Race Reports/Encouragement/Kudos February 2nd and 3rd

[Maherae]

Welcome first weekend in February! The groundhog will have WISH team company on Saturday!! Way to get out there, Matt!! Wendy decided to make it a full WISH weekend! You are remarkable!!

Saturday, 2nd
thndrmatt (Matt) Double Bridge Run (15k); Pensacola, FL

Sunday, 3rd
getnthinr (Wendy) East Beach 1/2 Marathon; Norfolk, VA

GO! WISH Team GO! ​

 

[thndrmatt]

Dangit I better start with an alibi... I'm registered for the Double Bridge but I held off on Tallahassee, the plans DW had out there fell through so we no longer have multiple reasons to make the drive, and actually staying at home to watch the Super Bowl is sounding awful attractive... So it'll probably be a one race weekend for me... (underachieving I know! ) I'm thinking I might do a lot more running locally though instead or maybe a real long bike on Sun, we'll see! Back home in CA there used to be a HUGE super bowl sunday 10k that I ran every year so I could sit at home and eat a whole bag of chips while watching the game and not feel bad...

 

[getnthinr]

Wow, maybe this is more like the Hedgehog weekend than Groundhog... (yuck, yuck, yuck )

I'm hedging here too, Matt. I'm signed up for the East Beach Half in Norfolk on Saturday, but my still-healing feet are thinking if it keeps raining, maybe new blisters on the top of old blisters wouldn't be such a great idea. I'm making my decision tomorrow when it's time to make the drive.

I'd hate to start the year off by doing something stupid. Oh wait, I did that when I signed up for Goofy #4, didn't I??????

 

[Kristi1357]

Go Matt and Wendy!

 

[TnTsParty]

Go Matt and Wendy.

 

[Maherae]

No problem, Matt. You are definitely entitled to a rest day!

Wendy, hoping you make the right decision for YOU. Let us know, please.

Hey, we rate an advertisement!!

 

[kareneast]

Go Matt and Wendy!!!​

​

 

[Big Vic]

Good luck Matt and Wendy!!

 

[sap1227]

Good Luck Matt and Wendy!!!!

 

[Maherae]

bumping!!

 

[wtpclc]

Good luck Matt and Wendy!!!

Wendy, please don't hurt yourself. I won't be at upset if I wish you luck adn you don't race.

 

[SilverE]

Go get 'em!

 

[Honeibee]

Well, whatever you guys decide to do, enjoy it!

Wendy, that was a good one!

 

[DianeL]

We're with ya both regardless of what you decide to do and since you both are not on my team I think I will cheer for the recliner in front of the Super Bowl on TV

Best Wishes always!!!!

 

[lenshanem]

Good luck Matt and Wendy!

 

[Sandy321]

GO MATT AND WENDY!!

I'm sure Wendy, you'll do the right thing, and either way you deserve the CHEERS!!

 

[thndrmatt]

Holy ridonkulous amounts of support batman!

And with that, at 5:37am, I'm off!

 

[escape]

GO Matt and Wendy!

Wendy, I understand your pain. I ran 7 miles last weekend on some not so healed blisters and I got new blisters on top. Smart move! Luckily, these new ones are that bad. But guess what, I'm going to do it again this weekend. Good luck with your decision!

 

[thndrmatt]

What a beauuuuuuuuuuuutiful day for a race! Pensacola's Double Bridge Run offers a 15k and 5k, and I chose the former. It is actually the course I PR'd on last year, although I knew I would not compete with that today. Something like a 20mph wind at our back for 90% of the race last year certainly helped that time. Was about 40 for the start with a biting wind which was chilly for most just standing around, but once we got goin it was niiiiice. Was plannin to stick to about 10mpm pace, and was shocked to hear there was an 11mpm cutoff for the 15k. It's understandable given the race closes the majority of traffic on two major bridges in the Pensacola area, but definitely put me closer to the dreaded sweepers than ever before! The bridges do help ease the monotony though, they both have a big hump in the middle that really gets your heart going on the way up, and are quite fun to fly down.

DW had a busy week so she slept in (more on why later) and I carpooled over with a fellow flyer from work. Tried to avoid getting caught up in all the speed at the beginning (winning time is always around 45 min, or sub 5 min miles for the whole thing...) even though they started the race 2 minutes early, which left many people running out of their cars and trying to get to the timing mat at the start from hundreds of yards away after the fact... A quick loop through downtown had me at 9:08 for the first mile (oops) before I settled in. 9:37, 9:50, 9:43, 9:36, 9:49, put me close to an hour for the 10k mark. At this point my only gripe with the race occurred.

Last year the 5k which runs the last 1/3 of the 15k course started a half hour later, so only the fastest of the 15k runners were affected. This year it started an hour later, so approximately an hour in our race here us 9 and 10mpm pacers come as the race closes down into 1 lane, and the 5 and 6 minute milers are having to weave through us for the rest of the race. Didn't make much sense, and actually caused the 5k leader to turn the wrong way on the course and run an extra fifty yards out and back while discovering his mistake, putting him in like 20th... In any case this probably caused me to run a little faster than I would have for the last portion. 9:33, 9:30, 9:12, and 3:33 for what my Garmin had as an extra .43 instead of .3, not too bad.

Overall that put me at 1:29:30 which as you can see in my sig was about 8 min slower than last year, but better than the 1:33 I was predicting, so who cares!

Now you didn't hear it from me, but rumor has it I feel well enough to run tomorrow... that race I said I wasn't going to do... that half marathon two and a half hours away... that would put me at 22.4 miles on the weekend... Potential insanity lurking here! But DW said she'd drive me soooo. Stand by for race(s) report part 2 I guess!

 

[Sandy321]

WTG MATT!!

y'all are crazy!! lol

cant wait to hear the marathon report!!