Sunburst ½ Marathon 2006-Part 2 Kathy

Clarissa and I continued together as we embarked on what we believed to be mile 3 and 4. Our pace felt about the same but we never saw any mile markers. I had left my map in the car, so it was no help.

About this time a lady in pink spandex Capri’s and a sun visor came out of the port a potty and said, “Hey…look at that guy over there. I think he’s peeing in the bushes.” So I just repeated what she said (hee hee) maybe quite a bit louder though. Oops…:P We ran with her for a bit & she was wearing a Garmin type thing & said it had recorded 5.1 miles. I looked at my watch, 62 minutes. Okay..not bad, but I am itching to speed up a bit. Now we see a sign up ahead. 5 miles. Hmmmmm…we’re a bit behind what we thought. Then I realize that we still have to run into a subdivision which is at least another mile until we get back to the sign. So we ask some volunteers and others around us. Everyone but Pink Spandex lady says the sign is for the ½ marathon. I don’t think so & Clarissa says, “If we have only gone 5 miles that is depressing” Pink lady says…my running computer says 6 ½ miles and it has never been wrong. We talk with her for awhile. She follows Jeff Galloway training. She ran Chicago…blah blah blah…

I see a little yellow sunburst on the ground & a red one as well. At that time it sort of clicks for me that our mileage marks are on the ground…not on the white signs. I am also trying to do the math..(If we only ran 5 miles so far and our first 2 miles were at 12:03 and 24:10…that means that 3, 4 and 5 were 17 min each???) I voice this out loud, but I also know that my math skills are probably a little shakey. I feel more confident, but there is still this niggling doubt. I put my watch away and quit looking at it anymore.

Clarissa is starting to lag a bit & I pull away from her gradually. We had discussed this ahead of time & I only looked back once and saw her wave. I waved back and continued on ahead.

Pink lady and I ran together…taking a few walking breaks (mostly at water stops). I saw some geese and was noticing what a beautiful day it was. Lots of sprinklers (I avoided them for the most part…I only jumped into one of them). Around mile 11 Pink lady’s dad jumped in with us to run her in. She said he was bringing us up to about a 9:40 pace. She was telling him it was too fast & I dropped back from them a few steps. I kept them in my sights until the very end, but I never caught them.

A girl at the next water stop told me I only had about another mile to go. There was a time clock there that said 2:35:00. I thought…that’s not too bad, I can still beat 2:45 if I try hard enough (I was delirious).. Up ahead I see a few people I might be able to catch. One of them is wearing shorts that I think say South Bend Police Dept. on the back. When I catch up, they actually say United States Air Force (Delirious and blind). I pass her, she passes me…we both pass another lady and two men…then another man. This is good. She stays ahead of me and starts to really kick it in. I have no kick. Just keep going.

It still didn’t occur to me that there were MARATHONERS out here running too…until they started whizzing by…3, 4, 5 of them. They re going FAST. I think they started at 6:15. A lady behind me (almost since the beginning…I clearly remember her being there the last 8 miles) spoke up and said, “Honey, if you slow down I’m going to pass you.” I laughed and said, “If you pass me, that would be great!” She looked to me to be in her late 60’s or early 70’s. She said, “Great for me, but not for you!” I just laughed. I did pick up the pace a bit & the next thing I knew we were running through the tunnel and “Welcome to Notre Dame” She did pass me & I saw the ½ marathon clock& I stood still for a millisecond & it said 2:33 something & I realized that was my time. I jumped on the chip mat, pulled out my watch and stopped it (2:33:40 was what it said)

Cheri met me and hugged me & I had enough energy to jump one more time. (The medical guy asked me if I was ok & I just nodded)

My chip time was 2:33:10