Race Report: Lewis and Clark 1/2 marathon

It was a dark and stormy night....

Actually, it was morning, albeit dark.  Not stormy, perfect really.  But, it was the kind of morning where dawn seemed to last forever.  Or maybe it just seemed like forever because I was anxiously watching the minutes click by on the dashboard of the 'baru as I inched my way closer to the race start in a traffic jam caused by 7,000 runners planning to arrive an hour before the start and all choosing to take the same route to get there!

I had left the house at 5:30 AM.  10 miles and 1:45 later, I pulled up to the race start just as the gun went off.  Of course, I was still a ginormous parking lot away.  But I managed to get into my race gear, pin my number on, and consume my pre-race Espresso Clif Shot while waiting in traffic.  So that I emerged from my car and started running.

I crossed the start line (thankfully chip-timed) about two minutes behind the first runners, somewhere among the 10-minute milers.  I used the first 400 yds or so in the crowds to get in a "warm-up" before the course opened wide and I was able to slip to the side of the road and open up my stride.  Wouldn't it have been cool to turn on my mileage counter and start my watch?  You'd think.  In the hullabaloo, I remembered my watch pretty quickly, but it took me a mile or more to remember the counter.  C'est la vie.  The first mile was going to be a weird split anyway.

Streaming through the start line.

I weaved my way among the runners, occasionally talking, encouraging, and asking about pace to one or another.  Starting in the back of the pack like that has some major advantages.  First of all, I didn't get passed the whole race.  Second, I literally "ran" into so many people.  I came up behind a fellow former MU track athlete, Jessica Grider, who would eventually finish third in the marathon.  I also came across "Everywhere Steve".  Why do I call him that?  Because he turns up everywhere.  I saw him at cyclocross practice.  We ran into each other at an aid station on the MS150 course.  And now I was running and chatting with him during mile 5.

And the running, on and on, feeling awesome.  I clicked off one 6:30 mile after another.  Going in to this race, I felt like I had no business running anything faster than 6:50 pace.  But, 6:30 felt so natural.  I kept waiting for the crack... that never came.  Along the way, I had a few other runners challenge me for a half mile or more, but I just kept pushing.  And I lied, sorry.  I did get passed by one guy about 0.5 miles from the finish, but I went for a drink and he didn't, and besides, "virtual me" was actually two minutes ahead up the course.

So, I did run my way into the fast women.  I kept hearing 6th, then I passed two more women and I was in "3rd", then 4th.  And that's the way I crossed the finish line.  But what about the two minutes you ask?  Well, in the official results I am listed as 2nd overall!  But, RTFM, the awards are given according to "the order in which we cross the finish line".  Had I known that I might have tried harder to get there on-time, or at least broken a traffic law or two... maybe not.

No $200 for me, no commemorative framed race poster of the the very last Lewis and Clark half-marathon/marathon (it will be a Rock n' Roll St. Louis next year).  But, a ton of self-satisfaction that I can still rock a half (1:25:04 officially) and compete tops among the womens overall.

Now, back to CX!

I'm very excited to be running!  Or I am calling out for a vanilla gel shot.

Got the shot.  Now let's get this show on the road — five miles to go.

Very happy to be almost finished!