Notes
Another marathon in the books #14, ran Cape Cod Marathon (CCM), this was my 3rd marathon this month and 4th in 6 weeks! It was a great day for running minus the wind at some spots; CCM is a very scenic course with a few rolling hills, nothing we haven’t seen before. This has become my pacing marathon, paced the Princess (aka Amanda) last year, this year I was pacing Sheila, Traci and Mike (aka Mr. VDOT) started off w/us.
The plan was to run 3:30-3:35, the cannon blast off start and we were off, the 4 of us ran together for the first 5 miles and keeping an average of 8min pace, (we saw our support crew for the first time around mile 4) then Traci start to pull ahead, I stay with Sheila and Mike as we kept a decent pace until mile 10/11 when Mike pulled ahead, Sheila was doing great, until around 15 when I looked over my shoulder and she had stopped, I asked if she was ok, and she said just go, and she wanted Gatorade (at least she didn’t say she was hungry like some else I paced in Ohio) anyway since we had our own GLRR course support I told her I will go ahead and see if a get find Linda, Ally or Pamela, off I go and I manage to run as fast as I could at this point, I found Linda and Ally about 2 miles out and first thing Ally said was, who are you pacing, to which I replied myself :). I told them Sheila needed fluids and that Pamela had her Gatorade, Ally went back to help Sheila, but I was told later that Pamela was not far behind us and was able to get her a drink. So I am now running now to see if can catch Mike and Traci. At this point I starting passing other runners and some of them thought I was a relay runner, somewhere along the way I saw Dan and Zona waiting for Marli and Luis, It’s always great when you can pass others gives you a boast. I caught Mr. VDOT around mile 18/19 and he was VDOTTING along, I said looking good and kept on going. In a distance I saw the back of Angry Chicken singlet, it was Kristen, I caught her at mile 20, she was struggling a bit but determined to keep running, to my surprise I catch James DeLuca and I said what are you doing here, he told he blew up at 17, and he had walked for a bit then started running w/me but soon went back to walking, then as I turn the corner I notice Traci, this is now around mile 21+, I caught her and she was surprise to see me, She was on pace for 3:31 at this point and the remaining miles ahead where in the open with nasty head wind, ahead of us was the Lighthouse and she asked me if this was the last hill, and I reply just keep running, the next few miles were the same, this wind sucks, keep running I tell her we are almost around the corner and the wind will be gone, oops we turn the corner at mile 25+ and wind still in our face, We are now on pace for 3:33/3:34 and her PR is 3:36, but her goal was to beat her Dad’s (Mr. Skip Clever) personal best of just under 3:34. I say to her one mile left lets go, (The Princess can attest to this as last year I did the same thing and she had nothing but kinds words for me, right Amanda) as we approach mile 26, Traci hands me her water bottle, I said great all my pictures will have a pink water bottle in it now , we see Glenn on his bike and he’s yells just around the corner, we turn the corner and there’s lots of people cheering and it’s a great feeling that you are almost done, I see a few familiar faces, Mellissa S and the one and only Princess Amanda cheering. I can see the clock and I said you got this come one, you going to doing it. We crossed the finish line at 3:32:58 (net time 3:32:53) mission accomplish. I almost end up w/a negative spilt (1:46:02/1:46:56) +0.54. A few minutes later Sheila came in w/Team BOO YAH Captain leading her in. Outstanding run Sheila 3:46:20. Great effort by all Angry Chickens on this day!
Kudos to Mr. Tom Peters running his 3rd marathon on in 30 days and 2nd in the last 7 days all under 3:30 (hmmm that sounds so familiar) I would like to thank Ally, Linda and Pamela for the great support out on the course and Trish for letting me stay at her place again with a bunch of Angry chickens! Thanks Lucky for driving down and Pamela back home since we had a few after race drinks :) The NER post-race party is a blast right Glenn! Got to meet the great photographer Scott Mason and share a beer w/him! Now the big question: is there another long run before the year is over?