This was a solo trip down as my wife was under the weather and standing in damp, cold environment would certainly not be good. I did get to meet up with a very dear friend of mine and we got dinner and had many laughs that helped ease my nerves a bit. That night I wore out my iPad battery constantly updating the weather. It all came down to attire once again. While running at home, I had the luxury of stopping and starting at my front door with wardrobe chances that could be done on the fly, but in races...what you start with is what you finish with...unless you don't mind littering.
So the morning arrives after an evening of light rain to blowing wind that cut too the core. I sat in my car at the parking area about a half a mile from the start line going through the many scenarios of attire in my head...felt good in the fact that everyone parked around me was doing the same thing. I knew that shorts would always be a must but now it was between gloves, face wrap and jacket. I finally decided jacket all alone and headed towards the start line.
In the lovely Summer time when we all go down by the seaside for surf and sun, the breeze is refreshing in the hot temperatures and we laugh and play. Well...in the middle of March at 6:00am with 43 degree wind blasting across the ocean into the mainland...refreshing is the last word on your mind. We all stood near our corrals plastered against the buildings blocking this piercing wins. My corral was set at two and a half hour finish mark and as the race began, we slowly started moving up as each segment took off in waves of excitement we could all hear. This is the moment I feel like this truly is a battle and we infantry we next off the boat to storm the beach...ironically I had been chatting with US Marine for most of the morning and had really worked each other up to the start line. We kicked off on our journey down the street with crowds cheering on both sides of us. It was a couple of miles in and we got away from the wind...as it turns out, the running Gods knew what they were doing with this day and giving the temperature and humidity...it was perfect. I was 10 miles in before needing to walk a little and noticed immediately that it hurt more to walk than run so I jumped right back into it. I equated this to having almost two hours of consistent impact interrupted by walking angered the continuity of my muscles and decided to go with the flow. At mile 11 we hit Atlantic Ave and was rewarded with that lovely wind again...and not at our backs of course. I came in at two hours and twenty seven minutes...a new personal record, an awesome finisher medal with built in bottle opener, a shamrock hat and ironically once again...a finishers blanket!...as if they knew what the weather was going to be like. I met up with my mom and we proceeded back to my car to relax and drove her to her vehicle and then back to the hotel. I got back to the hotel room and took the best feeling shower that washed the sweat and chills right off of me. I took to the social media to announce my triumph before leaving the room and while channel surfing came across my favorite movie...The Usual Suspects...right at the bombshell ending too. So I stood there as Chazz Palminteri as learning the true identity of Mr. Soze and like that...I was gone.
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| With built in bottle opener... |
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