Notes
First Half Mary. Steady rain with cold temps. Met up with Bill and warmed up for about a mile or so. Started mid-pack and easily passed a lot of runners in the first mile before settling in with my pace group. I decided to keep going through the first water stop as I felt strong. This was about 2.5 miles. Bill caught up and passed right before entering Shelby Bottoms and I paced behind him for most of the race. I surged passed him at about mile 5 when he got caught in traffic.
Working mile 6. The leaders come barreling towards us. Dang! I want to be able to run like that! I got motivated and kicked the pace up and hit consistent even splits for several miles.
Turn around just past mile 7. Music playing, "Running against the wind." Too cool. Great support from the volunteers, by the way. Ran along with Bill for a bit. I walked through one of the water stops and I wasn't able to catch up to him after.
The rain picked up about mile 9 and there were heavy puddles on the Greenway which soaked everyone's feet. It felt good to finally get back on the main road towards LP Field. No one passed me from this point, but I only got by a couple of people. From this point, we were all settled in.
Mile 12. Finally catch a glimpse of the stadium. Cool. Little surge. I could hear someone behind me dial it in some and I knew I had keep the boiler hot. Circle the stadium, down through the concourse. Please don't slip. Through the tunnel. Even the security guards were encouraging. I thanked them.
Into the stadium. Nice turf, I can dig in and I closed in on some people in front of me as I sprinted hard to finish. Awesome. Chelle and the kids were there to see. That was too neat, and the kiddos gave me a runner trophy with "#1 Daddy 2009" on it to go with my finisher medal.
Satisfied with my time. But, I've got to get serious about my training .... I'm tired of hovering around 25% in the results.