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Race Result

Racer: Amanda Shuman
Race: EX2 Off-Road Half Marathon
Date: Sunday, May 1, 2005
Location: Triangle, VA
Race Type: Run - Half Marathon
Age Group: Female 20 - 24
Time: 2:15:30
Age Group Place: 2 / 30
Comment: Fun in the mud!



Race Report:



While some of you were having fun at TdS on Fri/Sat I was mostly inside working out. I skipped an outdoor bike ride in the rain for an indoor swim + spin on Saturday. I had contemplated this scenario earlier in the week - no outdoor bike ride - and tentativly decided to do the ex2 half-marathon on Sunday, almost to "make up" for Saturday.

Anyways... it stopped raining around 6:45-7am on Sunday morning, just as I was driving to Prince William Forest for the off-road adventure. Pretty muddy out there, and I parked in a reallllly soggy field. Ran into several people from the gym. One guy was doing the full marathon so I wished him luck -- given the weather the day before I knew the course would be rough.

After some advice about super muddy spots, slick bridges (several), and a construction area covered with hay (!) that would be particularly not so fun, we were off!

For the first hour I followed my friend Wendy and we chatted for a while - she's one of the first people I met and trained with when I got into tri two years ago. We had to stop on the uphills (slippery) and on the rocks, which were numerous near the stream bed. Lots and lots of mud.

Nearing the end of the first hour I had finally warmed up (uh-oh, am I becoming a long distance runner?!) and had quite a bit of energy, having remained in zone 1-2 HR the whole time. So, I decided it was time to speed up. I had to pass a lot of people and at times it was hairy. When I got to the construction area, it was like quicksand! Clay mud, sinking, nowhere to go, lasted at least a half mile. Their was a rest stop at the end... "water or gatorade?" "neither!" "you sure" "yep! thanks!"

An hour and half into it I get up to the 9.9mile water stop - "AMANDA SHUMAN! How are you?" - no way! Jess Kwerel, an old friend of mine from the high school tennis team! "Hey Jess...long time no see!" "You remmeber me?! no way!" "yes of course...tennis...how you doing? I gotta keep going, so see you at the finish" "alright good luck...hey guys I went to high school with that girl...!"

Still passing people... many vhtrc shirts :) Mile 11.5 rest stop, no one around me! (Love these smaller races!) "water gatorade, cotton candy, popcorn?" "eh?" (guess the water people were getting bored...) "water or gatorade" "oh... neither, thanks!" "you sure?" "how many more miles do I have" "less than two" "yep I'm sure... thanks!" "keep going super woman!" "haha"

I catch up to my other friend Sue, she's walking up a hill "hey Sue, you ok?" "yeah... but my injury..." "ah... sorry... " "go ahead and pass" "k... be careful! see you at the finish" I'm all by myself... then I see someone who's finished walking down... "is it close?" "about 600 meters or less... almost there... and another big hill" "what a surprise... thanks!" And there's the hill. Good thing I'm not doing the whole marathon :) And I finish! 2:15. Grabbed some water and cheered as Wendy and Sue finished... as I'm pigging out on animal crackers dipped in peanut butter, they're pinning up winner tags "hey look at that!
I got second place in my age group!" wheee....

We all sit around and chat for a few and then decided Starbucks is an appropriate victory venue :) Fun race, I'm doing it again next year!!

~Amanda