My experience - 4/5
It was a good day with
decent run, good company and really great food.
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| Start line |
I was running too much. Yes,
I said it- Too Much! I ran 52 miles in 6 days including Colonial 200 and Sunday
MTT run and a rest day. And I was back again for 17 miles next Sunday. And the
crawling crab half was scheduled for next weekend, so I took a week off to give
my stressed IT band some rest, which later turned out to be a good decision.
I reached a day before
for the expo and collected my bib (2174) and T-shirt and straight went to my
hotel, not to repeat my antics of Virginia Beach. I knew that I was not going
to better now my 2:24 at Patrick Henry with my stressed left leg, but still
hoping for a decent run.
The race day morning was
pretty nice with 8 am start. I was in wave 4. I met my Pink team member Corey
there, who is much faster than me. During our Sunday practice runs I only see
him at the finish already done with his stretch exercises by the time I finish.
But he was struggling from injury since Patrick Henry, and doctor has advised
against him doing long runs, so he has restricted him for only half marathons.
He decided to run with me so that he could maintain a slower pace, which was
good for me too.
We maintained a slow
pace from the start from Hampton coliseum, which was also the finish point. The
start was not as busy as Rock'n roll but still a decent one. The route was flat
and the view was nothing to write about. Our route was taking us to Hampton
downtown. Around mile 5 with downtown, air and space museum and Hampton river
on side, scenery changed, but with a quick turn the change was short lived. So I
was really glad that I was running with Corey, and maintaining a consistent
pace.
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| We got this view for 2 miles |
Around mile 8 the view
was breathtaking with grand houses on one side and sea on the other. The breeze
was mildly cold, which felt good while running. We enjoyed this view for next
two miles. This was one of the best views I had seen in any of races. Dark blue
water with light blue sky and green on the side.
I felt some nagging on
my left feet so I slowed down. Corey stayed with me, so after some time I again
picked up pace. That's the major benefit of running with someone. It becomes
easy to maintain pace. As we reached mile 10 we started picking up pace, and by
the time we reached mile 13 we were almost 1 min faster than before. I had a
really strong finish with Corey.
The medal was cool too
with a red happy crab on it, and the snacks were even better. Beer and crab
soup on bread, which was amazing. We even tried to lift some fake boulders
(painted thermocol).
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| This Crab soup was AMAZING!!! |
