Rose Colored Glasses
I made him stand with my friends and me as we cheered for runners who were about 300 meters from the finish line of the Richmond Marathon.
Why "Poor Tramps"? Because I am usually decaffeinated... but I had taken gel blasts and a gel with caffeine and had a "decaf" Starbucks coffee which still has caffeine and so... I was a bit exuberant...
Sorry about the motor-mouth, Tramps! But it was great fun to see you again. Oh, and Emily finished in 5:06 ( I think) and she was NOT HAPPY.
I have never seen anything like it. We spotted her, high up the hill, and then, a surreal thing happened. There was no one near her, all the folks in front of her had run to the finish, the folks behind her were a blur higher on the hill. The only thing on the street with her was a HUGE FIRE ENGINE with its sirens blasting and its LEFT TURN SIGNAL ON!
It turned right (but left) in FRONT of Emily. And onto 6th Street (we had to move to the sidewalk).
We let the fire engine go, and then started cheering madly for Emily. Bill stood in the street with his camera. We were ecstatic.
And then she did it.
She flipped the bird right as Bill was snapping the picture.
She was VERY NOT HAPPY.
Bill turned to us and said, "Did my daughter just flip me off?"
Uh huh.
Here's my story: (I had way more fun than Emily)
14 November, 2009073053° F100% relative humiditya little "liquid sunshine" as the announcer called it. I'd just call it rain. Albeit a misty rain unlike the torrential type we'd been experiencing for the past three days.The Richmond Half Marathon sponsored by McDonald's. My plan was to run this like a quality training run for Rocket City. We ran Indianapolis on 17 October and Rocket City is 12 December. This half is halfway between the two marathons.I wanted to run very even splits at 9:30 pace per mile. As I was running, I remembered someone here or there had said, "Let the pace come to you"Well, I've only been running for 30 years, so I have not yet learned how to pace myself. I still use training wheels...aka Garmin.Richmond has a few hills and these were nice, they allowed different muscles to show their stuff. My pace reflected the hills, both up and down. As I told La Tortuga when she visited last year, "I am a gravity runner".I highly recommend the race. Richmond offers a lovely course with plenty of crowd support and some nice bands...but... the best part about this race is THE FINISH IS DOWNHILL! I think the last three miles were downhill but the last mile or so is screaming downhill.According to the chip, which is all that counts or matters, I met my goal.Half marathon: 2:04:15average pace: 9:29Here's Garmin's take on events:mile 1: 9:22mile 2: 9:25mile 3: 9:22mile 4: 9:24mile 5: 9:28mile 6: 9:26mile 7: 9:14mile 8: 10:02 (gel and water pause and major hill, but a good hill)mile 9: 9:28mile 10: 9:23mile 11: 9:15mile 12: 9:20mile 13: 8:39last 0.36 pace: 6:58Yes. I took full advantage of the downhill finish, running a sub-7 pace. Bet you never thought you'd see that number on my Garmin!The best part about this time for me is that McMillan predicts a 4:22 marathon and that has been my goal since my December, 2007, surgery.The worst part about this race is the medal. It is lame. It is ugly. It doesn't even have the name of the race on the front. It says McDonald's and isn't even in the shape of the golden arches. Which, at least, would have been clever.Ralph ran a 1:42.
"Anytime you see the word "inflation" in the news, replace it with "record-breaking corporate profits" and you'll get what's happening."
denise
Lou, (aka Mr. predawnrunner), MD, USA | Lou's Brews | lking@pobox.com
Carolyn
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
WoHoo!!!! meeting goals rock!!!!
Could you eat the medal???
SteveP
Nice half, Rose. Those were really good, consistent, splits. Good job, also, for the rs. It was neat you got to cheer with Tramps and enjoyed the day.
TomS
Barbara—excellent race! Those splits are awesome. I’m sorry we somehow managed to miss each other on the course but here’s my proof of my Barbara search! (That little jog to the right--well before you were in range--was to go look at my old house )
Note to everyone: running on the sidewalk in the opposite direction of a race isn’t really the best way to find someone in the race. First, basic physics: everyone’s going by at double speed, since you’re heading their way. Second, you have to focus your attention on the 10-20 runners going by at any given moment---which can get dicey when the sidewalks you’re running on are very uneven. DAMHIKT. (No faceplant, just an acrobatic save.) Instead, I'd suggest picking a pre-arranged spot and waiting...maybe with a highly visible flag or a superhero costume or something.
One thing I did learn is that if you hang out in front of the DJ playing old-school funk (Parliament, Ohio Players, etc) you get to see pumped up runners break out into dance moves as they go by, which can get very entertaining at times.
As I noted on the Saturday thread, Barbara is hilarious and she had me laughing non-stop after the race. Maybe the caffeine and post-race adrenaline rush contributed to the accelerated pace of comments but the endless one-liners were pure Barbara in top form. I had a blast.
I’m afraid it’s the sort of spontaneous humor that you have to experience firsthand to fully appreciate but let’s just say it involved lightning quick comments while cheering for the runners coming by. When runners had names on their shirts, it was just straight cheering (“Go Melissa!”) but otherwise, Barb picks an attribute and cheers at the top of her lungs for that. “Run blue shirt guy!” Where it gets funny is when the attributes get…um…interesting. “Go Satan!”--to the guy with bib number 666. “Go bloody nipple man!” “Run multiple-piercing guy!” etc. etc.
All of this was interspersed with serious fashion commentary (“She looks wonderful…pink top, pink trim on the shorts, pink socks; that took some effort!”). And all of it delivered at a lightning-quick pace; before I had time to figure out some of the jokes, she was on to the next runner.
If this is what being a spectator is like, I may not be running much anymore.
Be safe. Be kind.
Mr. Chip & Mizz Rizzo
Barb - can you turn in your medal for a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?? I always love reading your reports and you did fabulous maintaining your pace. I sure hope you post the picture of Emily flipping off her dad.
Congratulations and it was nice of you to keep Tramps so entertained.
~Mary
"My sunshine doesn't come from the skies,It comes from the love in my dog's eyes."
~unknown
http:www.rawleypointkennel.com
Rosie, great race! Nice consistent paces. WTG on meeting your Goals! (Now who was that that said "Let the pace come to you"?)
Tramps, Dang. Now I'm really mad I didn't get RCG and DW hooked up while they were spectating at Columbus. They are two of a kind. That woulda been one for the ages.
Tramps, spectators don't run when they're looking for their favorite racer. They wait and watch. Only a runner would run into the traffic trying to find a runner.
(Fun Report)
Bill
"Some are the strong, silent type. You can't put your finger on exactly what it is they bring to the table until you run without them and then you realize that their steadiness fills a hole that leaks energy in their absence." - Kristin Armstrong
Congrats, Barb, great race! You will rock Rocket City! (and that medal's a keeper--I have two and use one as a keyfob on my key chain).
Congrats to Ralph on his 1:42--that's swift! I was thinking of him Sunday as I was listening to a NASA scientist being interviewed on NPR talking about having to answer letters from folks who seriously write in asking about the end of world being near. He was very gracious, but I'm thinking that's not why one goes to Rocket Scientry School.
grins,
A
#artbydmcbride
Congratulations! Nice Job!
(I'm confused about the fire truck part, but yay for firefighters! )
Runners run
Maybe it was just Fast Forward saying "hey"?
I think there was an emergency, so the fire engine had to use the Marathon route even though it was closed to regular traffic.
A few minutes after the fire engine went by, an ambulance made the same maneuver. But no one gave Bill the finger after that went by!
(Emily was just ticked off at us for making a big deal about her running by, I think. I am scared to talk to her.)
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
100% relative humidity a little "liquid sunshine" as the announcer called it. I'd just call it rain.
Richmond has a few hills and these were nice, they allowed different muscles to show their stuff.
Oh, and Emily finished in 5:06 ( I think) and she was NOT HAPPY.
dear buehlerina
it's awe-inspiring with so many speedy goddess posting recently and yours seems to mark returning to your regular running paces. However, I'll bet times in this year's hurricanic aftermathic conditions are much slower that past years' times for regular Richmond runners.
.
Are you and tammy trying to have a modesty contest about how you're not really as good as you are really good?
In addition, though you don't seem to give much blame, . . I mean credit to the hills,
there's a whole newspaper article about how hard they are too.
http://www2.richmond.com/content/2009/nov/10/running-hill-thoughts-past-marathoner/
. However, a rocket marathon almost sounds too perfect to be real too.
Ilene's got a Thunder Mountain listed but no rocket yet?.
ps - DO NOT MENTION FIREMEN AROUND ILENE!
. pps - maybe emily had her heart set on sub-fiving and is more disappointed about the clock than the rain and tough conditions. You might tell her that someone told you that a 5:06 in those conditions is the same as a 4:46, if not better, on a regular day.
ppps tramps - I remember some spectator ones too way better than most running ones.
however, doing it with buehrle almost makes me want to learn how to chat too.
I bet that would be fun.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Nice run and also great fun waiting on friends.
Thanks for sharing
Larry
Chumbawamba: I get knocked down But I get up again You're never going to keep me down