A Full in Ohio

My friend J and I ran the Air Force Marathon at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH on 21 September.  It was a great run!!

So, this was J's first marathon and she was nervous.  But I knew she could do it, so we got into her truck and took two days to get from Florida to Ohio.  A really nice drive, through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and then stopping in southern Ohio.  We got there on Friday and went straight to packet pick-up.  We wandered around for a bit, got our stuff and listened to Jeff Galloway speak for a bit.  After a while it was just time to get to J's friend's house and get some dinner and then off to bed.

The weather, yet again, was amazing.  It rained most of the morning before the start, but settled into just being cloudy for a good portion of the run.  I love cloudy day runs--normally it keeps the heat down but my shoes stay dry, so it's just a good time the whole way around.  The first few miles were fairly easy/comfortable (if you ignore the hills that we aren't used it) and we sailed along.  

The marathon's set up was amazing--apparently the Air Force really LISTENED to critiques from previous runners and strove to improve their course.  Every single mile there was a water station and every other station had a medical tent.  The run actually went on and off the base, so there was a lot to look at and lots of people cheering us on.  We ran through a town, just outside of one of the W-P gates (can't remember the name right now) and they were awesome.  They decorated their town early for Halloween and had their high school band out (nothing is more motivating than the brass and drum section of HS bands during a run), plenty of others out cheering, the town was just a great time.

Once we got back onto base, one of the sections had an "Alien Town" set up for us.  Great music, people dressed up as various Sci-Fi characters and as the Men in Black.  It kept us entertained for a while and we soon found ourselves on a beautiful running trail in the back of the base.  There were huge oak tree that created a ceiling over the path and made for a beautiful two-ish mile section.  

Then we got to THAT PART.  THAT PART is the stretch of a marathon where there is nothing but other runners and, in this case, the very boring stretch of road around a runway.  It's usually later in the run (between miles 18-22ish) and this is always the part that makes me wonder what on earth I was thinking.  It's the mental section of the run--are you tough enough to keep going?  Can you ignore the Blerch that wants you to quit?  Can you do it?  Don't you want to just stop??

Nope--I am many things and stubborn is high on that list.  My friend J, around this time, decided to head on in front of me.  I'm a slow runner and don't mind if my faster friends want to stretch their legs after a while, so that's what she did.  The sun came out about then too and this is where my Florida training came in handy--I was fine.  I was not really overly heated, like some of the people I ran past, and it wasn't all that humid, even though it had rained all night.  Or maybe it just wasn't as hot and humid as I was used to--regardless, I kept going and finished right around 5:50.  I would have been faster, but I stopped to say hi to a friend of mine that lives in OH right at the finish line.  It was great to see S, so the minute or two on my time was well worth it.  J finished about 10-15 minutes ahead of me, so we met up at the finish.  

We spent a bit of time waiting--there was a Spec Ops (TACP?) guy that did the whole 26.2 in full battle rattle.  For those that have never worn it, it's about 80 lbs of "stuff."  Not the most comfortable way to do a marathon, but a great way to raise money for the charity he was supporting.  Pretty amazing guy...  Unfortunately, we didn't wait quite long enough to see him, he finished about 20 minutes after we had to call it.

If anyone is looking to do a marathon, I highly recommend the AF one.  It was just as well organized as a Disney run, but a lot smaller and easier to navigate.  

A Triathlon in Alabama

Two weeks after my Half in Maine, I completed my first Triathlon!  It was in Gulf Shores, Alabama--the Alabama Coastal Triathlon.  Overall, I had a great time...though I did learn that tris are a LOT different from marathons.

My sister, A, lives near me so I asked if she would ride over with me and hang out.  She did, and I enjoyed spending time with her.  She may think I'm a bit insane, over my fascination with endurance sports, but I think she likes seeing the different places and hearing my stories, so she's a pretty good cheerleader...as long as I don't wake her up at 0430, lol.  THAT she won't do.  :)

Anyway, we checked in to our hotel and went down to the expo to get the race packet.  They put a paper bracelet on me--like they give people at a bar that are of age--which I promptly took off.  I picked up the packet, found the tattoos and timing chips and then we headed back to the hotel.  I dug through my goody bag, decided not to wear the provided swim cap and got my things ready for the next morning.  I got up, put my hair up, figured out the tattoos (think the temp tattoos that kids wear...used to wear...?)  and got down to the car.  I was very early (early is in my nature, add in nerves and I was EARLY) and took my time getting my bike out and making certain I got everything out of my car.  Then I headed to the transition area to set up...and that's were I discovered things were different.

First thing I was asked about was my paper bracelet.  When I told them I had taken it off, I was looked at kind of oddly, but they gave me another one and told me to keep that one on.  Oooookay...then they start the announcements.  USAT (the governing body for triathlons) have a couple of rules that I, as a runner, was unaware of.  Aside from the importance of the bracelet, I learned about all of the disqualifying factors--having a phone or any device that plays music while on the swim, bike or run will cause disqualification.  Additionally, any GPS that announces is reason to be disqualified--having a GPS (I have a Garmin) is fine, but no voice.   Your number must be displayed on your bike and not wearing your bib on the front of your body on the run is also disqualifying.

In running sports, music devices are discouraged (but no one really listens to that), placing your bib somewhere on the front of your body is preferred, though they just want everyone to have A bib, and nothing else is mandatory.  We're just a bunch of happy runners.

Also, I wore my own swim cap--I like it.  It's hot pink and makes me happy.  I was waiting for my number to come up for swimming and someone walks up to tell me that I have to wear one of the provided swim caps.  Uh...damn.  I left it at the hotel.  So, I ran around and looked for the tent that gave  them out the evening before and one of the volunteers gave me one.  I ran back to the beach and waiting for about 10 more minutes to start my swim portion.

The swim was in the Gulf of Mexico--beautiful water that day.  There was a loop we (the Olympic distance peeps) had to do twice to get in our .9 mile swim.  Awesome.  Then...the jellyfish...oohhhhhh, the jellyfish.  Having been raised near the water, I know that they're not necessarily dangerous, most have a mildly painful sting that is uncomfortable, but nothing life threatening...no Portuguese-Man-o-War, so I was okay.  Until the one got into my bra.  If you've never had a stinging animal climb into a very sensitive area and sting the crap out of you, I highly recommend not trying it.  Seriously.  Fortunately, it was just a matter of moving the band of my bra (while not drowning) and releasing my newfound "friend" and I was good to go.

After the two loops and my brief friendship with the jellyfish, I moved on to the bike ride.  My absolute favorite.  I always feel like an eight year old kid when I'm on my bike; I love it.  I started out and enjoyed the ride immensely.  I lost a water bottle at one point, but the 25 mile ride was just fun.  By the time it was over, I got through my second transition and got into the run, which was a 10K (6.2 miles).

Now, running is what I do.  I've been running full marathons for almost five years, so I like it.  I'm not very fast, more of a comfortable/steady runner, so coming in late doesn't bother me.  But, during the summer, I do try and knock out running as early as possible and it was already about 0930/1000 before I started on the run portion.  And it was hot.  Alabama in the summer time hot.  Fortunately, this was not this group's first rodeo, so they had iced towels at all but the first (and last, because it was an out and back run) water station and that made a hell of a difference.   Every time I grabbed a drink, someone was handing me a frozen towel.  Awesome.

Overall, my time was not great for an Olympic distance triathlon--around 3:50.  I mean I finished, and it was my first one ever, so I was pretty danged thrilled with the time but I didn't place, or even come close.

Or so I thought.

Turns out I placed third in the Athena division.  Triathlons have four groups of people men under and over 220 (I think?)--the Clydesdale division--and women below and above 165--the Athena division.  Now, I'm (barely) over 165, but I'll own that I am over that weight.  I was pretty shocked to find out I placed, but I'm happy nonetheless.  :)

Now, I'm on to that Half Ironman...

A Half in Maine

Back in August (I know it's October, sorry!), I went up North to visit my friend, R, in Boston, Mass.  She is a runner too, so she found us a little half marathon to run in the middle of nowhere, southern Maine, during that time.

Before this trip, I had never been that far north in the continental US.  The first thing I noticed after I got off the plane in Boston, was the weather.  It was awesome!  It was still AUGUST and I was not melting.  That may seem like a strange observation to some, but I live in Florida.  August is meant for misery here--getting up all summer at 0400 to try and squeeze in a run before the sun comes up and it's absolutely too hot to think (or run safely, for that matter) is the norm here.

Anyway, I spent the night with R and her husband P and the next morning, R and I got up to head to Maine.  We stopped for gas once we got into Maine and I HAD TO PUT ON A JACKET.  Again, Floridian--I don't even like to LOOK at a jacket until November; even the idea of putting one on makes me hot.  We went to a beautiful Bed and Breakfast and checked in, then we headed off to go kayaking.

The kayaking was a lot of fun, though the water was stupid cold, lol!  I stepped in it to get into the kayak and it actually took my breath away...but the area was so pretty.  Our tour guide was a little odd...to say the least...but the views were completely worth it.  We had a two hour guided tour and then decided to call it.

The next morning, we got up to do the half marathon.  The race was very small--only 200 participants--so there was no packet pick-up, no expo, no bibs, no stress.  The race started at 0730...or earlier, if we wanted.  The run was held by Blueberry Cove Camp (I think it's a 4H camp) and the director's announcement that morning was that this was an easy-going type of run.  He mentioned that if someone was running to win, they were probably at the wrong race...it was set up for people to complete and that was it.  No official timing and runners could head out as early as 0630, though there was no guarantee the water stations would be set up that early.  We ran through a coastal farming town (the same area we had kayaked in the day before) and the locals were out, en force.  They were all very nice and cheered us on.  The scenery was simply amazing.  Coastal Maine is mind blowing in the summertime, it really reminded me of the time I've spent in Germany in the summer.

I had an epiphany while running--this is why people actually like the summertime.  It's not miserable everywhere, in some places summer is quite lovely.  And suddenly I also understood the Snow Birds.  Snow Birds are older people that live in the north during the summer and come south to Florida for the winter...yup, it all makes sense now.  Why not move to Florida?  Summer sucks.  Why not stay up north?  Winter sucks.  But the combination of areas and seasons...?  Oh yes.  I get it.

The run itself was a good one.  Finished in just under three hours; there were a few hills that were worth walking up, so we just took it easy and enjoyed.  I had not seen my friend R in over 10 years, so we really just took the opportunity to chat and have a good time.  She had not been running in a while and was worried about finishing, but I like to think I'm pretty easy to run with (so long as you don't mind going slowly) and we finished in good time.  The medal (which was porcelain, not metal) was actually really cool...no T-shirt for that run, which I admit to being disappointed about.  It was just such a cool little run and I would've worn that shirt...but, oh well.  I have the medal and the pictures and a great memory of a beautiful run with a good friend.  I guess if the lack of a t-shirt is my biggest complaint, it really was an awesome run.