On Sunday, October 19th, Joe and I participated in the Halloween Hills of Horror Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in Codorus State Park in Hanover, PA…I had completed this event last year and found it to be one of the most difficult and fun half marathons in the area… so I made Joe do it this year..“AWE come on hon.. we only have to get up at 5am, drive 2 hours, and run up and down really bad hills in 38 degree weather.. you will have F-U-N!”
Somehow I can’t believe Joe still puts up with me!!!.. although I do believe I was right… yes we had to get up at 5AM, drive almost 2 hours to get there, and the hills were a bit bad and yes it was 38 degrees at that start… but I KNOW HE had fun…
He placed 3rd in his age group!! ........
CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN JOE!!!!
Racking up the hardwear!...
We didn’t bother with any type of warm up .. heck except to shut ourselves in our truck with the heat running until the start of the race.. brrr… the goal was to do a nice training run.. not worry about placing, not worry about time.. just run and tackle hills…
Joe to Wendy, “Why again are we doing this?”
We stuck together for the first 4 miles or so.. me a few lengths ahead on the downhills and he a few lengths ahead on the uphills… back and forth.. around mile 5..and up another hill he just found another gear and went with it. I lost sight of him…. In my discussions with him after the race he said he just felt super and went with it… I had asked him what he thought of that really bad hill around mile 7-1/2 to mile 8… it’s a half mile climb …he said that was some hill…
It's real hard to explain how hard of a hill that was… 23% grade at peak… and well .. I ran it!!! NO WALKING FOR ME!
!!!.. ok.. so maybe .. just maybe... how fast I was running it … a man in a walker could have passed me…. but I didn’t walk.. and many people around me were….I was super girl!!!...... check that ego at the door… . and then some... …. when I crested the hill an OLD MAN PASSED ME… ego checked…I hate being chased I think I mentioned this previously in another story… .. I would so much rather be hunting then hunted …and I knew I was being hunted.. and I was getting tired. The hill had zapped me and I was starting to weaken…. Rule #1.. DON’T LOOK back to see how close your competitors are.. (unless you can get away with sneaking a look on a turn).. but if your competitors see you looking they know you are worried and that may give them the extra motivation needed to well HUNT YOU DOWN… so I tried not to look.. to see how far or close the girls I had passed a few miles ago were...... so I ran like I had something to lose and it hurt.. REALLY REALLY HURT..
I decided around mile 10.... that there was NO WAY I was going to try and keep an 8:46 pace up at the C&D Marathon in two weeks in order to try and qualify for Boston… UM NO.. NOT.. NIL>. NADA>..... NING… then around mile 11…. I decided NO WAY I am running the C&D Marathon at all…UM.. NO>> NADA.. NIL>> NING…
… so I thought about this for a moment.. trying to understand why I was feeling all these negative feelings… it was a beautiful day out.. I was running a good pace…. Sure I felt like doggy doo but heck thats part of the game.. but then I think ...what is really bothering me.. ???...is it the fact that I feel like I HAVE to do well… that I have to push myself into a condition where I am always expected to do well .. ??? ….and if I don’t I am a loser???..... hmmm.. NAH…
I am just in F#$& pain .. this run hurts!!! HA!!!! So then at mile 12…. I decided to HTFU (Harden The F#@&^* Up)… and finished strong.. bringing in a time that was 7 minutes better than last year’s Halloween Hills of Horror time… NICE!!
Joe was waiting near finish line.. I like this.. I am going to have to give him the car keys to hold instead of me… Life is great.. we were blessed… Joe got 3rd age and I got 1st age… and we burned like 1500 calories each… VERY NICE…
I have attached the race report from last year:2007 Race Report click here
