  Another interesting thing that happened…I used my amazing new Jabra wireless headphones (a Christmas gift from Mr. Southern Fried Soul) not realizing it would drain the battery of my phone at warp speed.  So basically, no music for over half of this race, just a lot of conversations in my own head.

Regardless, I finished.  #13 was in the books! 

4:46:33 (after completing a 5k earlier that day!)

Even though I was disappointed that this ultimate challenge (the double 5k/double marathon) just wasn’t going to happen for me (I felt horrible the evening of NYE), it was still super fun and a top notch race. 


#13 also brought a second place finish…missing 1st by less than a minute (kicking myself now for poking around in a couple of spots for too long).  I was pretty stoked about this as I came in 4th last year (this happens…A LOT).   I didn’t collect my finisher’s plate for doing both days, but I did get some pretty sweet glassware to toast my year in. 


This race will definitely be on my agenda again for 2014/2015.  I’m not sure if I’ll try to attempt the double again, but I know one day will be on my race schedule.  It was a great way to end 2014!

As a side note….I had a lot of brave souled friends who went out to complete day 2 of this challenge in the freezing rain.  You, my friends, have more mental toughness than I can dream of!