Saturday, September 13, 2008

The Race

The cool morning Perry had said would be here didn't materialize, thanks to Ike. Still, I got up at 5, extremely thankful that the migraine I had been plagued with the past few days decided to let up. I was a little nervous when we got there, mainly because I didn't know the race course and there's a loooooong hill close to the park. The race started about 7:30. Thankfully, the course didn't go close to the scary hill. It did start out on a hill, followed by a downhill which I knew would be there for me at the end. Unfortunately, the course took us through Old Town Suwanee, known now to me as Hills from Hades. Holy cow! About halfway up the first hill, I quit running. I would've walked the hill, but I found that it was a little easier to go forward when I was jogging. We got to the top of that hill and the road turned a corner, up a longer, though less steep, hill. I kept looking for water, knowing that it should be around the 1 mile spot. Looking at my watch, and even accounting for the walking I did, I knew I should be somewhere close to the mark, but there was nothing. No water, no sign. We went through a new subdivision, and at the end of the subdivision was the water. I was a little panicked here, because I was now thinking I was off on my time/mileage estimation. There would be no way for me to finish this in less than an hour if this was Mile 1! I pushed on a bit and rounded a corner. From there, I could see the downhill I went down at the start of the race, so I knew I was a lot closer to the end than I thought. I developed a stitch in my side at this point, so I was walking a little slower here. Perry says I crested the hill at 35:00, which is where I wanted to finish the race. Thanks to a downhill into the park, I finished the race at 36:03. Not quite the time I wanted, but after those hills and the walking I did, not bad. I did come in 2nd in the women't 55-59 age group, and would've taken the 60 and up, lol. The overall women's winner came in at 20:46, and my age group was won at 22:59.
I'm not as sold on racing as I thought I would be, and it might've had something to do with the hills. I'll see if I can find a flatter course and see how I do.

5 comments:

Real said...

What? No video streaming?

Congratulations! I'm really proud of how hard you have worked towards this!

Anonymous said...

Way to go! Keep up the good work. It's nice that you are sharing the love of running with Perry. Although, he sounds a bit obsessed! :) Have a great week!

Real said...

Hey, I was going to email this to you but can't find your address. Why wouldn't I have it? Anyway, I know if I don't send it now, I'll lose it forever! So sorry to post this on your blog, but...you know! Anyway, I was going through some old stuff and found this in a letter that I wrote to the Hubba back in 92.

Jamie came to town this weekend for Nathan and Michelle’s reception. So I hung out with her for the hour I was there. She was at church today but I was so busy I hardly got to see her at all. So I invited her over for lunch. I forgot how neat she is. She never judges me. And it’s nice to have someone know me so well and still consider me one of her best friends. I kind of regret that I didn't spend more time with her last semester. Anyway—I had fun eating w/her and talking and reminiscing. She was, by far, the best roommate I’ve ever had. As a roommate and as a sister, she’s the best. And she’s put up w/so much from me. I’m not going to lose contact with her this semester.

Jamie said...

Awww. Thank you for that! You definately were my favourite roomie.

kodiak73 said...

HEY!