Monday, April 09, 2007

Worst. Conditions. Ever.

I'm back from the Ocean City Half Marathon and a couple of days at the beach.

We had a nice seasonal Easter blizzard, beginning promptly with the starting gun at the ocean front at 7:00 AM. Just the thing for a lovely beach weekend!! Gusts from the north at something like 30 mph, too.

I have never felt MORE sorry for race volunteers and full marathon runners! The worst part was the bridge at the 12-mile mark - I thought we had it bad going over the bridge in high winds mostly to our back and pending hypothermia - but the sight of the full marathoners heading back out directly into the wind with another half marathon in front of them -- bent halfway over and shielding their eyes and faces against the driving snow, climbing the steep bridge -- was definitely a sight to inspire pity! I was never so glad to be approaching a finish line!

In any other conditions it would have been a lovely event, but it felt like an epic struggle this year!

I was still pleased with my time - within one minute of my PR:

Watch time: 2:27:04 (Mile 10 1:52:56, last 5K 34:07).

Garmin time, you ask? Who knows! Yep, screwed it up again. Fastest mile 10:47, first 4 miles within 3 seconds of that, slowest mile the seventh or eighth when I walked a while to choke down a gel, 11:45.

Hooray! My 30th half marathon done, and #4 completed in my quest to complete 5 half marathons under 2.5 hours each this spring to celebrate my 50th year! The final one coming up in 2 weeks should be (comparatively) a walk in the park, I hope!

No race photos (other than the official photographer photos), due to my new policy of minimizing gear carried on race day - but I have several from the weekend to share in my next post.

7 comments:

21stCenturyMom said...

Go Nancy! Nicely done.

Habeela said...

Woohoo! 4 down and still going strong! Glad you had a great vacation.

jeanne said...

congrats nancy! you know how to celebrate 50 in style! I may try to follow you in a month or two. :) (and i do mean: follow.)

Vickie said...

Nice job, Nancy, especially with the horrible conditions. That had to account for some extra time, right? I had looked at this as a possible run to do this year, since my daughter lives out there, but all the info I came across spelled out the unpredictable weather conditions, and I'm just too much of a wimp to deal with that!

Gary Broadwater said...

Congrats. I finished the 1/2 and then went on to finish the full to support a freind that wasnt doing well at the half way point. The conditions coming back across the bridge were exactly as bad as you describe. Miserable,painful,cold ice in your face at 30mph, but what a great life (and running) experience. I would do it again :->. Certainly a time to remember.

Nancy Toby said...

You definitely get Good Guy Points for helping out a buddy under those conditions, Gary! Bravo!!!

Ellie Hamilton said...

You rock! You ran spectacularly!