Carl

Yesterday I ran the Las Vegas Rock and Roll marathon.   I had hoped my running buddy would be coming to run with me but she didn’t want to.   I had some other friends who were planning on attending initially but their plans changed.   The only people who made the trip this year were two of our best friends.   As a result, we had four days together in which we had a lot of fun and laughs.   I’m glad it worked out that way.

There was a drawback Brek and I discovered when we got to the race start—we weren’t going to be able to start near each other or even at the same time.   I went up with the marathoners and she waited for her half marathon group to start a bit later.   This is when I met Carl, or possibly when Carl met me.   He was an older, Middle Eastern gentleman who decided after meeting me to take my hand and pull me up to corral five, because he said we were going to pace fast and would need to be up front.

I told him I’d try, but I had a cold (notice the breaking voice) and he was asking me to pace a full two-and-a-half minutes under my normal pace.    The race started and I tried, truly I did.   Carl said he wasn’t going to leave me, but he eventually did, although it wasn’t until after four or five miles.    During that time I’d managed to keep a 10:03 minutes/mile pace which for me is pretty good.

After he went on a head I put in my headphones and ran alone.   I looked ahead, thinking of Carl from time to time and tried putting on a burst of speed each time.   If it wasn’t for the water/hydration stops I could have kept a better pace, but I was sweating a lot as the day was warm and I was overdressed.

I did well pace-wise up until about twenty miles, at which point I lost speed significantly and just wanted to be finished.   My husband messaged me at mile twenty-five because he was worried I was slowing down so.   I told him I was find, just exhausted and I’d see him shortly.  

Through the whole race I thought of Carl and tried to be faster than I felt.   He was ahead, but he was still with me.  Even with the cold, I ran under a five-hour marathon, which was good, but I’d hoped for 4:40 or less. There’s always next year though…

Carl texted me today to see how I did.   How sweet.

The Big Boy Update:  At the Veterans day parade my son went to the other day he saw a tank and a helicopter.   He was duly impressed to see them up close since he’s seen many in his cartoons but none in person.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter went to a local parade with my in-laws for Veterans Day.   She loved the bands and music, even getting out into the street one time to dance.

Fitness Update:  Rock and Roll Las Vegas 2016 yesterday with at 4:56 finish time.