The train up was the most I ever have done. I trained for over two months for a 11.5 mile race. I had my points plotted in my head what marks I wanted to hit and where. I knew which water stations I would stop at ( they had them at every Nautical mile).
I decided to do something I also never do before a race and that is to eat pasta. We sat and at the pre-race meal and thought nothing of it. We went back to the Holiday Inn Express and got some sleep for the early start of the race. 0630 will come fast so after watching Percy Jackson lightning thief I fell asleep. Sleep was usual with about two to three hours of good sleep followed by tossing around trying to get the last minutes of sleep for the night.
The morning was my normal procedures, take care of my hygiene to include showering and shaving then eat a Banana and drive to the race site. On arrival the air was thick with humidity. The gun went off and we started running. I was in the lead pack and having a great time up there. Then the pre-race pasta coupled with the 105 heat index hit me and crushed my PR dreams. I had to stop and gather my self for a couple miles then go back at it. The heat was intense but I kept pushing now stopping at every drink stop to get cold water and drinking my HEED which I carried with me throughout the run. As I headed to the finish and the Team Fisher House leaders were cheering me on , I finally felt better and cruised into the finish. My time was disappointing but I can grow from it. I completed the run in 1:48, 152 of 618 runners and 19th in my age group out of 40.
The biggest thrill was running back and pushing my young soldier to keep going and finish, then running the last mile with my best friend, my wife Gwen, she has overcome her dislike of running to power through three 10 plus mile races in the last 6 months. Great work to all.
Next Hurdle is putting together a successful 5th annual Haley's Team Twilight 5k for 25 June.
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