PEC 1/2- Hop, Hop, Hop
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 5:06 pm
Get it? I was a pace bunny!
Anyway, that was a blast!
The day didn't start out looking too great- cold, windy, and rainy, but that didn't stop anyone from having a good time. As I was walking around the start area, lots of people told me that they were planning on following me. I started out with a pretty big bunch of people- probably 20-30 or so, and we all stuck together for the 1st 10-12k, until we hit the head wind, and it started to thin out a bit. I had a great bunch of folks- lots chatter & jokes, and everyone was having a good time. At about km 17 you hit "the hill" which I was a bit worried about- I wasn't sure how well the group would handle it. We had banked about 20-30 seconds at that point, so we had a bit of wiggle room. When I got to the top of the hill though, I was all alone! Fortunately what was left of the group (about 6) managed to catch up, and we stuck together until we made the turn onto Main St in Picton (about 1.5km from the finish line) then slowly, they started to leave me in their dust- exactly the way I hoped they would. I came across the finish line with a chip time of 1:59:46- not bad for a rookie bunny! It was great to be walking around the finish area and have all these people come up to thank me and give hugs and tell me that I helped them get a new PB! I'll definitely be back to do more pacing. Also got to meet a couple of Maniacs- Irun4me stuck with me for quite a while and ended up with PB, and I ran into Double Bellybuster as well, who was bunnying the full.
What made this extra special though was that this was my father's first 1/2. He decided back in the spring that he wanted to get in better shape, and he started running, with the goal of doing a 1/2 in the fall (at the spry young age of 59). His training went well, but this past week he came down with a cold which turned into a gunky chest and sinus infection. He was not feeling well this morning, but decided to run anyway- he said he was not going to worry about hitting his goal (2 hours) and would just try to finish. He caught up to me around 8 or 9 km in, and stuck with me for a few km. He ended up dropping back a bit, and I was worried that he was headed for a death march, but shortly after I crossed the line, I ran into my mother and she said that he had already gone past! He finished in 2:00:53- amazing! I'm very impressed!
All in all it was a great day. The weather didn't cooperate, but nothing you can do about that. A great day for a trot around beautiful Prince Edward County!
Anyway, that was a blast!
The day didn't start out looking too great- cold, windy, and rainy, but that didn't stop anyone from having a good time. As I was walking around the start area, lots of people told me that they were planning on following me. I started out with a pretty big bunch of people- probably 20-30 or so, and we all stuck together for the 1st 10-12k, until we hit the head wind, and it started to thin out a bit. I had a great bunch of folks- lots chatter & jokes, and everyone was having a good time. At about km 17 you hit "the hill" which I was a bit worried about- I wasn't sure how well the group would handle it. We had banked about 20-30 seconds at that point, so we had a bit of wiggle room. When I got to the top of the hill though, I was all alone! Fortunately what was left of the group (about 6) managed to catch up, and we stuck together until we made the turn onto Main St in Picton (about 1.5km from the finish line) then slowly, they started to leave me in their dust- exactly the way I hoped they would. I came across the finish line with a chip time of 1:59:46- not bad for a rookie bunny! It was great to be walking around the finish area and have all these people come up to thank me and give hugs and tell me that I helped them get a new PB! I'll definitely be back to do more pacing. Also got to meet a couple of Maniacs- Irun4me stuck with me for quite a while and ended up with PB, and I ran into Double Bellybuster as well, who was bunnying the full.
What made this extra special though was that this was my father's first 1/2. He decided back in the spring that he wanted to get in better shape, and he started running, with the goal of doing a 1/2 in the fall (at the spry young age of 59). His training went well, but this past week he came down with a cold which turned into a gunky chest and sinus infection. He was not feeling well this morning, but decided to run anyway- he said he was not going to worry about hitting his goal (2 hours) and would just try to finish. He caught up to me around 8 or 9 km in, and stuck with me for a few km. He ended up dropping back a bit, and I was worried that he was headed for a death march, but shortly after I crossed the line, I ran into my mother and she said that he had already gone past! He finished in 2:00:53- amazing! I'm very impressed!
All in all it was a great day. The weather didn't cooperate, but nothing you can do about that. A great day for a trot around beautiful Prince Edward County!
