Notes
Left from Lisa's house at 1530 with Lisa & Peggy. Made it to Lawrence in good time. The Super 8 was adequate, and we mainly overlooked that it really wasn't very nice. Got checked in & headed to Hyvee for packet - pick up. Then, to Applebees for dinner. That was pretty good. I ate about 1/2 the pasta/chicken plate I ordered & had Sierra Mist. I was fighting a bit of a headache. Back to the hotel to get ready for the a.m. After the usual discussions about putting on chips and what to wear the next a.m. we settled down. I grudgingly took a Tylenol PM for my headache. It worked though. I woke up after a good night's sleep feeling well.
Greek yogurt, applesauce & banana for b'fast at 0530 and we headed out the door by 0630. Parking downtown Lawrence was easy. It was COLD, however & I was freezing. I managed to sneak into the packet pick up shop for a while to get warm & then we went back to the car after scoping everything out. I put on a warmer shirt while in the car. I was not sorry.
Getting positioned for the start was much easier than last week. This is a smaller race. I lined up with the 2 hr group. I quickly got up with the 155 group & hung with them for a bit. Then, there was a water stop and a hill so i went on ahead of them at that point. Carrying my little disposable bottle has worked out great lately. The roads in Lawrence we started (and ended) on have a lot of potholes and uneven spots so I spent a bit of time being careful. I felt good though & my only concern was hoping I would continue feeling good.
The hill at 5 was fine & I took a lot of folks at that point. The long straight stretch after was tricky as we had to share the sidewalk with the other faster runners who had already made the turn. It was crowded and passing was tricky. The turn was sharp, and came quicker than I expected. Again, after the turn on that stretch we bottlenecked. Approaching the hill at 10 we hit some wind & I was starting to tire. The hill was fine though and going down was fine as well. Then, there were bunny hills and a long downhill - along with the wind. That's when it got tough. Folks around me were getting vocal about this part not being so friendly. I hooked up with another gal for about a mile around 11-12 and she said she did this a few years ago and this was a different & harder course. Overall, although it was getting harder i still felt fine.
We could hear the announcer about 3/4 of a mile out so that was motivating & helped. I was fine on keeping the pace. I saw the Finish sign ahead and tried to push it a bit. I didn't think I was successful, but now I see the SUB 8 (YAY!) for the last mile when I was already tired & I'm pleased.
I don't know all the stats yet, but my chip time was 1:52:26 which was faster than 1:54:01 last week. I'm happy about that, plus I got 1st place age div. Peggy got 2nd in our division somewhere 3 - 4 min behind me. Lisa placed 2nd in her div as well. Lisa said the announcer commented on her being from Columbia as she crossed the finish line.
Another good, solid, push for me & I'm really glad we got to do this. It's been a lot of fun & just the type of runs I've been needing. There are 3 weeks till the final race in the Heartland 39.3 Series.