Saturday brought the beginning of my "marathon" training schedule. I don't mean that I am training for a marathon, but rather have runs amounting to a marathon or more pretty much every weekend from here until the new year. TRUST ME, running sweet races in beautiful places is so much better than running solo for hours on end. Although sometimes necessary, it's generally boring as hell. I digress :) Run With Scissors is one of the best around. The RD, Roy, hangs out in a death costume smoking a cigar, occasionally yelling "Go!" to begin the costume parade around Cuyahoga Valley National Park. The proceeds go to Run to Share, a great organization that funds philanthropies. The Halloween race attire did NOT disappoint- both Donald Trump and Jesus showed up for the half marathon. The volunteers are all seasoned ultra vets, and know just exactly what participants want and need to keep spirits and legs strong. Except grilled cheese, but that's a whole different blog ;) This run came about a while ago, when my friend Beth asked me if I'd consider running half with her. She was attempting a pretty big distance PR (double marathon-woot!) and understandably wanted some company. The plan was, she would run with our friend Mike for the first marathon, and then pick me up at the aid station for marathon number 2. There was not an exact time cutoff, but the finish area closes at dark so she needed to be in by then. I got in touch with Roy, got permission to start a bit later than that other marathoners, and was pretty excited about it! Beth and I actually finished the half marathon together the year prior, so it was clearly meant to be. Race day morning.. always crazy fun. The drive to Cleveland from Columbus is a few highway hours, and I hit it just right for one of the most brilliant sunrises I've ever seen. I was hoping to myself that Beth and Mike were seeing it too! They started at 4AM, so it was dark then. Really dark. I arrived close to 9AM, expecting Beth and Mike to arrive around 10:30. Beth thought she could do the first loop in 6.5 hours, and then that would leave her 8ish more hours of daylight for the second. When I arrived, the half marathoners were just beginning. I walked into the shelter to grab my packet, and to my surprise, it had already been picked up! I wasn't any of the folks I was with so... oops? No big deal, I just needed a new number and I was on my way. Funny boys they were, I was gifted 69. Roy told me to turn it around if I didn't like it, so I did. Hah. Hugh got me into the timing system, Mark eased my worries about my upcoming 100, and right on schedule, Beth and Mike showed up! Off we go. Sort of. The first mile or two, I got filled in on how the first loop was and how Beth and Mike were doing. I could tell very quickly on my own that we would not be together for long. Beth was running like she just started. I was thinking to myself, "Holy crap! I was thinking I'd have some time to warm up, have a nice little jog to the Pine Hollow AS..." Um, no. Girl had a MISSION. The first few miles of the course were downhill, which can be telling as far as how a distance runner is doing. In all reality, it's the downhills that'll get you. Anyone can climb a hill slowly, but coming down is a whole different skill set. The impact is quite jarring on one's quads and knees. I saw Mike start to float back, and I thought maybe he just needed some reset time. I hollered back every mile or so, and he was still there. At the mile 4ish aid station, I knew he needed to back off, and that's the last I saw of him :( I was REALLY hoping we'd all stay together for the duration, I guess you never know wishes the running gods will grant. After the Pine Hollow AS, we had some really nice rolling terrain. Nothing too technical, all covered with gorgeous yellow leaves of fall, and trees to match. words can't do it justice. That got us to the Covered Bridge AS, about 10ish miles in. We had a 5 mile loop ahead that was the most challenging part of the course. Lucky for us, Beth's stomach began to implode and we needed to stop for a brief break. Nothing a good poop and 3 minute rest won't do for a runner! Soon we were heading back out to the beginning, on the long stretch back to Pine Hollow. Beth was running amazingly well. This is where the mental game begins. She had been running for almost 10 hours here, 40 solid miles. You really have to remember NOW how much you want this, how much the pain doesn't matter, all while pretending that you don't know that you still have 10 miles to run. It is mind control at its best. She was a trooper, I never would have expected anything less. I let her lead because she was still running quite a bit, and her spirits seemed high. We also were in absolutely zero danger of missing the dark cutoff, so really, there were no worries. After getting stopped by a train and four dozen horses, we made our way back to Pine Hollow.
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