Joe and I did the Flaming Foliage Metric Century (62 mile bike event) & Harvest 5K in Hazleton, Pa on Saturday, October 11th…. See… I get these wonderful bright ideas… and well Joe goes along with them… poor poor Joe… .... so we drive the almost 2 hours to Hazleton PA…
********************************************************************
Joe: “Why again are we driving 2 hours to a 5K and bike event???”
Wendy: “...because it’s beautiful up there this time of year… and we get a free stuffed squirrel…”
*********************************************************************************
They say you never stop learning… I must admit this to be true..
• DON’T EVER believe someone from upstate PA stating their course is flat and fast.
• 40 year old somethings are a VERY competitive group.
• ......and yes its possible to bike straight up a “mountain” for a continuous 3 miles.
The plan was to run the 5K, change real quick, and head out for the bike event… Joe had asked what the 5K course was like.. and well I say... “..they said it was flat and fast with a slight incline in the beginning”… hmmm...once we arrived and picked up our race packets we took note of the slight incline that started the course…well, now in my book.. and this must be the Mastripolito Marshmallow book… this was no slight incline.. this was a hill and a good 200 meters (according to my GPS)…..but they said it’s flat and fast…. so must be flat up above this hill… right?
Lining up is always the hard part.. I took note of a girl standing besides me… (lets call her Girl “A”)….I peaked at her race tag which listed her age.. ..I whispered to Joe that she was my age.. ok.. keep the eyeball on that one...... then we were off.. BING....by the time we got to the top of the hill my heart rate was through the roof.. I needed oxygen.. ..and quick!.... if only I could stop and say take a little breather ……PLEASE@!! Joe does so amazingly well on hills.. he is just a natural.. he was up and over the hill and on his way before I could blink.. by the time I did blink a couple of times and got up the blasted hill.. I was looking at Joe’s backside.. WAY WAY AHEAD…
At this point I noticed that Girl “A” was just slightly ahead of me.. so I trailed her… better to be the HUNTER…. than the HUNTED.. …WOW Joe looks soo strong!!! LOOOK AT HIM GO…
By the time we got to the turn around I was wondering what part of flat did I miss because there still was none ….and how is it that we went up to get to the turn around ….and we are still going up on the way back..????.... is that even possible!??
What’s cool about an out and back is you get to see who is behind you and thus when Joe rounded the cone and was heading back he saw me and we gave each other a high five.. he looked GREAT… strong and happy..! And he was WAY AHEAD OF ME! .... I was still keeping pace with my “friend”… Girl “A”….and I lost sight of Joe…..I looked at my watch and there was a half mile to go.... I was currently 2nd in my age group …then this other girl sprints by us .. … I will call her Girl “B”… Girl “B” is also in my age group… she is moving at a high rate of speed.. and I am now 3rd in my age group.. .. THIS IS A PROBLEM!!! … So it’s the three of us.. 40-44 year olds …chasing after each other..... I was in NO MOOD to embrace no pain....My watch beeped to alert me to the 3 mile marker.. 100 meters to go.. with a slight sharp turn half way to finish… this is when you thank GOD and your parents that you have fast twitch genes and although you cant run far fast you can put the moves on in a sprint if need be…
I sprinted past Girl “A” ….who said F_#@^ [by the way as I passed her.]. .. now thats not very lady like... :) .. I then sprinted past Girl “B”… and then I also sprinted past a guy… and flew into the finish shoot… I had just gone from 3rd to 1st in a matter of seconds... I most certainly did not make any friends this day… 
Joe was waiting for me at the finish line.. he had run a personal best time and beat me by a minute! FANTASTIC!!!! We come to find out later that he also won his age group! Which by the way is a really tough age group (Men’s 40-44) .. And he was 13th overall….
CONGRATULATIONS JOE… !!!!
Joe and I didn’t rest too much .. we jumped on our bikes and headed out on the Metric Century Bike Ride......it was spectacular... .soo utterly breath taking….. we stopped a few times to take pictures…and spent a really nice 3 hours together riding.. up and down hills…
There was one down hill that they stated was a 20% grade.. still unclear about grading.. .. I just know I SMOKED my breaks…. big old woosey I am... EEKKES…Joe.. never stops... I do hope he doesnt end up off a cliff... one of the major roads was a switch back.. . is that possible? ....Anyhow.. I am thinking goat and goat herder.. and then some…OH and then there was the 3 mile up hill.. OMG Joe we are still going up… ! ...
We cut the ride a bit short as my shin wa
s acting up.. probably a mix of not completely recovered from Chessy man and doing a fast 5K.. but either case we cut it short.. doing around 39 miles instead of 62… but what a fun day… !
PS: We received an email from the race director after the event stating some good changes for the course next year and stating this fact (see below) which I thought interesting.. and you think that I make this stuff up (about the hills)… ! HA I AM NO MARSHMELLOW!!!
"Hazleton is the highest city in Pennsylvania, 1860 feet. Anything that starts here ends uphill. "
GEE YOU THINK!? For race info: Season Change Website Info
Race Results
