Without admitting to anything, Adele bought Elizabeth a birthday present. She enrolled her in the Long Island Half-Marathon. Elizabeth I think would have wanted to do this but didn't want to waste the $$. Problem solved ;)
They have been running consistently together slowly building the miles but suddenly they both needed a longer run. They have been training together consistently on the weekends but their longest was 6.5 miles. To make things worse, Adele had a very important swim meet on Sunday so they couldn't run Saturday.So....What to do? Did what I had to. I took Elizabeth on the 10 mile water loop on Saturday, ran 11 with my crew on Sunday morning and then ran the 10 mile water loop with Adele on Sunday afternoon. Let me tell you that 31 miles straight is way easier than these 3 segments especially as they aren't my pace. Still, it was good for me to run while being tired and my legs were dead when I went with Adele and also it was the right thing to do for a friend. They both needed this. Both for mental reasons and for physical reasons. Both were also sore after this. They weren't used to the distance and the hills. Hoping that the flat Half-Marathon along with the training miles won't kill them later.
Race weekend arrived and it was a little nuts. I left Friday morning toward Wisconsin for my back 2 back (Wisconsin on Saturday and Michigan on Sunday). Adele picked up their stuff on Saturday and after picking up Heidi, picked Elizabeth on Sunday toward the race. I don't rememer the exact pick up time but 6:45 comes up in my head. It's an interesting time...Kinda late but we are so close to race site. I also had faith that Adele knows the area well since she swims there and could find a parking spot even tho it might be far.
Sunday came and I got myself to my race. Elizabeth got picked up and all was good. If I remember correctly, they left at that hour because it was a little too early for Heidi. Funny. Bet they all regretted that later...
Here's their recap (from my eyes)....From race site, I was on/off on the phone with Elizabeth. I was worried that Elizabeth would wake up in time to eat, use bathroom and walk LC. That went ok. Adele came at the right time and picked up everyone. I was on the phone with Lee and she told me they have not parked yet. Oi...Later Adele cleared it up for me. It's not that they couldn't find a parking spot but rather there was a LOOOONG line to get into the park to park. I'm on line for the port-a-pottie and that stress was not welcomed. At 7:42, I got word that they parked. I told Elizabeth to find indoor plumbing on way versus to go there and stand in huge line for port-a-pottie. You don't want the long lines and you don't want to run 13.1 miles with a full bladder. They listened and since it was so late, they had no lines whatsoever. Nice...Still, they got to the start and almost immediatly started. They didn't really warm up except for Elizabeth who in the car did what she could.
Their race went well. Heidi as expected split off. Lee and Heidi ran as usual. Elizabeth initially ran with a long sleeve something but took it off eventually and tied it to her waist. Adele went short sleeve from the start. As you can tell from the smiles in the pictures it was all good. Adele wanted under 3:00 but after running the 10 miler with her, I predicted a 3:30 finish or so. Granted it was a late run and after a swim meet but still. So, they pushed the pace a little...
They came in with a 2:58. Awesome. Unfortunatly due to the no-stretching and stressing out in the beginning and they both were sore afterwards which they shouldn't have. They got a nice medal and a nice long sleeve shirt. Mission accomplished!