Chris has a photo of us just moments before the race and then I think his camera died.
But we all made it. There were plenty of medals for everyone this year. All the same medals too (last year they were a bit short and had some different ones that Susan and Cathy opted for).
Susan and Cathy picked up our bibs on Wednesday so we all got the gloves and hat, I'm wearing the hat in the photo with Chris. Kept me warm and didn't bother me so now I'm going to order the one from One More Mile that has the John Bingham penguin on it.
They had 2 different colored shirts this year depending on size. Mine is mostly red with a grey stripe on the sleeves and the other is grey with the red stripe. Last year they had Penguin with turkey feathers on the front and this year not. So I was kinda bummed about that because I liked that.
They had the Turkey character out again this year and he is cute.
The bling was nice. The fellow racers were nice. The course was the same but it sure was nicer this year without the cold windy drizzle we had last year. It was still cold and I thought my toes were goners in this running shoes with all that wonderful mesh. But once we started running they warmed up. Once we started running I tucked my blue windbreaker into my WISH bag.
Oh I have to go back to the bag. THANKS KAREN! Since I knew I would be wearing my jacket and sweatshirt I opted to wear my beautiful WISH bag from Karen. So that is how Chris found me. I wore it for the entire 4 miles and it sort of bugged me with the straps falling off my shoulders as I ran but it was only 4 miles and it worked out really nice as I was able to toss my coat it in it and later my hat, ear muffs and gloves.
FOOD? They didn't seem to have as much as the prior year. I mean there was no food left when I crossed and my time was like 53 minutes I think. We just looked it up, I'm around a 14:11 minute pace. Better than last year and we had at least a bagel at the end. The only thing was water in cups and a sport chocolate drink, I can't remember the name but one of those replenishment drinks for muscle recovery. I tried it and it wasn't all that awful, it's a recovery drink it's not a milk shake so I went into drinking it knowing it wasn't super good but still better than others I had tried.
They had music at the start and all the way to the finish. Poor Ray (dh) he crossed running to the Rocky theme and I was looking down and missed it, even had my camera out but we thought we had a few minutes yet before he showed. Oops. I can only hope that the camera guys caught it for me. He had a 15:01 avg/mile which rocked! This was his 3rd race ever and I hope to drag him along for many more
it was my cousin Karen's 1st and she actually passed me in Mile 1. She has a great long stride and well I was say reminds me of Wendy when it comes to the stregnth of their walking stride. i had to jog more than a few times to keep up/catch up to her walking pace. She does have long legs than me and I think she actually slowed her walking down which is kinda bad because had she kept her walking pace up and I ran a bit more in the final 2 miles I think we could have done even better. But it was the 1st we had ever walked/ran together and both were probably wondering if we were pushing the other to much LOL
Susan and Cathy seemed to have a good race, they had to leave almost immediately after finishing. We got a couple of photos but had to walk to the car where they left to go directly home. Ray, Karen and I went back to the hotel to change and leave. So all I really got was that from seeing them they had no injuries and only the death of Susan's ipod which I think lead to Cathy's lack of hearing since she was then forced to listen to Susan's 1st 2 miles of whining. Which leads to me wonder does anyone really enjoy those 1st 2 miles in any race? DL's 1st mile I wondered what on earth I was doing and if I could finish 13 miles LOL So it goes poor Susan didn't have her usual distraction in the beginning. So I hope to get the mile by mile breakdown on Saturday's walk.
Well if you kept up with this rambling to this point it proves you are an endurance athlete because most others would have broken down and run away begging someone to make me stop talking
It was a good race. The course is relaxing and peaceful. It's November so it's not flowers and Disney song birds but on a crisp SUNNY Thanksgiving morning it's still a very pretty way to start the day out. Not sure if we will brave the 4.5 hour drive again next year. I think I really would like to do something closer to home. But if you live in the area I would recommend it.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!
Chris, Beth and kids .... can't wait to see you both again in January!!!! Chris let us know where Beth will be for cheering so I can search her out in the half.
