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<span style="font-size:small;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Gate River Run 15k, 3-8-08, Jacksonville FL</span></span><br><span style="font-size:small;">I was really looking forward to this race, the 15k is a new distance to me. We left the house around 10:30 Friday morning and hit I-95 North for the next 4.5 hours. The drive up wasn’t too bad, but it was storming when we arrived in Jacksonville. We head over to the expo, I grab my race packet and we walk around for a few minutes. On the way to the hotel, we take the “Green Monster” over the St. John’s River so I can scope out what it’ll be like the next day during the race. We get to the hotel and give the car to the valet to park (…this becomes interesting the next morning). I don’t want to drive around in the rain, so we just go downstairs to eat at Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse. I’m looking for something somewhat normal on the menu, like pasta with red sauce or a grilled chicken breast, nope! I order the chicken, oh boy, all butter all the time; we are laughing trying to understand why people eat this kind of food…gross/oily/amazingly unhealthy. I eat mostly bread, hey better than nothing.</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">I get a good night’s sleep and wake up around 5AM to the wind absolutely howling outside, oh boy. We get dressed eat some bagels and head down to get our car, it’s around 7AM. Hum, where’s the valet? Okay, we go to the front desk and ask about getting our car. He tells us the valet isn’t in yet and we’ll have to wait. I look at him like he’s insane ask how people get anywhere--what if you need to get to the airport or a meeting??? Luckily, we have both sets of keys and just go find our car…I can’t believe they couldn’t get our keys out of the valet box. This was the Crown Plaza, not some whatever hotel. It was pretty funny, they had no plan.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">We arrive at the stadium and just hang out in the car to stay out of the wind. Our best guess, per the TV stations when we got back to the room, were 30mph sustained with 50mph gusts. I tell Matt to expect me in around 1:05-1:07, a bit slower than I hoped, I had to factor in the wind. The starting area is really organized, 1-200 in front, 201-1500 next and then everyone else. The race announcer is spending a lot of time warning us about the wind, saying to be really careful on the bridges (he was right!) and that the mile marker signs had blown down so we would need to look for them on the ground. Amazingly, this is the first race where I actually saw all the markers.</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">The top 25 women start out at 8:25, 5 minutes before the men as an equalizer; whoever crosses the finish first get an addition $5,000. Exactly 5 minutes later, we are off.</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 1) 6:44 This is into the wind, but I don’t feel much since I’m in such a large group.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 2) 6:52 Up and over the Main St. Bridge, it’s not too big but it’s getting windy.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 3) 6:53 Here we go right next to the river. The wind is pushing the waves over the seawall and we are getting wet. I’m still feeling great but holy cow, this is nuts.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 4) 6:59 We are just running through some neighborhoods, I’m still feeling right on.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 5) 7:02 Just past half way, still feeling strong and beginning to think about the bridge a little.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 6) 7:04 Nothing too exciting here, kind of twisty mile</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 7) 7:05 A couple of rollers here, nothing too much and the wind isn’t too bad right now.</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile <img alt="cool.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/cool.gif"> 7:42 HELLO WIND/HELLO BRIDGE. I planned on taking it easy up but the wind was nuts, I was getting blown several feet around in every direction. It was hard to get in a decent amount of air it was so windy. I get passed by some people, mostly men, I think with their weight they could handle the massive gusts better. People were yelling and cursing, it was crazy…one guys yells during a gust “hey look, we just standing still, this sucks!”</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Mile 9) 7:35 Well, the plan was to fly back down the bridge…I tried! The wind was still out of control and you just couldn’t get moving. I did manage to pass everyone who passed me on the way up and then some, so that was nice. But this should have been around 6:35 not 7:35...I was pumping it, I just couldn’t build too much speed before getting knocked around again!</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">Last .33) 2:10 I just kept going (this is a 6:34 pace) into the stadium. It was pretty cool to watch the jumbo-tron.</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="text-decoration:underline;">Stats</span></span><br><span style="font-size:small;">1:06:07</span><br>
21:17 5k<br>
43:03 10k<br><span style="font-size:small;">13/866 Age Group</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">63/5801 Overall F</span><br><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">I learned so much during this race! I know I can push WAY harder at this distance, my HR wasn’t even as high as it’s been for my last 2 half marathons (this, I'm a little mad at myself over, I should know to work harder!). I loved running with so many others around my pace, I was never more than a few meters from someone at all times. I can’t wait to try this again next year, minus the wind!</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">Fort hose who care, I posted a ton of pictures in the 30's of the start, stadium, the elites and all that jazz that DH took: <a href="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23771" target="_blank">http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23771</a></span>
21:17 5k<br>
43:03 10k<br><span style="font-size:small;">13/866 Age Group</span><br><span style="font-size:small;">63/5801 Overall F</span><br><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">I learned so much during this race! I know I can push WAY harder at this distance, my HR wasn’t even as high as it’s been for my last 2 half marathons (this, I'm a little mad at myself over, I should know to work harder!). I loved running with so many others around my pace, I was never more than a few meters from someone at all times. I can’t wait to try this again next year, minus the wind!</span><br><br><span style="font-size:small;">Fort hose who care, I posted a ton of pictures in the 30's of the start, stadium, the elites and all that jazz that DH took: <a href="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23771" target="_blank">http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23771</a></span>
