All week leading up to the Lewis and Clark Marathon we watched the weather reports. Ike kept coming and our weather looked bleaker and bleaker. Friday night the Weather Channel posted flood warnings in St. Charles along the Missouri River- the location of the race. The final forecast on Saturday predicted that Ike would hit St. Louis, with up to 10 inches of rain and wind gusts of 30+ mph, at sunrise- the start time of the race. The predictions were dead on.
When we woke at 4:15am the rain was slowing. By the time we left our house it had all but stopped, I was starting to relax. At 5:45am, as we cruised down 270, the rain returned. And got worse. And then it got even worse. By the time we pulled onto the parking lot at the race start it was 6:55am, 10 minutes after the planned start time, and the rain and wind were unbelievable. (If you follow the link to the Lewis and Clark Marathon site, check out video #3. The view from that car is priceless.) We got out of the car, stepped in a river over our ankles, became fully soaked in seconds, and started to walk to the starting line. I'm pretty sure I screamed most of the way. The strangest thing was that we were not the only people there. The parking lots were full. All around us people were heading to the start line too.
Once we starting running, our moods changed. We got into it. This was fun. Or at least this was crazy! Most people were running in garbage bags or ponchos. A few brave souls bare-chested it. Dave and I sported jackets and hats from the Go! Marathon in April. Dave also wore sunglasses?! My water resistant jacket soon proved to be not that at all, but I kept it on because it instead, and more importantly, protected my arms from the driving rain. At several points I had to run with my hands behind my back because the rain was just that painful. Around mile 4 we began the singing the rain medley: I love a rainy night, Raindrops on roses, Raindrops keep falling on my head, Singing in the rain, Noah's rise and shine song (complete with hand motions), Fire and Rain (more on that later). I'm sure the people around us loved it. One girl said she'd have to stay with us cause her ipod died, but I don't think I saw her for long. Generally people were happy. Yes the weather sucked, but we were there and we were doing it.
At mile 7, we were informed that the course changed. Remember the flood warnings? Apparently 3 miles of the course were right on the river in a flood plain. At mile 8, we were informed that the race was stopping at mile 10. We only had 2 miles to go. I ate the world's best Jolly Rancher that I had gotten from a volunteer. We started to see people running toward us from the finish line trying to get a full half marathon in. We decided against that; we were happy with our accomplishment, our 10.crazy miles!
As a life experience, this race will probably not be matched. As step on our training, it was 10 miles in poor weather conditions. This weekend we get serious about training for Disney. We have less than four months. Dave went out for his first post-hurricane run today and I'll go out tomorrow morning. This weekend looks like 8 miles.
I can't forget the final disaster: On our way home, we stopped for pancakes at IHOP and started to regret the James Taylor. As we finished up, the fire department came roaring onto the lot. Our waitress informed us that there was a fire, but they couldn't find it. We left in a hurry.
No comments:
Post a Comment