41st Anniversary Celebration Run,
This morning we did get around our planned half marathon run
that we had chosen as a challenge for our 41st Anniversary. We were
at the start point at 5.20 a.m. and were very happy with the way it went. It was
not an easy course and had plenty of ups and downs and was off road for the
most part. Our time was 3 hours 10 minutes. We were glad we had made an early
start because it was a lot warmer today than it has been. Steve wore shorts for
the first time this year but I stuck with tights since I knew there were some
rough sections and I didn’t want to get scratches from the brambles; my skin is
easily damaged because it is quite thin due to my age. The distance was a bit
of a jump up from the eight mile runs we have been doing regularly of late, but
apart from our toes feeling a little tender when we finished we were well pleased
with ourselves.
We do always mark our anniversary in a way that makes it a lovely
memory. More often than not we have gone away for a couple of days or as we did
last year when we went up to London
for lunch, a show and an overnight stay. The other option would be to find and
event that is very close to the actual day. The race thing, doesn’t work quite
so perfectly because our anniversary is always on a Thursday. We married in
Ascension Day.
We seldom hold the celebration on the calendar date of our
wedding that was May 24th 1979. We have done that a few times but it
has usually been an extra celebration day. This year we would have held both
days because we were entered for Ironman 70.3 Graz, that would have been this
Sunday coming (before it was postponed for a year) and in that case we would
have made sure that we were already in Graz for Ascension Day. That would have
fallen on the Thursday before the race.
The last time we did a race on the calendar date was I think
California Man based in Folsom. That was a very nice stay for what I think was our
25th Anniversary and the race was great fun to do. We did come over
the finish line together for that one having done eighteen to twenty miles of
the run together.
It was not quite as slickly organized as Official Ironman
races are, and it became clear to them, after dozens on complaints, that the
bike course was 115+ mile long and late in the event they adjusted it taking
the three plus extra miles out of a dog leg section toward the end. That is how
Steve and I came to meet on the run; he had done the extra mileage and I had
done the snipped back to 112miles bike route. I was lucky to get to the bike
finish anyway since I was nearly wiped out by a wild turkey crossing the road
suddenly. Vultures were watching the bike riders.
The run course was beautiful and toward the end, in total
darkness for us slower people. It was in a preserved area. A two loop course in
a shallow canyon with a river running through the centre. There were high bridges
at each end to cross the water. There were signs to watch out for rattle snakes
and mountain lions.
Neither of us looked that happy in the finish photos because
it was hard run. Again to point out that it was not held strictly to Ironman
rules, they waited for everybody to finish the event. Steve and I were glad to
be inside the stated cut off time, but there were others a good way behind us
and they let everybody finish. The last competitors came in at about 2.30 am to
cheers and bright lights at the finish. It was not a qualifying race for
anything else. The awards were the next day and very nicely done. It was a very
nice friendly event though and we enjoyed our stay there enormously the organisers
were lovely people.
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