Monday, October 08, 2007

I didn't die and I wasn't last

Hi, kids! Long time, no post. But you knew it would be a while.

A lot has happened since last we met. First, though, I really have to hand it to you Florida runners. The Army Ten-Miler was held in swamplike conditions, and if you weren't conditioned for it you suffered. I was semi-conditioned, and I semi-suffered. I feel very badly for the family of the runner who died. I haven't found out how old he was, but I do know he collapsed just 200 yards from the finish line.

While I was running – or walking, take your pick – I saw three runners carried off the course. It was brutal out there. Fortunately they didn't run out of water or Gatorade – or cups, as they did in Chicago. The New York Times story about LaSalle said runners were picking cups up off the road to be filled by volunteers.

I missed my target finish time by 12 minutes – chip time was 2:12:08. I was 106th out of 148 in my age group. I met a lovely woman from Missouri on the hotel shuttle bus and we ran together the whole way. This was her first-ever race and I hope she had fun. I lost her after the finish. She beat me by one hundreth of a second. [I let her win! Heh.]

Since Mr. Shrinking Knitter is camera-challenged, I have no finish photos, but will snag one when the offical race photography company posts them later this week.

I'll be back tomorrow with more about what's been going on around here.

9 comments:

Joan said...

Welcome back! And good on you!

Laura N said...

Glad to see you! That's a great time for the brutal temps, Debbie. You should be proud to have finished healthfully. How great of you to run with a first timer. Hope things are good in your life.

Jennette Fulda said...

Congrats! It sounds like it was a brutal out there.

Adam said...

Good Job on the race. It's still Hot enough here for me to run in the mornings only.

ws said...

DC is a swamp so it is appropriate.

I know John Bingham says it is about having the courage to start, but really, the finish line is the best sight, especially on a hot day. I say ask for a photo finish recap to see who really won.

Great race...

Grumpy Chair said...

Saw the races on the local news this morning at 11:00 (while I was on treadmill) both Chicago and DC had a lot of runners down due to the weather.

Congratulations on your run and glad you made it to the end (that endurance thing).

miss petite america said...

welcome back! and CONGRATS! i missed that race last year due to injury and i am soooo jealous you got to do it!!!

Mary Gee said...

YAY! Shrinking Knitter! You rock. So glad to see you back.

Anne M. said...

Good lord, woman, you do rock. I heard about the conditions at the two races and can't imagine running in that. Your time was great and you shared the run-fun with a first-timer, now that you are an experienced racer.

We've missed you!