Running Down A Mountain

The half marathon was harder than I thought it would be. Sure, my longest run had been around 8 or 9 miles. But I wasn't prepared for how the downhill would hurt my knees. I knew I wasn't going to be fast, and being left in everyone's dust wasn't awful. It meant for most of my run, it was me & nature. To be in a valley between hills, mountains and farms, was peaceful. To see horses running in the fields, was inspiring. Less inspiring was seeing two dead skunks on the road, two dead deer beside the road, and even a small dead vole on the road.

The water/Gatorade stations had very friendly encouraging people there, so I would be sure to remove my iPod earphones to converse with them. Yes, I was discouraged against wearing an iPod, since we did run on roads with cars. But a lot of people had them.

My favorite part of the race was the end. Once I hit the main street, I saw Geoff & the boys at the end. Ringing their bells, cheering for me (Elijah called me super!), it spurred me to run to the end faster. I was virtually the only person in sight, so all the people lined on main street had no choice but to cheer for me. It was awesome. I would raise my hands in the air, ham it up, huge smile on my face, knowing that the end was nigh. Almost across the finish line, they called out my number, "And here's number 1140, look at her smiling. That's Melissa Armstrong, Lance's wife." I looked up at the clock, very happy with my time, and they handed me a sopping wet ice cold towel. NICE! I draped it over my shoulder, grabbed a water, and walked into the first aid tent to sit down. They kept asking me if I was okay, I said, I just want to sit. Once I felt like my knees would survive movement, I left, grabbed more water and reunited with my fans.

My goal had been to finish in less than 3 hours 30 minutes, I finished in 3:13. Geoff says it is a good starting off point for my next race. While I am not ready to think about running for a few more days, I'm not ruling it out. Next race, I'm looking for flat. I want it flat, so I can be faster.