This past weekend we ditched the kids and headed to La Crosse, Wisconsin (here's a big shout-out to the grandmas who filled in for me--xoxoxo!). I was meeting up with two friends from high school and meeting a new friend for the first time. The four of us were planning on running the La Crosse Fitness Festival marathon as a relay! Planning is the key word.
Sunday morning of the race, we met at 5:30am in order to take pre-race pictures and get to the shuttle that would take our first runner across the soon-to-be-closed bridge for the starting line. It was raining cats and dogs, thundering, and lightning. We headed out to where the race was supposed to start, only to learn that "an official announcement would be made at 7am". With nothing better to do, we headed to a diner and the "pit crew", aka the hubbies, had breakfast while the rest of us watched and drooled. We didn't want to risk our race tummies on the chance that the rain would stop and we would get to run.
At a little after 7am, we checked the race website and learned that the marathon had been cancelled, but all participants could run the half marathon instead, and it was going to begin at 8:30am. At around 7:30 we all piled back in the DCDALY 6 totally-rad-awesomely-cool-minivan headed to the park where the race was to start. It was still raining, but now not only cats and dogs, but miniture ponies, too.
We spent A LOT of time in the back of the van, but eventually we learned that the marathon relay teams could split up: two run the first half, two run the second half. We decided that our "pro runner" would run the entire way with our timing chip, and the three of us, "semi-pro runners" would join in the fun at mile 7. We left our starter in the rain at the starting line and headed out to find mile marker 7. We almost missed it, but our "team coach/photographer" did a little investigating (as in hopping out of the van and uprighting a blown over sign) and soon we were settled in for a while, waiting for the runners to start running by so that we could catch up with our chip-timer!
Right on pace, our "pro" zoomed past and we fell into the race with her. It was a decent run and lucky for us "semi-pros", it had stopped raining and was turning out to be a decent morning, no sun for us, though. I was pleased with my performance; it wasn't my best run, but I attribute that to a poor night's sleep, a lack of hydration (a fear of having to "go", if you know what I mean), and the emotional ups and downs that the weather and cancellation/postponement presented. I wasn't in the best frame of mind, but we all finished! We all received pretty medals, they say "half marathon finisher", but oh well...
Most important about the weekend: Dave and I had a nice, quiet road trip, we met some new friends, and it was an adventure! You just never know what will happen next!!!
2 comments:
Thanks to everyone who made special arrangements (travel, child care, etc.) to come to La Crosse for the big race! Despite the weather it turned out to be an awesome day! I workout with a personal trainer once a week. She has asked us to bring in something to help motivate us. I'm bringing a copy of that photo of us after the race. Needless to say, I didn't train properly and felt pretty wretched by the end and it shows on my face. I never want to feel that way again! You all inspire me to keep going and not give up!
Great attitude, Kel! We'll have a better race on the 26th!
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