Tobacco Trail

I ran the Tobacco Trail marathon today.   I've run five marathon-distance runs now, this being the fifth one and my second race.   I wasn't racing, but unlike my first marathon, I had fun.

Uncle Jonathan, my neighbor and I were in the race.   We had a parking calamity at the beginning due to unclear instructions, but after the police officer told us to follow the busses, we got to our up-close, reserved space by 5:40AM.    We ate, drank and put on our final gear before leaving the car to visit the bathroom one last time before the race start.

My neighbor and I were planning on running together.   Uncle Jonathan was going for his best race time.   The course is in the woods with the trail part being a half paved and half packed trail.   The scenery was beautiful in the woods, it was quiet and even though there were over four-thousand runners, it didn't feel cramped or packed.

The course layout was such that we'd see Uncle Jonathan two times as he passed us, sprinting ahead like a gazelle with a ball cap on towards the finish line.    We cheered when he went past and then resumed our chatting and running.

There was hydration and food/Gu every two miles and bathrooms at reasonable intervals.    I drank at every stop and ate quite a lot by the time we finished.    I felt great, aside from my feet which were hurting a good deal.

I'd been debating on shoes for the race.   My old street shoes were good on trails, but were way past the three-hundred mile running life.   I had a newer pair of Hokas, but there was a blistering problem with one foot after I got over five miles so I ruled them out.   I settled on a new pair of the same model street shoe I'd purchased.    I spent about a week wearing them everywhere and doing some short runs in them.

They did a good job, but I think with the total distance I still have some bruised toes.  They weren't quite the same fit as my prior pair I'm guessing.   Hopefully the feeling will come back into a few of my toes by tomorrow.   But hey, if that's the only thing I have to complain about with the race, I'm doing great.

I did feel good throughout the entire race aside from the end, when we all were very tired.  The last four miles were rough.    At about twenty-five miles we were back on the streets, having left the trail, and heading towards the finish line.   For some reason, perhaps like being overly tired, I tripped on one of the orange cones lining the road.   I fell straight forward, threw my hands out and slammed the palms of my hands down on the street.   Then—and I'm telling you this because I was told what happened from someone else—I rolled like a cat and landed back on my feet.

I yelled out, "I'm okay" and kept running.   I was dazed and my hands stung, but from looking at them, there was no damage.   They didn't drag along the pavement, they just hit heavily at one point and I rolled sideways.    I have very little memory of much other than trying not to get the other tired runners involved and keep plodding on to the finish line.  I can't even tell I fell on my hands as I look at them now.

Uncle Jonathan met his race goal time of 3:28 with a pace of 7:58.   My neighbor and I made our best time at 4:51 with a pace of 11:08.

The Big Boy Update:  We're at lunch on Friday and I'm in a booth sitting beside my son.   He suddenly says to me, "hold this french fry."  I take it and he says, "feed me" and opens his mouth.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter came out from school the other day and the teacher leaned over to whisper something to me as she was helping my daughter into the car.  She told me the order had been confused when my daughter was changing pants.   She had Hello Kitty underpants nicely pulled up over her corduroy pants.

Fitness Update:  Tobacco Trail Marathon today.   Uncle Jonathan, my neighbor and I all beat our best times.