38 Degrees and Cooling

Crossing the Finish Line

Here I go again with a blog-blizzard. So much going on that I haven't had time to blog, so I'll put out a few posts tonight before heading off on another adventure.

April 14th Debra and I completed the Columbus Distance Classic, a half-marathon (13.1 miles) in our beautiful capital city. I had flashbacks to our fall Columbus Full Marathon experience, as the course was very similar. Some highlights of this course included:

• a walk around the three best public parks in Columbus - Goodale, Shiller and the Deaf School Topiary Park
• Donatos pizza at the finish line
  
• a trip around the Horseshoe with the OSU pep band playing 'Hang On Sloopy", which inspired us to run

Speaking of running, our original plan was this: Jean would run some but mostly walk, as she had done in training. Debra would walk and not run, because it's hard on her knees. I was to run in order to keep up with Debra's 14 minute-mile pace. (My walking pace is 16-minutes/mile). Debra had a goal to finish at about a 14.5 minute pace, so with my running, we could both do it.

Reality was a little different. Debra ran whenever I did! Consequently, I had to run more to keep up! But we finished with a great time of a little over 3 hours. If Debra wasn't motivation enough, 38 degree weather conditions were a big incentive to finish quick. Lee was great support, with drop off and pick up service right at the start and finish lines, so we managed to beat the promised rain/snow by 15 solid minutes. I love Ohio in the springtime!