Race Schedule and Results

Monday, April 18, 2011

Glass City Half Marathon

It happened.  There has been a BDD sighting.  He does exists.

This weekend was the trip to Toledo for the Glass City Marathon and Half Marathon.  Tom and I were excited to finally meet up with some great bloggers, run a nice flat race, and maybe PR.  Saturday, we met up with BDD and his wife to do the "babysitting exchange" as Amanda called it. She told us to take care of BDD. :)  We would...  We chatted the whole way up in the car.  I could tell he was a little nervous, but we knew he'd do great.  I'll admit, I was a tad nervous too - it was the first race of the season and I hadn't been feeling great the past few days.  Tom on the other hand, was excited to run (he was doing the marathon).

We got to the expo around 3:30.  Met up with Kevin and Jennie, got our shirts (I love female fit shirts in pink... thank you race director for taking my style into consideration when planning for the race shirts), and walked around the expo which was small.  We waited around for Matt and Heather to arrive.  Then it happened.  Picture time.  Now I'll be honest, BDD offered to take the picture, but hello, we were at the expo.  There were a bunch of people who could get a picture of the group for us.  In the back of my mind, I was thinking "ha... we got him now".  A really nice lady lined up to take a picture of us at the start arch.  All 7 of us.  You ready?
That's Tom, Me, Matt, Heather, BDD, Jennie and Kevin.  This is the only picture I have of BDD from the weekend. Do you see him there in the back? :)

After the expo, we quickly checked into our hotel, then went to Rosie's, an Italian place for dinner.  Great food, great company, lots of laughs.  It's nice to be surrounded by people who "get" you and what your hobby is!

We split with the group after dinner, found a CVS to get some cold medicine (I felt like I was coming down with something), got to our hotel room and pretty much called it a night.

RACE DAY
We left the hotel around 5:55 since we were oh, 5 minutes from the race start.  On the way there, Tom and I had this conversation:

Tom - So I know my marathon PR is a 3:58, but I think I'm going to line up with the 3:40 group and see how long I can hang with them.
Me -  Um... okay.  That sounds super smart.  All of your long runs have been around 9 minute miles.  Do you think that's the smartest thing?
Tom - No, but it'll be fun to see how long I can hang and then see how long it takes for me to die.

Genius race planning, let me tell you.  But, me lining up with them too (the half and the full run 8.2ish miles together) would set me up to run a 1:50 half which is close to my PR of 1:49:21 so maybe if I'm feeling good I could make that up in the last 5.  I don't really question Tom.  He knows what he's doing.

We hit the porto potties (NO LINE!!!) and then sat in our car until about 15 minutes before the race.  Found the group, wished everyone a great race, told them we'd see them at the finish and took off.  We lined up right at the 3:40 group.  Before I knew it we were off.

I don't wear a Garmin, but Tom had his Timex on and well, everyone's Garmin's were beeping at the mile markers so I kept not of the pace.  First mile was a lot of dodging, but we managed a 8:36.  Good.  I can handle that.  No sign of the 3:40 group though (They were behind us for some reason).  I never saw the mile two marker and hit mile three at 25:24.  Miles 2 and 3 were both around 8:13's and I felt it.  I started to get a little side stitch around mile 4.5.  I ran through it but mentally it hurt a little.  Tom looked great.  Around mile 6.5 I started to slow a little.  I had hit the 10k mark at 52:16 but I needed some food.  I ate and just tried to keep chugging along.  Tom was always a few feet in front of me and I just felt like I couldn't catch him.  Still, no sign of the 3:40 group.  Around mile 8, they caught me, but Tom stayed in front of him.  When the course split, I waved goodbye and made my turn.  He went right and I went left.  Gosh I hope he doesn't die too early!

I was getting tired and decided to put my tunes on after seeing Matt around mile 9.  He was having Achilles problems and told me that he was taking a scenic walk to the finish. :)  About a mile later, here comes Matt, smiling and talking a mile a minute.  I think I must have picked up my pace a little when he showed up and I got another side stitch.  I didn't want to hold him up, but we walked for maybe 20 seconds to stretch it out and then continued to run.  I didn't know what pace I was running and that was fine.  At mile 12, Matt took a beer from the aid station and by mile 13, was pumping the crowd up.  I literally was cracking up.  Totally took my mind off of the last few miles!  We ended up crossing the finish line together.

My finish time was a 1:50:44.  Not a PR, but close.  I was happy with that for sure.  It was a windy day, and quite frankly, I didn't go into the race thinking I had that in me.

I put some warm clothes on (everything I could find) and found Heather and Matt.  Heather had a great race too!  Found Kevin, who PRed big time and Jennie who did get in the 5k.  We decided to wait for BDD and Tom and cheer on the other runners.

It was so great seeing BDD finish his first half.  Watching him come in was exciting - sometimes we lose sight of the fact that the "first race" for everyone is such a monumental experience.  I remember my first 13.1.  Glad we were there to see his.  Look how strong he looked! :)
As we were walking to get him at the finish, I happened to look over to the finish line and what did I see??

MY FREAKING HUSBAND!!!!

The clock read 3:39:xx.  WHAT THE????

I ran up to him, jaw on the ground screaming "where the hell did that come from?".  I couldn't have been more excited to find out that he ran his tush off and NEVER got caught by the 3:40 group.  That means that he actually executed his race plan PERFECTLY and finished with a time of 3:38:51 - a 20 minute PR!  It's amazing what the mind and body can do.
We kept him walking, got him his mug, a piece of pizza, some beer and then met up with the group.  Everyone had such a great day.  We met some new friends, we got to talk racing and training, we smiled and laughed a lot, and we all ran great races.  What more can you ask for?

36 comments:

Allison said...

Wow! Way to go, Tom! And congratulations to you, too--you rock!

Matty O said...

20 minute PR?!?! WOW! Someone has been sand bagging his last few marathons huh? Great job both of you!!!

It was truly a pleasure meeting everyone over the weekend and you said it the best, it was very nice meeting like minded people that "get" each other haha.

Yeah, I think you met your match on the chatter box ;)

LOVE the way the picture came out from the expo. Proof that he was there!!! and that BDD DOES exist!

Thanks again for letting me run with you at the end, I needed the help to keep me going :)

Can't wait to meet up again!

Janet Edwards said...

Sounds like a super fab experience! Huge kudos to you and the rest of the gang!

Lauren said...

great race! way to kick off the season on a high note! yay for your hubby's huge PR!

Matthew Smith said...

Way to go on a great race, Colleen! That was pretty fast! Tom freaking killed his race. Sweet! I'm glad you got to meet up with everyone and have a ton of fun. Good luck to you as you recover from the race.

Rebecca said...

Way to go ON your 1/2!! I am so excited to see you had a great race, a nice afternoon and that your hubby did so amazing - who does a 20 MINUTE PR?! Wow!

Steve and I are a little envious (ok a lot envious) of your upcoming race season, we will miss the the local triathlons and seeing you guys this year! One question, I didn't see your Italy Triathlon Race schedule posted yet? Waiting.....

Unknown said...

Thanks for the great weekend recap and the first documented sighting of BDD! It was really great meeting all of the blogger family members that I hear so much about. Hopefully we can do Toledo again next year and the second half tailwind is even stronger!!!

Unknown said...

I suspect it was the Newtons. :) Great races!!!

Unknown said...

Great job Colleen and Tom! Way to go on the PR. I started with the 3:40 pace group in 2007 and died at mile 15.....So glad it worked out better for him than me that year (this year was another story- I knew what I had to do).

LOVE the BDD pics. I am hoping to catch a sighting of him as well this weekend.

Caratunk Girl said...

CONGRATS to TOM!! HOLY SMOKES!! That is so awesome.

Sounds like a super fun weekend!!

LOL at the BDD pictures!! SO AWESOME. That rocks, exactly like it should be. I imagined when I meet him us getting a picture taken and he is holding up a picture of Jeff Irvin over his face or something, you know, you have to keep the mystic alive! ha ha

Meredith said...

Fun!

DRog said...

What a great weekend you guys had! And you didnt quite get the PR but what a run especially in those conditions - pretty cool you were able to close with MattyO
High 5 for your husband on that marathon PR !

love that first pic - haha

D

Christi said...

Wow, what a great race for Tom! That is awesome! Congrats to you and everyone! Everyone had a great day,

I love that BDD is still mysterious!

tri like mary said...

Congratulations to both of you on great races! I can't believe you can run without a watch. I WAY to type A controlling for that!

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Way to rock both your races!!! I had such a good time this weekend, thanks for being part of it. I agree with Tom, we should make an annual tradition of an early season 13.1 (geez, there I go again, talking about running races)

Caroline said...

He exists!!!!! that picture made me laugh!!!
looks like a great weekend!
congrats on your great race! and your husband: wow!!!! that is awesome!!! 20 minutes!!! congrats to him!!!

Unknown said...

Excellent recap Colleen! Congrats to you on a great first week and a huge virtual fist pump to Tom on crushing the marathon course!

MattyO freaking kills me!

BDD hiding his face is priceless too. Wait until CedarPoint, my wife and I took over 800 pics last weekend, he WILL be photographed!

Pahla said...

WOW, what a great day for everyone!! Congrats on an excellent race, and big congrats to Tom on a 20 minute PR!! Amazing!
I'm still laughing at the pics of BDD!

Ironman By Thirty said...

Great race to both of you! I think the secret to Tom's success is running back to back marathons. He just needs to find one in May and he'll be under 3:30.

We enjoyed meeting both of you and had a great time.

I feel your pain having to run with MattyO for 3 miles. Try 6. I just kept running faster and harder hoping that he would eventually shut up. It didn't work. hahahaha He sure does help pass the time doesn't he?

Good luck with all your training this summer!

Chris K said...

This is the 3rd r.r. I have read today for this race. All of you guys exuded such a fun energy. Looks like a great time. I am such a loner runner - I'm jealous.

Man, Tom killed it. Congrats to him.

And BDD, he was all smiles.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a fun weekend, especially after reading BDD's recap! :)

Aimee said...

Woohoo! Congrats on your awesome race, and a big congrats to your husband!! It sounds like you had a great weekend, and how fun to meet-up with a bunch of bloggers! The pics of BDD totally cracked me up!

Unknown said...

Congrats to you eve though you weren't feeling well!! And Congrats to your hubby for the PR!

Kacie Darden said...

What a great day!!!

KC (my 140 point 6 mile journey) said...

Reading all of your tweets this weekend made me want to be there with all of you cool bloggers. One day! Good job to you and Tom for finishing strong!

Molly said...

20 min PR?! WOW!

I have to tell you, I read your tweet about your time right before I went to church, and during the mass I was doing the calculations and trying to figure out if I could ever get the same time in a half : )

congrats to you both, and love the "photos" of BDD!

Jon said...

Sounded like a great weekend all around! Congrats on another finish and congrats to Tom for a HUGE PR!

Awesome that you guys posted those photos of BDD! Keep the myth alive!

P.S. Matt took a beer @ mile 12? AWESOME!

Anne-Marie said...

Sounds like a great race for both of you! Tom did amazing with his 20 min PR! And you did awesome with a near-PR - congrats!!

The blogger meet-up sounds so fun - I'm excited for Rev3 Cedar Point so I can meet up with a bunch of people too!

Marci said...

Congrats to both of you and Tom on such a great race!

Anonymous said...

Great report! Sometimes you just got to go for it!

Kristen said...

With a start like this, I think this season's running and biking will be record setting! Congrats to you both! Can't wait to see you on Sunday! x o x o

Heidi Austin, PT, DPT said...

congrats looks like a solid race! looove meeting up with bloggers. they are the best :)

Annie said...

Awesome race report, and an even more awesome race. Jeff and I had the experience of meeting up with bloggers and it is so fun. Sounds like you had the same experience. Again, congrats to you and your hubby on an awesome race!

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

Congrats to both of you!!

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