Saturday afternoon we drove out to Reading to meet up with the Pagoda Pacers Athletic Club for their annual family picnic. GREAT food (they even had a fish sandwich for the veggie freaks like me) and even better company!
Hanging with our Pagoda Pacer friends.
Hsin-Hua had a great time running around with all the big kids, and was even willing to share her Barbies so they would play with her! At races and running functions there is never a shortage of sweet and creative kids who entertain themselves in the great outdoors while their lunatic parents run 8-12 hour ultras! Hsin is no exception, and she always seems to come alive at a race and is energized by the atmosphere. Future runner and ultra runner? Boy do this Mommy and Daddy hope so. We never say "we want Hsin to be a runner". That is too much pressure. We say "we want Hsin to WANT to be a runner". It really is up to her, but it sure would make us happy :-)
Hsin hanging with the big girls
Sassy Hsin-Hua and Mommy at the Pacers Picnic
Unfortunately we had to leave just as the party was really getting started. It was an hour and a half drive home to meet Hsin's babysitter and head downtown to our hotel. We had secured ourselves a room at the hotel that literally overlooks the start/finish for the ROCK N ROLL Philly Half. While the price and the location couldn't be beat...the hotel itself was FREAKY! It felt a little like the Shining. The hallways were dim and had strange twists and turns and the whole hotel looked like it hadn't been updated since the 60's or 70's. Weird or not, I would stay there again in a heartbeat for any of the Philly Marathons or Half Marathons. 2 minute walk to the start.
After a fitful night's sleep we met up with Kelly and Jo and Nikki who were also running the race. While this was just another race to some of us, it was Nikki's FIRST!!! BIG FREAKING DEAL! I don't think I will ever forget the feeling I had during the final mile of my first half marathon. The emotion and sense of accomplishment was overwhelming!
We all fought our way to our corrals. Funny moment for the "slow as sh*t" runner married to the "wicked fast" runner. Paul was in corral #1 based on his estimated finish time. I was in corral #17. If it wasn't so funny it would be kinda sad :-)
Nikki pushed me to run harder than my comfort zone, which was a good thing. My goal was to hang with her and her adreneline for as long as I possibly could. I wanted more than anything to cross the finish line of her first half marathon with her, but in reality, I knew there was a good chance that wouldn't happen. I hung strong for almost 9 miles. We were running 10 minute miles almost exactly, and this is about 1 minute, 37 seconds per mile faster than my personal record. I knew at this rate even if I lost her at some point, she would run a kick a** time and I would set a PR. So a few feet before mile 9, we popped in our earphones, and Nikki took off. My legs just couldn't keep up. I kept running strong and pushed to run at my max until the finish.
Crossing the finish line I was mixed with emotion. Pride for Nikki who ROCKED her first half marathon with a final finish time of 2:18, and pride for myself for having set a PR almost 5 minutes better than my previous with a final finish time of 2:25. I knew that for this race, neither Nikki nor I had left anything of ourselves back on the course. We gave this race every ounce of strength, guts, determination and speed that our bodies had in them. The sore feeling of a race well run is a feeling like no other. HUGS Nikki! I am so freaking proud of you!
After our race we all met back up for lunch, a few beers and a lot of laughs.
Paul ran a great race! After an adventure run through the Wissahickon River on Friday night and his winning 100K 2 weeks ago, Pauly did not set a PR, but ran a kick a** race anyway. It is an honor to be married to this wickedly cool (and good looking I might add) guy!!
Kelly ran a PR and even after running a great time at a trail 20 miler just the day before! Congrats!
Jo ran an awesome race, and even through she started 2 corrals behind me, she beat me by 5 minutes :-) Congrats Jo. We need to get you ready for your marathon and ultra next!!!
Stephanie ran with a girlfriend for her first half and they rocked an awesome time of 2:06. Steph and I will be running the Sloppy Cuckoo Trail Half next weekend as well!!!
Memorable race. Great time. Awesome friends.
What more could a Runner Girl ask for.
Nikki, Jo, Me, Pauly, Kelly - 5 of the most kick a** runners I know :-) and ready for some BEER!
* and a HUGE congrats to our friend Derek who finished 3rd overall in the Pines to Palm 100 mile trail race this weekend. Absolutely amazing...but not at all surprising if you now Derek and the amazing runner he is!!!
YOU ROCK, Heather!!!! I had such a great time yesterday!! BIG congrats to Paul, too!! :~)
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right...we need to get me trained and ready for my first FULL and ULTRA!!
(in my whiney voice...) "I WANNA BE AN ULTRA RUNNER, TOOOOOOOO!!!!" ;~)
Looking forward to this coming weekend, too!! xoxo
Sounds like fun and congrats on your PR!
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the Philly half in Nov ... I was trying to decide if I'm driving down the morning of or staying over the night before. Maybe I need the name of the 'freaky' hotel :)