The 20 are done

I am pleased to report that the 20 miles are behind me.  They weren’t particularly hard for 20 miles, but 20 miles is always tough (we did 6.9 miles before a half-marathon race).  I did the 1/2 marathon route slower than last year (13:20/mile compared with 12:45) and that made a big difference. The weather was cool and breezy and that helped.

I was doing a faster pace when I came to the 7 mile mark.  That was an uphill and I was counting and pushing and trying to get to the top, where there was a water table staffed by local high school students.  All of a sudden a runner right in front of me fell and hit her face/jaw on the pavement with all her weight…she was moaning and bellowing and bleeding while they tried to get her some help and the kids backed away and their coach took over.  Ultimately the woman started talking and sounded terrified, but probably not seriously injured.  But I never quite recovered from that–I was struck with sympathy nausea that never went away.

The volunteers at this race were fantastic.  At one table, they were cheering everyone…you got this!  You can do it!  You are all winners!  WOOOOO!  They were smiling and quick at passing out the water and their enthusiasm really pushed us along.

I’m glad that it’s over. Three weeks to marathon day.

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