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Kimba90
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Joined: 03 Dec 2003
Posts: 3594
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 Posted: 09/25/05 - 17:24 Post subject: Homestretch 20 Miler Race Report
This is held in Columbus, Ohio, scheduled as your last "long run" before the Columbus Marathon.I checked the weather when I woke up, 70 degrees, 95 % humidity..oh, that can't be right. I step outside my house, yep it's humid.
I get to Columbus at 6am, get registered and actually took a short nap in my vehicle. Race got off slightly late, I think to the short number of Port o'Potties. The first two miles, we're on a main road, in one lane. It's crowded with runners! And I am stuck behind some folks that are running slower than I want to. I have my first encounter with a TnT Cadre, boy, they sure do not want to make room. I get past them finally and we turn into a local park system trail, Sharon Woods. This is much nicer, but it's still hot and humid. I am thinking it's going to be a long race with this weather. But sometime after mile 5, the wind keeps up and it seems that the humidity drops. I catch up to my friend, Teresa, a nurse from the hospital, who is doing her first and only 20 miler for her first marathon in three weeks.
Splits: 9.48 9.45 9.35 10.05 9.21
We leave the park at mile 6 and run back down the road, to a pretty boring section which just takes us past some industrial buildings, and it's an out and back. 9.29 9.45
We then hit a section of the Alum Creek Parkway, which is a biketrail and it seems to run behind apt and condos. How nice to have a trail right before your place! No excuses then! This is also an out and back section, and for the most part, nicely shaded. This goes from mile 8 through miles 15.
Splits: 10.13 10.10 10.10 10.40
10.53 Around mile 12 I get the familiar abdominal cramping. I remember seeing a Port o Pottie at a recreational field that we have passed, so I decide to hold on until I hit the return leg.
11.26 Bathroom break. As I leave the pottie, I again spot my friend who had fallen behind and we run for a short while together, then I pull ahead again.
11.02
We again run the out and back through the industrial section. I really don't like this section. But then I think "Hey! It's worse! This could be Parkersburg!" And I cheer myself up. I see my friend, who is now walking, but she says she is okay so I go on.
I feel really good about mile 17. I can see the starting point in the distance, and my pace has improved again.
10.35 10.49 10.55 10.54 10.35 7.01 (Garmin measured this as .71 mile, my mileage total says 19.74 miles, not 20._
But the cruelest mile was the last 1.5. We have to run around a huge soccer field on a hot asphalt trail. You can see the other runners ahead of you in the distance...so far away. Many folks are walking here. I keep chugging along. I pass 2 guys, and am catching a woman, when a woman in a pink shirt blows by me! Hey! Finally I can see where we cross the street (traffic control for this race) and turn a corner for the end.
I blow past pink shirt lady, who is now slowing, and head for a finish of
3.23.28 for 20 miles.
My goal was 3 hours 10 minutes, so this was fine, given the adjustment for the heat and humidity.
Also a PR for the race, since this was my first race at this distance!!
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