Finished. My wife and I did it. What a good time, great weather and fantastic people. Cu dos to all the runners, volunteers, event organizers and family members.
It all started Friday night when my wife and I hosted a small gathering of about 27 people for a pasta party. Shared our stories, talked strategy and trash talk too. It was truly a fun evening of excitement and anticipation. After it was all said and done everybody went home to rest up for the race. We were in bed and out by 9:30 that night.
RACE DAY!
I can't sleep for the life of me the day before the race or any race for that matter. The alarm is supposed to go off at 4:30 am, and needless to say I was up at 3:50. I just sat there trying to get what rest I could before the alarm goes off. Up and at'em....
Only a few seconds left before we departed for our Coral's, so we ended up getting one final photo together. I could not be more proud of her than I was that morning. Then there's this crew...
These are the boys. Some of the best men I've had the opportunity to be around. Oh and there were some pre race antics. Not for certain if it was fatigue being early in the morning, or just letting off some excitement. This went on for some time. Four of us ran the Half and two others were a part of the same Relay Team.
I committed back in the spring to run a sub 1:40:00 for the 13.1 mile race. I felt good the closer I got to race day, but still the butterfly's were there. This group, albeit great guys, are very competitive too. I promised them I would beat them. A promise I couldn't back down from now. We decided to hang out close to one another before the race started in the same Coral and then...we were on our own. That didn't last to long. I was about 50 yards from the start, looked back at the boys...winked and told them I'd see them at the finish! So I took off and never looked back. OK, I looked back a couple of times. My first goal was to get off to a fast start and hit the 2nd mile marker at 15:40. I liked the pace I was going. The second goal was to be under an hour at the 8 mile marker. Bad part, I never saw it! I flipped out a bit and fear set in. I must have completely missed it because where I thought I was...I wasn't. I made it to the 9 mile market and noticed I was a 1:08:22 and started doing the math from my actual race time and had to subtract 44 seconds. Right on pace.
At 9 miles you enter Akron University. After that, only 2 hills left. Cross the "Y" Bridge one more time, up hill at 11, find the flag at mile 12 and turn it on for 1.1 miles. Between miles 12 and 13 I saw my buddy's wife. She was cheering us all on, and I looked at her and asked, "Am I still beating Jamey?!" Her response, "Yes." That's all I needed to hear and I emptied the tank and ran all out. This is the final turn before entering the Canal Park Baseball Stadium.
Nobody was going to pass me at this point. All I kept thinking about before I turned toward the finish line was that clock better not be at 1:39:50, or I was in big trouble. I turned the corner, looked at the clock and it read 1:38:02. For the next 100 yards, my emotions got the best of me. I was going to do it. I did it.
I finished at 1:38:32, and 7:31 per mile pace. I shattered my goal. Hands on my knees, a lump in my throat, I just kept saying, "I did it. I just freakin' did it." I set the goal, I busted my tail for 4 months getting up at 4:30 am, and I did it. I've never run this fast for that long in my 38 years on this earth. I saw my wife waiting for me. I was so proud of her too. She ran her fastest time and furthest distance. She did great. We had a blast doing this together, and now she's been bitten by the bug. We are already looking forward to the Chocolate Run in November. Anyway, back to Saturday. Everything was perfect. The race, the weather and the friends. I did beat my friend like I told him I would months ago. I'll remind him again today. For now, we all worked hard and we all did great:
What a fun summer. What a way to cap off a season for me. Next, the 15K and 4 miler in November then back to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in April! Maybe a destination run in the fall of 2015....huh,...maybe?
Thanks to those that ran with me, those that routed for all of us and those that knew I...WE were all capable of accomplishing more!
God Bless you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment