Decker's Creek, Take Two

Two years ago, I decided to run the Decker's Creek Half Marathon. I won the caboose award for taking a whopping 3 hours and 45 minutes to cross the finish line. It was hot. I walked nine miles of the race.

Last year, I wanted to run the race again so I could do better. Unfortunately, health circumstances interfered.

So as soon as I was cleared by the doctor to start running again, I set my sights on this year's race, which happened this morning. Training for the long runs went pretty well for a couple of months, but then the random pain issues started popping up: an injured right hip during yoga (no more downward dog for me!), a mysterious tightened right calf that literally stopped me in mid-run one morning, a sore right ankle-- from wearing heels, of all things, a mis-step on a long run that hurt my left knee two weeks before the race. I worked through them, telling myself that I'd worked too hard to let anything get in the way. I was going to run this race no matter what.

For years I've compared running to how we need to deal with life: no matter what happens, you just keep moving. It's all about progress and enduring to the end. There are lots of factors you can't control. I got on the bus up to the trail head this morning wondering how this race would turn out. Would my knee be okay? What would the temperature be like by the end? I'd done everything I could to be ready.

Wasn't ready for the rain that started just as the race started. Correction: I was ready in the sense that I had a rain coat (which I didn't put on for some strange reason) and a hat (which I did put on). What I wasn't ready for was how hard and long-lasting the rain was. Usually rain only lasts a few minutes here, and usually it's a few drips. Not today. Today it rained for the first three miles of my race. If I had been home when the rain started, I would have considered not running. I've never run in this hard of rain. My shoes starting making schlooshy noises. My shirt stuck to me. Water dripped steadily off the brim of my hat. The trail got very, very muddy.

But you know what? I was going to finish this thing! I actually did pray for the rain to stop, and it did. Hurray! The rain made things cool and fairly comfortable. Well, until just after mile 11, when I hit a wall. Good thing friends were cheering from the sidelines at that point. I kept going. I reached mile 12. My feet were tired of being wet and wrinkly by that point. My quads hurt. I walked-- maybe a quarter of a mile. I hit the half-mile mark and made myself keep moving.

Final time: 2 hours 21 minutes. Yeah!! 362nd place! I'm just glad I finished, and I finished 20 minutes faster than I thought I would. Other than being wet, the first 10 miles felt GREAT! Most of all, I'm proud of reaching my goal: finishing.

Now ask me if how well I'll be walking the next few days.

Here's a picture to give you a sense of how muddy the trail was. You know how bike wheels splash up mud on rainy days? Kinda the same effect: