Holiday Halfathon

[dougb]

Great day for a race. In the mid 50's F at the start, with clear skies and a 5 MPH breeze from the east. But I wasn't racing today, this was just another training run for Disney. Plus, I had a cold this past week, and raced a half last weekend, so I wasn't really feeling 100%.

Since parking is always an issue at this race, I got there extra early. Visited with some friends as we wait, then started the race with my buddy, Mike. We weren't but 2 miles into it and Mike was having an issue with his knee. He took a walk break and I didn't see him again. Called his cell this
afternoon, but only got his voice mail. Hope he's alright. Around mile 3, Judy started running with me and we stayed together until mile 6, when she took a walk break. Then I saw Sue, and we finished the race, keeping each other company. By the way, after Judy took her walk break, she passed us and finished about 5 minutes before we did. No doubt, walk breaks work.

At the finish, grabbed a water and a bagel. They were also serving small plates of meatballs, with 2 dabs of pasta, one in a marinara sauce and the other in an alfredo sauce. Very good stuff. The finisher medals were the usual starfish as in years past, only this year they are wearing Santa hats. Cute.

This is an LSD day, so after grabbing a bite, then talking too much, it's back to the car. This race is a point to point race with buses that return you to your car. I added mileage by running a more direct route
back to the car, which was only 9 miles. So a 22 mile day is done and logged. My race finish time was 2:04:40, a 9:26 pace, and the last 9 miles had extra emphasis on "slow" but got done. Hope everyone's weekend was full of fun and healthy.