Today’s race was pretty ideal. The course was short, flat and fast. I got there late and missed my pre-race meet up with Coach T and the girls, so I was all by myself in the orange corral.
I was worried about my knee exploding again, so I wore my IT band compression band, and it held up pretty well. I felt some tightness in my IT band, but never any knee pain, so I guess the compression band was doing its job. I was feeling pretty good and making negative splits, and I saw coach T at the 8 mile marker cheering me on with a cowbell. My goal was to finish in 1 hour and 40 minutes. I got to the last 400 meters and by my watch I needed to finish in the next minute and 45 seconds to make my goal. At my normal pace, it would have taken me 2:30, so I ran to the finish line like my butt was on fire. When Will saw me, I was hauling. According to my watch, I made it by a few seconds. I’ll check the official times later, but I’ll take this as a win.
As always, I’ll share with you my favorite crowd signs:
1.) Cherry On, Lisa (way to go, Lisa’s friend)
2.) Keep Calm and Run Like Hell
3.) Smile if you’re not wearing underwear
4.) Smile if you peed a little
5.) Run like the Zombie Apocalypse is coming
Also, I never want to discourage the crowd, but can we please do away with the signs that say “worst parade ever”? Every race has at least 3 of those. The joke is over, folks. Make a new sign.
I’d also like to take a minute to thank all the volunteers who woke up at 6am and banged on their drums, rang their cowbells, shook their tambourines, or blew their duck whistles. You guys are awesome. Seriously. I love it. Keep doing what you’re doing. You guys make it worth the blisters.
Also there is a guy in a ketchup costume who keeps showing up at all my races and holding up a sign that says “catch up”. Today he was there with his girlfriend, in a mustard costume. She had a sign that said “pass the mustard”. I don’t know who these people are, or why they keep showing up, but they are awesome. Sometimes I’m surrounded by such glorious weirdos that I think I’m back in Austin.
Keep Austin DC Weird.
marathonermegan
virginmarathoners 