2008 Gate River Run Recap Part II

"You don't train for a 15k, you just do it."
...with apologies to Barney Stinson and the writers of How I Met Your Mother

Greetings, faithful readers! When we left off, Lana had just found me in the crush of people running the Gate River Run. I swear, the girl has eyes like an eagle! And I wasn't even wearing my big orange shirt anymore... as it turns out, running == warm, even when it's cold and blowing outside. But that's another story. As it is, I suddenly had a running buddy. Of course, at this point, the lack of training was starting to catch up to me, and we decided to be walking buddies for a little while. But not very long... Lana was on a mission, so she left me and my walking ways after just a couple twists and turns.

Of course, at this point, we're in the neighborhoods of San Marco, and one of the greatest things about this race is the community support. People come out of their houses and make little parties... they sit out on their lawns and have breakfast, cheer, and occasionally even hand out water or oranges to the runners. This is also where we started seeing more of the bands that the race organizers set up along the course... I heard it was 10 bands on the course, and I believe it! But, with all these people cheering and hootin' and hollerin', I started getting a little excited. And there was this one incredibly encouraging group that somehow encouraged me to sprint. And, never being one to deny my fans, I did so. What I didn't know at the time was that during this heads-down sprint of at least 20 yards, I somehow passed Lana.

Following this, we continued through neighborhood, and up Hendricks until we turned into another neighborhood. We were coming up on mile 5, and around this point, I started looking for Lana. She had left me behind, after all, and I *should* be catching up to her by now, right? See above, re: I didn't know at the time. I actually spent the rest of the race looking for her at just about every chance I could. That'll teach me to sprint in a 15k.

In any case, we were running by a park where I came upon... another band! I don't even remember which one it was (sorry, guys), but what I do remember is that there were smoothie cups littering the ground, which stuck out quite a bit from the standard paper Wendy's cups that the water stops had. Somewhere, somebody had set up a smoothie stop... and I missed it! Now, if that ain't encouragement for improving next year, I don't know what is!

Of note, at this point, I also noticed that my camera died. We lost the charger somewhere in the house, but I thought I still had enough juice. Guess not.

From there, we ran up Atlantic for a little bit, and then into historic Saint Nicholas. At least, that's what the sign read. To be honest, I've never been into this area, but it seemed nice. The people were friendly... to the point that one of them gave out a beer! Of course, it was the guy running in front of me that actually grabbed it, but more power to him. He was faster... that day. Further on, there was even a group of folks blasting 80's music out of their house and dressed in vintage hair band gear. Best laugh I had on the course that day, guys. Around that point, I definitely needed it.

Why, you ask? Well, one of the other treats of running through St. Nicholas is that as we headed along Nicholson Road, we could catch glimpses of the future. Off to our left was that torture device we had been hearing of all year, and been dreading all morning... the Hart Bridge. It was just barely peeking out, mocking us as we struggled along. I refused to fall into fear, and I rose up and challenged it! "Not today, bridge", I huffed. "I'm looking forward to beating you!"

If only I knew.

Once we got back out onto Atlantic, things were looking up. The wind that had been beating us down all day was suddenly at our backs. I took this opportunity to run as much as I could... my mantra became "Run while it's flat". And that I did. But it was not to last... this occasion was cut short after about half a mile by... it.


It doesn't look like much from afar, and I really wish I had some pictures from going up the bridge, but it didn't disappoint. Honestly, I think that if it hadn't been for the wind, I think it wouldn't have been that bad. Now, that's not to say that I would have been dancing up the span, but really, it was just a big, long, hill.

If it hadn't been for the wind.

The light breeze that had been guiding our way so far suddenly turned into a tempest, in Florida, would normally have a name. The news reports that I saw was claiming 40mph winds, but I really think it must have been even faster than that. People were honestly hunkering down and fighting through the wind! Every now and then (twice, I think, as I was going over), the wind would die down, and everyone would suddenly fall about two feet to the left as they didn't have to struggle anymore. But don't worry, the wind always came back immediately.

And once I reached the top (finally), I looked at the Garmin. According to it, I had about a mile left, and I was at 1:47. Oh, my God... I actually have a chance to break two hours! After not training... at all! I couldn't believe it! And that's when it happened. The fuel hit the fire. And I was running! I ran all the way down the bridge. I had to stop for a second since my shoes became untied, but I tied them really quickly (some tme, I'll have to explain how I tie shoes), and got right back to running... and it hurt. As I was heading down the ramp, I just couldn't run any more. I had to walk, but I was coming up on the stadium... and the finish! So, ok... I'll just walk for a second. After all, I suddenly had a time to beat! So I walked. But not for very long.

As I came up on the stadium, the emotion just took care of me, and I just had to run for all it was worth. I screamed through the tunnel (passing several people as I went), and burst onto the field! And there were people in the stands. Still! After two hours, people were still watching the scrubs like me finish. There was cheering, and there was the finish line on the Jumbotron. But I still had to finish. Now, let's see... when I crossed the start, they told me it was seven mintues in, so if the clock says anything less than 2:07, I should be OK, right? I look up, and...

2:05

SPRINT!!!!

And then it was done. It actually ticked over to 2:06 before I crossed, but my official chip time was 1:58:52. I did it!

And then I realized what kind of idiots we were. Here I was, in a crowd of 12,000 people, with absolutely no plan for meeting up with the folks that I showed up with. If you look hard at the MapMyRun course, you'll notice that I didn't turn my Garmin off for a while, and it kept the track running as I wandered around the stadium, looking for anyone. And wouldn't you know it, that eagle-eyed wife of mine found me again! She's good. Of course, we still had two more people to find, and no phones. We managed to wander back to the car and wait... and that's when Dar showed up. And then we waited. And waited. And waited. And pulled out a lawn chair. And a yoga mat. And a hammock (seriously), and laid out in the cold wind and long sleeves and sweatpants, and waited. Finally, we got a call from our long lost fourth member that she was able to get a ride back to the house from someone else, but by this point, we had already missed the afterparty, and Lana missed her massage.

Oh, well... if it were perfect, there wouldn't be any reason to do it next year.

Here's to next year!!!