Notes
Well done Warrensburg! Left Columbia at 0502 & after one stop enroute, pulled up at the Courthouse by Old Drum & parked right out front. The start was right there. Very convenient. Met Rachel and Larissa. The Half was to start at 0800, the 10K at 0810 & the 5K at 0820. My only complaint for this entire thing was they didn't get started till 0808. It was windy & cold. I started to shiver, but remembering my last marathon I sucked it up & didn't allow shivering. Guess it wasn't too bad for the short period of time. So, I join the group lining up for the Half. I end up standing by two 50ish men. One man looks at me and says, "Good to see you!" I say, "Really?" (I'm desperately wondering if I should know this person, which considering being in Wrbg would be possible), then the man says, "Yes, so good to see so many of us seniors out for this." No, I did not slap him. Ok, social hour ended, thank goodness & we were off.
I was cold to start & the first few miles were effortless. I thought this would be way cool. I really, really enjoyed running around campus. I turned Shuffle on and really took in where we were. We went by Tristan's first dorms & then out to Lions Lake. It was pretty hilly there - rolling mainly, but there were some bigger ones. I felt strong on the hills & passed several people on these first hills. Our first aid station was at .37 & it seemed like we had a station about every .37 throughout. This course was the best marked course I have EVER been on. They had big, bright orange painting on the street every mile with huge arrows AND they had signs every mile - with the miles on it and the distance & also signs that had the turns marked. They also had volunteers at the intersections, in addition to all the aid stations. The timing was done by Columbia Track Club so the clock was familiar. This was a very well run, organized event.
At any rate, this seemed mostly like rolling hills with a few bigger ones tossed in. I delighted in most of them. We ran by 1st Pres Church, where Tristan was baptized & we ran by Cumberland Pres church were Eulah Early's funeral was. We ran by places I used to push the kids around in the double stroller! Old, old days. The wind, which was a concern for me was kind till the end. About mile 11 it seemed we were going uphill and into the wind. That was tough esp. for the end. There were several women ahead of me & I was still able to pick them off going up the hills against the wind so that felt good, but I was worried I was going to spend it all out & they'd pass me closer to finish, but I didn't see them again. At about mile 11 I saw another women and a man running tog. some distance ahead. I wondered if I could get close. After the next hill I saw I was closing in on them so I figured I'd at least see if I could close the gap more. I caught up to them & ran next to them for a bit. She seemed to be running with the guy. I pulled on ahead. Next thing I know she had ditched the guy and was on my tail. I could see her shadow. I pushed on worried she'd give the burst of speed & fly past me. To finish we had to turn right & then make a U-turn to head straight to the chute. She was right there. Boy, that last .1 is a long way away sometimes! I gave it what I could & managed to stay just ahead of her. The finish was fun. Rachel & Larissa were there to cheer me on. After we had crossed, the gal came up & we talked briefly. She was wearing an AF Marathon shirt! How cool, so we talked about that. She commented we had a good pace going. Another man said I paced him for most of the race. He said he just kept watching my green shirt & ended up with a better time than usual. Although this wasn't a PR - or even close, it was a decent pace for me - esp. considering the heel pain is still an issue & also the wind & hills we had so I'm really pleased. Guess I was hoping I could redeem myself some after the poor performance of the AF Marathon & I feel like this helped with that.