Here is a pdf file describing the whole course and here are the whole map , start and finish
Man, so much to say here.
This year it was different. Tuesday night - my ymca hill workout with speedwork. Thursday night - 6 miles or a tempo'ish type run. Sunday - Looong run. Meeting with Len at Alley Pond.
Saturday was beautiful. We had 70+ and I started on my sunburn. I actually put lotion on Jeremy for soccer and tennis but I did not put anything on myself.
Sunday was different. When I woke up, it was 48 degrees and very windy. When I left the house it dropped to 46.
Last year, I saw people wearing garbage bags. I meant to do that this year but again did not. I got there at 7am and froze. Huddled behind a truck with other people in my tanktop and shorts. Most people had clothes they gave to people to take home or throwaway's but still we were all COLD. I actually went to warm up for a few minutes in a stinky port-o-san.
I was suprised to see how many girls went to use the porta-trees too.
Memorable characters: Guy wearing a dunkin donut coffee costume. A guy wearing black shorts with tighty whiteies on top, a white shirt with a big M on it, a mask and long hair. I am thinking marathon man. Also I saw, 3 guys wearing halter tops: A spiderman, a batman and I cannot remember.
The race starts and I find my self running next to Lynn Jenkins who I met at out first triathlon at Gold coast. We ran together until the split at the W2 where she split for the half. I then started running with some guy named Vinny. At one point he died down and told me to go ahead. So I started talking to this girl named Kellie. We ran together till approx. mile 17/18. It was after the turnaround when my left knee died. Up until then I was great. No walking breaks. Just running and I was actually on schedule. I wanted to do a 4:20 which is 10 minutes per mile. Last year that plan became 5 hours. This year I was actually a minute and a half early. My mother missed me at mile 12 because I was early. Anyway, my knee died and I sent Kellie on. I had to start walking/running. I walked as fast as I can but still. I saw Lee and the kids b/w 18 and 19 and I must have looked miserable because Lee got real worried but I sent her back to the kids because I knew I would finish no matter what.
Remember those high winds? They promised us that we will have an amazing tail wind pushing us back. Yeah. The wind changed and we had to fight the wind too.
Vinny came up behind me and also Jerry from Alley Pond. He started yelling at me and I took off but it was not long before he passed me. He's a long and steady but he does a LOT of Marathons too.
Finally I am off the Wantagh and feeling a little better. I run into Vinny who is dying again and he told me that he knows it's all flat now and even if he crawls he will finish. I leave him with my run/walk. I am actually passing people with my walk. I run into Kellie and told her that she is with me and that she's gotta stick to me no matter what. Together we walk and run - run and walk.
It's done. Official time is 4:33:02. Slower then what I wanted but faster then last year. Had a good time.
Sunday : Limping due to left knee. Monday : Went to Jeremy's school picnic and run around with the kids. No longer limping but stairs are hard. Still walking backwards downstairs. Tuesday : Stairs are stil annoying. Back to Aikido. Wednesday: Easy swim and Aikido. Thursday : Ran an easy 2 miles and also a half mile with Jeremy.
