Door County Half Marathon
May 7th, 2016
On the 7th the whole family made the trek up to Door County for the Door County Half Marathon. Jess made her race debut post baby #2, I was looking to knock some rust off before the Ice Age Trail 50 Mile race the following weekend
and our parents came along to watch the girls and cheer us on. My plan was to win the race, be conservative and possible snatch a course record.
The hour and a half trip up to Peninsula State park was uneventful. I picked up our packets, Jess and I went on our warm-up and we met back up with the family in the staging area which is about a quarter of a mile from the start. I went
off to use the restroom, came back to our meeting spot and the family was gone!!! It is now 15 minutes before the race. There are 2500 racers and hundreds of spectators on a 12 foot wide road that is wooded on both sides between me and the start line. My parents have my jersey and are somewhere in the masses. I dodge the trees and scramble to the start line in hopes that Jess is waiting there with my jersey, she is waiting there but she is not holding a jersey. We both scramble back through the woods
going our own direction. I get to the end of masses and I still haven’t found my parents. I ask a random person to use their phone and call my parents; Jess found them and is back at the start with my jersey. As I start to sprint back to the start line
I bump into my father in-law, I give him my warm-ups and continue on. I meet Jess, get my jersey and try to settle my nerves.
BANG! The gun goes off. Knowing I’m on an adrenaline rush from the jersey fiasco I focus on staying calm and relaxed. I hit the 1st mile in 5:30 and I’m all by myself. I continue to stay calm and relaxed and stroll through
the rolling hills of Peninsula State park clipping off miles between 5:10 and 5:30 pace, never letting the pace feel laboring. I break the tape in 1:10:02. Mission accomplished.
After some high fives and congratulations I back track the course to find Jess. I get to around the 11 mile mark and there she is. I encourage her on through
her struggles of the last couple of mile. Nearing the finish line she picks up our daughter Audrey and they cross the line together. It wasn’t the race she was hoping for but it was a good for a comeback race none the less.
All in all it was a great race, even with the jersey fiasco at the start. I got a nice gift basket for the win, it was a scenic course, the volunteers were great and the race was very well put on. You can plan on seeing me at this race again in the years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment