Hoping for Warmer Weather

Lately we have had a lot of...gasp!...snow. Wait, I live in Virginia Beach, (well, Chesapeake, but close enough) there should be no snow you say! I agree! After 22 years in Maine, shoveling the stuff, I really only want to see it once, maybe twice a year for 1 day. Mother Nature has had other ideas. Apparently she needed to remind Virginia of the good old days when they used to get snow all the time-like back in the 1920's. Where is my global warming?! GRRR! Here it makes the roads a mess, school gets cancelled, you can't get to work and dang its a pain to run in since NO ONE salts the side walks. However, there is light at the end of the dreary tunnel. That's what the race folks said. I guess its like the weather guy, great hair, used car salesman smile, and don't believe a word they say.

Myrtle Beach was my light at the end of a snowy tunnel. A relaxing race weekend I could enjoy and would hopefully make me lighten up about my training. I drove down on Friday, making sure to leave early enough to get my number and make the Neon 5k for the night, missing, yes, Valentine's Day. Hallmark, please don't call, but we don't usually do much anyway and I made sure my daughter had a balloon and card to come home to. I am not completely evil. My husband got to come home to clean dishes too. I am down right saintly-hehe! I met my BRF and her race support at a wonderful restaurant. I only wish I could have eaten more.

I was afraid if I really enjoyed it the way I wanted, when I had to run at 7pm there would be more neon on the ground then the race folks intended. I did have some wonderful salad and a couple of small slices of delicious pizza. I LOVE pizza. I order it, make it at home, and love to try it everywhere I go in search of the BEST pizza. So far, Boston has provided the best. They need to deliver a little further south though.

Dinner done and the wind was kicking up. OK, I can deal with a chilly night. Not quite 60 and sunny, but better then snow. I found my way to the race and the start. There were so many families and kids and I am just not fast enough to start at the beginning of a crowd, so I decided I was running my race. I met a wonderful lady whose daughter was singing the national anthem and got to chat with her. Not something I normally do. I usually leave the chatting to my BRF as she is much better at it then me. It was really neat to talk to the lady. Both she and her daughter had overcome some obstacles and her daughter had even had the guts to take her shot at American Idol. Wow! I was just here to run a little old race. Maybe I should try this whole talking thing more often.

Music was pumping, kids were glowing, the wind was whipping and off we went. After the first mile it thinned a bit so I pushed out of the lally gagging comfort trot and moved. Mile two thinned even more so I pushed even harder. I was almost to mile 3 and still picking up speed when I realized I was picking up speed and wondered what the heck was going on. Through the finish and I had my medal.

It certainly wasn't a fast race or even a PR, but I was darn proud of how much faster I got each mile. I never stopped running. Yeah for me! My race felt good.  I headed back to the car, to the hotel and to bed. I had to be up at 4:30 for the next race. Ugh! They better have the whole zoo at the start!

Alas, no zoo. Instead, they ordered up more wind and pouring rain. What?! That wasn't in the brochure! Not only that, but on little dinner and NO COFFEE in my room (my world was coming to an end), I was now cold, wet and not properly caffeinated. Eventually I headed for the mandatory porta potty stop before the race and ran into my BRF-thank goodness! Someone to commiserate with and who not once told me to stop whining (though she probably should have). You know you are BRF's when you don't make plans to meet, at a race in a different state, in the rain and you STILL meet up.

Whining and potty done, we lined up, at the back where everyone slower then a 2:30 finish was crowed. No one seemed to know where one pace started and one ended, so the start was a little crazy. About a half a mile in I lost my BRF and had to just run my own race again. About mile 1.5 the rain stopped completely and the sun was coming out, but only because the hurricane force winds were blowing the clouds and runners around like crazy. We were warmer, but I could actually lien into the gusts and remain up right. If I had wings I would have won the whole thing! It wasn't bad through. Not my best, but not far off the mark even with the rain and wind. The best part was that my training for the marathon is paying off in my half marathons. I wasn't nearly as tired as I normally am and the wind and rain were mere annoyances rather then race breakers. That's kinda cool. Race done and I even saw the elephant on the way back to the shuttle. Maybe a little luck for the Shamrock next month? Lets hope so! Best of all, I enjoyed it, rain, lack of coffee, whining and all. I also felt better about my training. Mission accomplished.