No holiday is complete without the opportunity to race I say, thus Skinny Turkey Half Marathon.
Kathie found the race and promptly signed up, despite never disclosing the fact she had in fact ran previous half marathons. I thought she was kinda doing it on a whim. Secretive non disclosing anything girl that Kathie.
Got to the race in time to enjoy the heated bathrooms inside the high school the race was being staged from. Was not willing to wait in line, I feel my basic human rights are violated when I have to wait in line to defecate.Thus leaded a revolt of the bathroom and led out an expedition to locate another bathroom.
Warm enough for shorts, t-shirt, and arm warmers. Mostly. The wait at the start line was not something I was used to. There were 629 people in the race, so I lined up accordingly with the normal amount of time to wait. I was not expecting a word from the charity partner, nor a moment of silence, nor the American anthem, nor a dance troop performing a routine that only the front runners could see. In Canada they just say go. By the end of all that I had been standing in the cold for 10minites and my teeth were chattering.
The course was two out and backs, the hilliest half course I have ever done. By fair. Never ending. Started slightly ahead of the 1:40pace bunny. Stayed on pace until about 12k, right around the one kilometre long hill. Then i just was done. Started walking up some hills. Which actually was was alot of walking as the course was all hills. In the end was 1:45, which is a new personal worst. Considering my level of fitness presently I should be ok, but i am not. Course was reasonably nice, would have been nicer if it wasn't on pavement. Seriously, I was sore for two day post. Ridiculous!
The swag was interesting, as in alot. Metal, hat, arm warmer, socks, and long sleeve technical shirt.
Except, i have so many metals already, I don't wear hats and Luke says I look bad in them. If Luke says I look bad in something it must be bad cause he thinks I would look good in a potato sack. The arm warmers are oddly shaped and feel cheap. The socks have a odd texture, and I asked for a youth large which usually are quite nice but on this particular model the sleeves are too short.
Food post was bananas, oranges, water and pumpkin bread. I ate a few oranges slices and thought I would have some bread when Kathie was done, but it was all gone. At the three hour mark the race organizers gave away all the rest of the food so when a blogger I read finished around 3:30 there was nothing left. I feel bad for her even though I got a large bunch of bananas and a bag or oranges. Really I do.
The interesting part of this race was the front runners were all DQ. They were following a lead cyclist who missed a four kilometre section. As I am an idiot and always go out hard so I was quite close to the front and when I saw the front runners come back so soon, either they were off course or I was. There had to be something wrong. Reassurance from others on the course conformed I was on the right path, so I knew something was up. Feel bad for the runners but it is a participants responsibility to know the course prior to the race.
