Running in all kinds of weather
Our 2008 competition season is well underway, with two half-marathons to our credit! The first, the Surf City Run in Huntington Beach, Calif., was a challenge from a weather standpoint. The last two years we enjoyed nice breezes and sunshine. This year Saturday was one of the sunniest and warmest days they had experienced in a while. Well, Sunday morning was a different story! We woke to a very wet and windy morning. The temp was a balmy 45 degrees; the winds, from the West, were 20 knots, gusting to 40; and it was a heavy downpour.
We have gotten a little careless, living in Florida, and neither of us had thought to bring very much cold weather gear! They used a wave start, and you were supposed to align yourself by your expected finish time. Both Carol and our friend Kathy had a lower finishing time, so we parted ways, and I proceeded to the back, when I got to the wave where I thought I should be, looked around and noticed two other gray haired gents. I introduced myself and found that we were pretty much the same age. They were from Arizona, and totally underdressed. As time went on, we just got wetter and colder. We all decided to go into our hotel lobby, which was by the starting line to await our wave, when one of my new found friends had the best idea, let’s just go up to the front and start with the next wave and we did! I fear that had we gone back inside and waited, there may have been time for a go/no go decision! All in all, it was good run. With the weather, you had little time to think about how miserable you were!
Carol, Kathy and I, had all decided, at the finish, just to head for shelter, and we would get together later. By the time I got to our room, Carol had just arrived with some Mimosas. What a neat surprise and what a great way to celebrate our run! We are both committed to returning next year. Through our friend Kathy, we have established a neat group of friends there and it is always fun to spend Super Bowl Sunday with them! Having lived both in New York and New England, the best team won!
Back on the East Coast, we found ourselves two weeks later in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., for the inaugural “Run 26.2 with Donna”. The cost of the race was totally supported by the sponsors, so the entrance fees and donations all went to Breast Cancer Research! It was a totally awesome weekend! The expo, the course, the volunteers, the spectators, the participants all clicked! Believe me, Pink was the color of the day everywhere. They had runners from all 50 states, and many foreign countries.
Everyone displayed at least one name, if not more, of someone who they were running in memory of. Our good friends Tom and Cynthia said this is a keeper. That means, one day we will be back to run again! It was also neat to have my twin brother and sister, Sam and Sarah, down from the North to participate.
This was a little different than Surf City. The day before, it was sunny, but cool. However race day, it was warm, sunny, and just got hotter! Well, it took a toll on a lot of the runners, especially those from the North -- enough said! Oh yes, the score, Sister Mary Aggressive- 2, Joey- 0! The season is not over yet, we still have through December to compete!
Tags: New Competition Season
