forgive the cut and paste...thanks for the kick in the rear, Aamos and Mariposai... Delaware Marathon and 10 Miler, 18 May, 2008 Our glass was half full. Saturday morning, the day before the race: Lilmissrosie asked if she could drive the Corolla de ville to Alexandria, rather than taking her usual vehicle, the Montana Mini Van. She used “better gas mileage” and “easier to maneuver in traffic” as her main selling points. She drove the Corolla to NOVA, leaving the house before 0630. There are three cars left in the driveway. A 1991 Buick Le Sabre, (with only 85,000 miles on it!) a tank, usually driven by the 6’ 4” manchild. My 1995 Honda Civic with over 180,000 miles on it. Or the Montana Mini Van. I convince the rocket scientist that my Honda Civic would get the best gas mileage and plus, it has my “26.2” sticker on it and my “runner girl” sticket… He was skeptical. I said, “What could go wrong? We just put in a new timing belt and fuel pump?” Before we got out of the neighborhood, he screams “LOOK AT YOUR TEMP. GAUGE!” I said, “What? It’s not in the red yet.” He is steaming mad. “Don’t you ever check your gauges?” I said, well, what could I say? So I pulled into the Shell station and he pops the hood and there is steam. Lots of steam. And a crack in the radiator. Glass is half full. My car is now at the Shell station where the radiator can be fixed. We weren’t stranded on the highway, no tow trucks, all is well. I call the manchild and he picks us up in the Buick and takes us home. We load up the Montana Mini Van and off we go. We take 301 all the way to Wilmington. Nice to avoid 95. Packet pick-up, hotel check-in, all uneventful. My cousin, Ginny, lives in Wilmington so she made us a great dinner of angel hair pasta and Mrs Robino’s meatballs and sauce. Yum. It is race day morning. We hop in the Montana to drive to the start. I immediately say, “R.S. Something is wrong! This car is not driving right. Can you feel that?” He says, “Pull over and let me look.” I pulled over. He gets out. “Ah geez. You have a flat tire!” Glass is half full. He checked all four tires before we left and had the proper amount of air in there. (So it wasn’t my fault!) And, we were still in the hotel complex and easily parked the car. Glass is FULL! He told me to go call a cab from the lobby. BUT. I noticed a very handsome young man sitting in the lobby with a race number on… I boldly asked for a ride to the start. And he said, “Sure, but you won’t be comfortable, I have a Honda Civic.” I said, “No problem.” He said, “It’s a two-door.” I said, “That’s what I have!” So we get to the race after a lovely ride with a lovely couple, Robert and Kim, engaged to be married, from Rehobeth Beach. Before the race started I spotted Runny Knose, he was easy to spot because he had a yellow maniac shirt and I knew his race number. He is a kind gentleman and I wish we could have spent more time with him. THE GLASS IS STILL FULL. The race starts and the weather is perfect. A lot of you know that I had a little bit of surgery in December, and so, have been taking it easy while running a few half marathons this year. (Read: LaVita is a big slacker) Today, I wore Garmin in a race for the first time this year. This meant I was going to actually try. Well, I knew before the first official mile marker that Garmin had Gremlins and was not to be trusted. I have Mr Garmin programmed to keep mile splits and to show me the average pace per mile. He rang a tenth of a mile early and told me I ran an 8:56. I do not run under 9 minutes per mile. I am lucky to be breaking 10 at this point. Oh well. I decided to focus on consistency, form, breathing, and trying to keep Miss Purple Shirt with Fuel Belt in my sight. (She had “relay” on her back, while I wore “10 Miler” on mine) The miles clicked by and I felt good because I felt like I was working but not over-working. Then. About mile 5-6, thoughts of failure fluttered through my head. I knew I needed a mantra to squelch these thoughts. Perhaps the Garmin Gremlins had migrated to my head. Oddly enough… here is my thought pattern: Mustang Sally. She is recovering right now, so it won’t hurt to channel her. It won’t take away from her training. Plus, she’s on a camping trip. (I thought, “This is SO weird. Why am I thinking like this?”) So I shortened my thoughts from “What would Mustang Sally do?” to “WWMSD” And then I would answer myself. “WWMSD” “Right now she would speed up because this is downhill” “WWMSD” “Right now she would be irritated that those runners are clogging up the narrowed path so she would maneuver through as best she could.” “WWMSD” “Right now she would dig deep” The only thing I think MS would have done differently? She would have caught and passed Purple Shirt with Fuel Belt girl. I did not. THE GLASS IS OVERFLOWING.As I waited and watched for the r.s. to finish. I SAW AMY (AAMOS) FINISHING IN FINE FORM. I love it when I don’t know Amy is going to be at a race and then I see her. After she finishes (first place in her age group with a 3:30) She waits and cheers with me. Soon, my cousin, Ginny, arrives and we are three cheering women. The r.s had the respiratory virus that I had had earlier. He was home sick from work earlier in the week and only ran a few miles. He was weak from all that coughing and he was undertrained. I was worried that we didn’t see him at his usual time but, Amy said, “When I saw him he was fine. I’m sure he just knew early that he should shut it down and just finish.” She was right, he rolled in at 3:55, a good 10 minutes over his usual time. He said he felt like he was working too hard at mile 3! He said he had no business running this race so undertrained. He said that all that car trouble was an omen. He was “warned”. But I said, “You finished a marathon in under 4 hours and you can cross Delaware off the list. You have completed a marathon in 20 states and have run 21 marathons!” He said, “Yeah, but I’m tired now.” After a little nourishment from the abundant food tent, he was happier and appreciative of all the blessings we gathered this weekend. Wow. This race report is a rambler, isn’t it? Sorry about that. If you hung on this long, you should win a bobble head trophy, too, just like Amy’s! Lagniappe After I finished the 10 Miler, I got some chow and sat with three lovely women. They were young, in their early 30’s, had young children but challenged each other to run this together. It was nice sitting there eating soft pretzels and drinking beer with them before 10:00 a.m….. AND. At 1000, this really good band got on stage. I told the girls, “I am going to go and meet that guy in the black shirt.” They gasped. I ran over to the stage and said, “Hey RAY!” And he walked over and looked quizzical. I said, “I’m Rose.” He shook my hand. I said, “My friends want to hear some blues.” He said, “We’ll see what we can do about that.” Not only is Moose a most excellent runner, he plays in a really cool band. And those girls think I'm cool because I know Ray. __________________ ~ La Vita

What a great report. You made my day, Rose (or LaVita, or whatever!).

You gotta save these RRs and publish them, my chum. You are the best! grins, A ps1 I really would love to plan to meet you at a race and hang out more. ps2 You didn't mention yer pink Brooks Tangents {I asked R. what LV was wearing and all he could remember was the shoes. They ARE lovely.}

No fine for this RR...you should get an OUTSTANDING! Love your attitude and great to see you on the road again w/ RS. What's next? Loved the part about Ray...you're a groupie.

Wow.. you were gooing through cars like crazy there. Nice report - great to see you on Sunday - The guys in the band think I'm OK cause I know the real cool runner. As usual, my bandmates were shocked to see so many skinny, sober people all in one place - not our usual crowd. Ray

eliz, I thought your comment was a hoot. I had relatives in Philly, so I know how y'll think .

awesome race report!! sounds like a fun, crazy day - hope your car troubles get better!!

Awesome RR and terrific race. Thanks for taking time to post the RR. (Hope everyone knows that my joking about Delaware on Amos' RR thread was with tongue firmly in cheek. And I was making more fun of the way we SE Pennsylvanians think about Delaware than I was of Delaware itself.) Glad you had such a greta race in the First State. Eliz

Eliz! No worries! I have family on both sides of the border so you can't offend me! Seriously, your note on Amy's thread was taken in the manner in which you intended. Thanks for your encouragement. Amy! I forgot that you had asked Ralph what I was wearing and he said nothing for a few moments until he remembered I was wearing my very fast pink racing shoes. Um, I guess he just said, "I know she's wearing pink shoes." I get a lot of compliments on those pink Saucony's. They are light as a feather. Thanks for the nice comments everyone. You all are kind.