Amish Half Marathon – November 6, 2010

I really had good intentions of training and keeping up the training for the Amish Country Half Marathon.  Funny how races always seem to sneak up on me.  Before I knew it, the race was only a couple of weeks away and I was beginning to panic at the thought of dragging my body around the roads of Lancaster County.  The week leading up to the race, my pinky toe was still swollen from the mishap I had while running with Cooper 2 weeks ago.  I managed to get out and run a couple of nights the week of the race, but 3 miles may have been the longest run I had that week.

Friday came regardless of my wishes for it to hold off a little longer, we made plans to meet to pick up our packets containing goodies, our timing chip, bib number and our tech shirts.  Going home that night, all I could think of was how much I was going to be hurting 24 hours from now.  Got home, checked the forecast for the 8 am start and selected my wardrobe, pinning the bib number on and checking out the timing chip and debated about putting it on now or wait till the morning and then attach it to my Bikila’s.   I’ve had a habit of misplacing things, so I put everything I needed for the next day in one bag so I could grab it and go the next morning.

Woke at 3:30 am, stressed a little about not being able to get back to sleep and woke again to the alarm at 5:30 am.  Threw back the covers, dressed and took Cooper out for his morning routine.  Double and triple checked my bag and drove off to meet my running companions.  Twenty minutes later, we’re on the road minus one runner.  Mickey and I headed down to the race leaving a very disappointed Cassie in Annville.  We reached the start of the race after sitting in traffic for 20 minutes – I think we found the shortest red light in the USA.  Only two cars were able to get through at a time before the light was glowing red.  We arrived 15 minutes before the race start and decided to use the porta potties one last time.  As we were waiting in line, they announced that the race was delayed due to the heavy traffic coming into the race start.  We headed back for the mustang and waited in the car until they made the announcement that they would be starting the race in 5 minutes.

With one last “are we really going to do this?” slipping out of my mouth, we opened the doors to the car and proceeded to the runners congregating near the announcer.  The National Anthem was sung, the runners were off.  Our plan for the run was to walk/run the half marathon.  Emphasis on walk.  We hadn’t trained as well as we should have, Mickey was still recovering from her knee injury earlier this year and I was still favoring the toe.  Combine those facts with the lack of mileage, we decided that neither of us were willing to pay the price the next couple days.  We ran with the back of the crowd at a nice, easy pace.  We weren’t very far into the run when the “fresh country air” began to make its presence known.  Woo! Gotta love that fresh air!  I quickly announced “it wasn’t me” and grinned as I pointed to Mickey and asked “WAS THAT YOU?”.  Our mood was set for the day.  We were just going to enjoy the views and the company for the next couple hours.  Throughout the run/walk we found various ways to entertain ourselves.  We saw several gloves that ended up as roadkill – poor little things tried to cross the road but never made it.  We saw Amish Snakes (earth worms), road apples, miniature horses, deer and a turkey.  We revised one of our warnings that we call as a car approached from “car back” to “buggy back”.

Temps were in the 40′s that morning, little breezy but the sun was up and it was beautiful.  One mile fell away after another, we took advantage of the water stops and were very impressed at how the water stations were hosted by the local Amish and Mennonites of Lancaster.  What a joy it was to see the crowds of Amish and Mennonites and see them smile and greet each of the runners.  Water stops were placed every 2 miles throughout the course, each stop was fully manned and at times it was difficult to decide which little boy or girl you would take the cup from – they all had such hope on their faces.

Most of the race was gently rolling hills mixed in with nice windy curves.  Each curve and hill revealed another beautiful view.  I think by far this was one of the most enjoyable half marathons.   I asked Mickey to set the pace and would follow her instructions on when to walk, when to run.  I found that by giving the control over, I was able to focus on my stride and foot strike.  Before we realized it, we were making a turn and were told by the local fire police there were 2 miles to go, 1/2 a mile to the bake shop.  He wasn’t kidding, by this point in the race the granola bars I had eaten and the toast Mickey had made for herself were long gone.  I had $2 in my pocket and asked Mickey if she thought we could find a sticky bun for $2.

We took another walk break and eagle eyes Mickey said we’d walk to the 12 mile marker and then run the last mile.  I agreed.  We trotted off and at times it felt like the last mile was never going to end.  We made the turn onto the next road I saw the field where the race began.    At this point Mickey said I picked up the pace… I have no pace, I just wanted to be done.  We ran up the final leg of the road and as we turned to run the remaining couple hundred feet, Mickey picked out a guy in front of us and said “let’s beat him!”  Why, oh why do I let her do this?  Off we go really picking up the pace and gaining on the guy.  A couple of spectators noticed and began yelling at the guy to hurry up that two women were trying to beat him.  Unfortunately for Mickey and I, the guy had a little more energy left than we did.  He picked up the pace and we finished right behind him.  Mickey and I crossed the finish line at 2:51:10 – not a PR (Personal Record) for either of us, possibly a WR (Worst Record) for both, but it was a great day and the company couldn’t have been better.

We received our medals, returned the timing chips and grabbed some post race grub.  What a wonderful day for a walk/run half marathon!

Lancaster County Road Apple Obstacle

We made sure we followed the directions .

It’s a pony!

View from the Amish Half Marathon

Amish Country Half Marathon

Mickey stretching out the calves.

Love this strech – dirt road!

I have no words…

It’s raining.

Woke up at 4:30 this morning and heard the spray of rain coming off the passing cars.  <sigh> What’s going to happen to my November Resolution!  So far the rain has been fairly light, hope it continues to be light or even better stop for tonight’s run.    My faithful companion Cooper never seems to mind running in the rain, I need to borrow his attitude.  We’re still adjusting to the new Gentle Leader Head Collar, he’s cooperating much better when we’re out there running.   Occasionally he will suddenly turn into a mule and we have a tug of war battle until he decides to keep going with me.   He’s also got to learn to shorten his stride.  I can’t keep up with him and the last time I ran with him I was tiring but kept running and as we were running down a hill I uttered a grunt trying to pull his weight back so that I wasn’t doing another Superwoman dive and sticking the landing face first into the street.

The new Bikila Five Fingers are working out nicely.  Still looks odd to glance down and see those things on my feet.  I felt a sore spot on my left foot and stopped briefly so I could make an adjustment.  The stitching inside the shoe irritated my foot and rubbed, giving me a blister which popped and bled a little.  Nothing that will stop me from slipping my toes in, wiggling them around (my toes need trained to go into the proper slots) and adjusting the straps (and the pinky toe is getting better but still a little swollen).  Adjustment made and back running.

As Mickey and I were running with our dogs, we both observed the reactions of people as we jogged by.  Most people smiled, a couple of guys stood watching and as we got within ear shot asked, “Who’s winning?”.  I replied that the dogs were but it wasn’t a fair race because they used 4 legs and we only had 2.   Mickey and I continued on and made a turn up one of the streets of Annville that had a hill for us to run up.  As we were running up the hill, I saw an older man standing at the top of the hill.  He watched us run and as we got within earshot commented, “You should run somewhere flat, that hill is too much for the dogs.”, I refrained from commenting but couldn’t help but wonder if he had a dog and if he did, did the dog have a beer belly like him?

If you could see Cooper’s excitement when I change into running clothes and pick up the Gentle Leader Head Collar you’d see he loves it.   I’ve seen Cooper run up the mountains in Colorado and I’ve seen the excitement and joy he has when he can run free.  The little hill in Annville was nothing compared to those.  I think I’ll be hanging out with Mr. C a lot more than the older man on the street corner, he might drool on me, drop a gross, wet tennis ball in my lap, wake me up in the middle of the night when he has gas, but he’s a positive running companion.  I have yet to hear it’s too windy, too cold, to hot come from him.  I’m learning a lot from my dog.

The rain won today, I could have run on the treadmill but somehow the desire to run disappeared.  NO, I’m not giving up, just waiting for the return of dry weather to get back on the asphalt with my dog and running friends.