Cankles, Bridge Piercings, and Infinite Massages

Ahhhhh…..the half marathon. A whole other beast in the racing world. Despite 2 1/2 years of running, a few ultras here and there and a marathon to boot, I guess it was time to take on the half. Yesterday was my first day back on the trails in close to 2 weeks and I don’t think I have done any roads over 10 miles in a year or more. With that I was excited to push myself.

The morning was far short from dull, since Iggy met at a different meeting point then she had originally posted on the BS. I found my was to exit 57, which she posted. Glen meandered off to exit 59, not to sure why, and Iggy patiently waited at exit 58. After a few phone calls, the crew of Donni, Suresh, Glen, and I piled up in Iggy’s car and made our way up to the race.

Pre race was your typical day on the roads. Runners stretched, tightened laces and tried hard to figure out how to use the new plastic strip disposable chip timer. After a little instruction we were all ready to roll.

At the start was many BS runners including:
Mayor, Iggy, Suresh, Steve(flash), Sarah V, Donni, Glen, Quiet Man, John Steele, Downhill, and Ultra. Did forget anybody???? Ultra really doesn’t count cause he pirated the race. Maybe he was smarted than us, but we won’t get into that.

The race started and all runners quickly tried to make their way into the thin tunnel that lead out of the parking lot. With a 10am start, the sun would warm things up a bit, but decent amount of shade and water were found throughout the course. 2 laps would make up the course that wound its way through the park roads, along some beach and into a small residential area.

Like always I hit the start quicker than I needed to but was able to get myself into a smooth comfortable pace. It was nice to see the other runners along the course and lots of fans cheered me on. On a sour note, I was hit in the chest by a group of bandit children with pellet guns. At first I was ready to go smash the gun over the stone wall but thought things over and realized it was best to keep going.

I came into the half way mark at around 50 minutes. A knot in my hamstring kept me from picking up the pace, so I tried to just ride out the course and enjoy the moment. Suresh would tell me he tried to quit 5 times, but after some beating from other runners, he kept moving forward.

I found my way past the finish line at 1:39:15ish
QM followed, J Steele, and not too sure how the rest finished because I was busy getting a massage from a cute red head. Life is good!!

After downing a few bananas we headed over to Iggy’s car to celebrate the 29th birthday of Donni. The Mimosas flowed like the mighty Branford River and we gave thanks to a beautiful day on the race course. Of course I had to pick out a beautiful vixen to join us for a drink. Turns out she live in Hawaii for a few years, so I was trying to get her to join me. Her super 1:35 finish was a bit of a disappointment to her, but I think the BS crew was quite impressed. Suresh really enjoyed her unique piercing on the bridge of her nose and she even took it out for him!

After downing about 10 bottles of champagne, we once again loaded up Iggy’s car and headed home. All in all, great day with great friends! I love this life!