Story
opportunity knocks or “Look ma … I ran a half marathon before work!
And neither rain, gusty, wind, nor lack of hydration could stop me
Yes, I am insane … but what else is new?
will fill in details later as I do have job to do but here is the one photo I took of the glorious non-sunrise in the brief period of dry (my hands were too wet to work the phone the rest of the time.)
and to @caitlin-loehr - whom I saw heading out as I was heading in- hope you ran well!
Blockquote
And, as Paul Harvey would say, here is the rest of the story…
When I first saw this course on the Challenge, I knew it was beyond me. I would have loved to have known about it years ago when I was training hard for marathons; it was a perfect 5X2 mile course. But now, well, I figured I was just going to run/walk or hike it soon after starting the challenge and be done with it.
But life kept getting in the way, and when it wasn’t life, it was the heat - I had to pass on several chances in the last 10 days because it was just too hot. So when I saw the forecast for today, and the one day respite it represented, I jumped at the chance, even though I had just ridden 9 hours on my motorcycle Sunday and was in less than ideal shape. My spouse actually supported the wild hair, agreeing to walk the dog so I could run and still get to work on time.
I was actually too tired to properly lay out items the night before, so I got up at 4:15 and spent 20-30 minutes prepping water bottles, extra clothes, making sure all the electronics were charged, etc. In particular, I started the RunGo app and found the route, wanting to avoid the issues I had with the Run Rabbit Run course.
I structured the drive out to the start to go by the turnaround point, where I dropped a string bag with a spare water bottle (string bag for the presumably empty water bottle I would be carrying at that point). I noticed that there was quite a gusty wind - it was actually chilly, and I began to wonder if I should have brought a jacket. But I relaxed at the start as there was no wind or rain, and the temperature seemed about perfect.
After the usual warmup I started running at 5:15 am - it was still a little dark for my taste, and I hadn’t brought any reflective gear because, well - but it wasn’t a problem. I was almost off Lower Creek Road before the first car went by, and by then it was already brighter. RunGo even worked from the start - well, sorta. I had barely left the parking lot when I was informed “Distance: 4 miles” and then a few seconds later “Distance: 5 miles”. I wasn’t sure what that was about - but I was getting directions, so I didn’t care. I suspect it had something to do with accessing the route at home, but will never know.
It had been a relatively long time since I had run that early in such pleasant coolness, and I was enjoying the experience, enough so that I didn’t notice that I was climbing up Lower Creek Road. I did notice that Wood and Sheldon went up, but not severely, and so I rambled up and then on down Niemi Road, which I liked as much as the brief stretch on Mohawk. I suspect this was in part because the cool morning kept the bugs from the Cornell Research pond away.
While I had run through the occasional sprinkle up to this point, it hadn’t amounted to much more than running through a fog. That all changed when I turned onto Snyder. Not only did I find the gusty wind, but now it was pushing lake effect showers into my path. Some of those showers were heavier than others, but none were hard enough to be a rain. And in fact, they served to strengthen my resolve, not dampen it (pun intended), What DID threaten to dampen my spirits was the realization that I had left the drop bag at the wrong intersection - I had no idea there was a “Cherry St Ext” as well as a “Snyder Rd” intersection with Warren Road. However, I was soaking wet, and still had some water in the bottle I was carrying, and I had plenty of water at the car - and I certainly wasn’t going to be sweating. So I laughed at my error and kept going.
I reached the turnaround, but it was too wet to try and take a picture. But almost on cue, the rain stopped, and the sun :almost: came out - and now I had a tail wind. I did manage to snap one picture near the turnaround as my hands dried out. I was in kind of a dumb stupor as my body took over and just settled into a rhythm, one that had the miles passing by much quicker than I had thought possible. I had set my watch with run/walk intervals, so I amused my self by switching the water bottle between hands on the intervals: left on the odd, right on the even. I also was carefully watching for cars, which surprisingly were very considerate and gave me a wide berth - perhaps they felt sorry for me? I wasn’t as lucky with the bugs along the Research Pond - I have the bites on my arms to prove it - but that didn’t last long, fortunately.
At some point along this stretch, I realized that I wasn’t getting directions from RunGo - not that I needed them - and that the distance was always “15 miles”. So I pulled out the phone and sure enough, RunGo had locked up at the turnaround - probably a victim of the rain - and so was in its own little world. This was just another source of amusement at this point in time.
Much sooner than I expected, I was turning off Niemi onto Sheldon - and though I was now at about 10 miles, I knew the next 2 or so were all down hill, and that they would literally fly by. It was at this point that I saw @caitlin-loehr heading the other, amusingly wearing the same blue Challenge shirt as I … and taking advantage of the same cool conditions as I, just a little later.
As I started down Wood, I began to wonder if I had enough in me to run to the finish. And on cue, the wind picked up and a new batch of lake effect showers rolled in. Thanks, Mom Nature, that was just the inspiration I needed. That, and the slowly dawning realization that it really was all downhill to the finish. As I neared the parking lot, I lost a few seconds fumbling with the phone, trying to get WebScorer to work in the rain, before just running to the sign, stopping my watch, then retreating to the car where I had a towel waiting that I used to dry my phone screen and my hands - and then finally scan the QR code on the sign.
I had a few misadventures on the way home, but nothing serious. And much to my amusement, I discovered that there was an update to RunGo pending…hmmm…