My first race since Shingles. Little more tired these days. Defintly lost some speed. Hard course too. Early start (7am) but was a hot and humid day with a real-feel like 100. Sweltering I thought. Still, good to see all your buds out there.
The week before, during Hurricane Hannah, I drove the course with Jim. Jim is the father of one of the kids in my daughters gym/swim class and is also a great runner. We drove the course during the storm and I was going to run it the next day as a preview. The run was so bad, there were sections that were under 2-3 feet of water. Sunday, I opted to run in Alley. I was afraid that because of puddles and such, I would get lost in college point with all its turns.
With the parking problems and road closures, I decided to park at Jims house and we would go together. Left his house at 5:30 and got a good spot. Soon enough the race started and past mile marker 1, closer to 1.5, we still saw people running like mad to the start line so they could start their race. Gotta get a spot early on!
The course it self is very windy and turns are all over. So are the hills. The heat did not help. I was doing well, aiming for my usual time but no joy. Part of the problem is that I pulled a friend for the last 3-4 miles which slowed me down. Any which way, finished a hair beyond 2 hours.
With the full Marathon in Corning in 3 weeks, I decided to run the 4 miles to Jims house which was where I left my car. Too bad that Jim was wrong about the 4 miles. It was 5.62 and I was dying.