What a fun weekend spent with my wife Jessica and 4,000 other runners and walkers in Loudoun, Virginia. I never knew that there was a wine country in that area but it was really cool. The weekend started out with me doing an easy warm up run on Friday morning for 4miles. I just wanted to relax for the drive down to Virginia and a pre-race loosen up the legs.
Then we packed up the car for a nice long road trip. 1st stop dropping off Lillian and Heeli at my parents. And then we were off!!!
When arriving VA, we went to the
Lansdowne Resort on 44050 Woodridge Parkway, Lansdowne VA.
Jessica and I then went to check in with her co-workers and the other
Team Challenge Runners/Walkers from Crohns Colitis Foundation.
I went to pick up my race bib# with timing chip and T-shirt. The rest of Saturday was free to relax and eat.
Jessica had to work at the first sitting of the Team Challenge Pre-Pasta Party/Inspirational Dinner. Then we both attended the 2nd seating for the pasta dinner. I had so much pasta and drinks so that I could run the next day without eating in the morning. Fortunately we both had early night and I actually went to bed at a reasonable time because we had an early wake up.
The race officials tell you to get to the starting area very early and Jessica wanted to drive over. So at 5:30 am we left the hotel for the commute over. It looked as if it were just runners driving on the roads at that time in the morning to the start of the race, who else would be up that early????
When we arrived I did a nice warm up for about 20 minutes to relax and get a little sweat going. There was a slight chill and I was not going to be happy if it was cold to run. I'm not like regular runners and like it chilly to run, I want it
warm. The race was supposed to go off at 7am up there were still buses coming down the road dropping more people off. So we really didn't get running until 7:30am.
Once we were off I got into a nice pace. There was a pacer pack with the leader holding a 1:30 sign and I was trying to catch him and then stay with that group. As my body warmed up during the first mile I felt like that I could go a little faster so I did. I looked at my Garmin 410 and went down to 6:30 pace.
My legs were moving great on the nice undulating roads. Until I made it to mile 6, then BAM!!! the roads kept going up up and up. I just tried to stay with any pace that I could without going backwards, so to speak. Finally I passed through the hilly section at around mile 9 and then there was a slight down hill and a turn to get to mile 11. I couldn't wait to see the mile 11 sign because then I knew only 2 more miles to go.
At that point it felt like I was getting passed by one after another runner. I just couldn't find enough speed to hold them off for the last miles. So then at mile 12, I just held my speed and one last woman passed me and I worked off her stride until the finish. I tried so hard to get a last kick but there wasn't that much energy left in the tank. We both made a right turn and I thought the start finish zone was the same but they moved the finish area columns back what had seemed to be 1,000 yards down the dirt road. So I was still trying to stay with this woman and just 20 feet from the end I made a last minute kick with the roar of the crowd and the announcer saying my name, passed that woman who I'd kept up with at the end.
I was just so happy to finish and take a deep breath.
At the end I was really pleased with my time and place.
23place #1057 Bennett Brookstein Gun1:29:25 Net1:29:14 pace6:49 M 40 Philadelphia
Placed 2nd in my age group 40-44
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| Finishers Wine Glass (if you are over 21) |
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| Race Bib# |
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| Finishing medal (wine stopper and bottle opener) |
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| Won a $20 gift certificate to winery and got a bottle of wine. |
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| Front of Shirt |
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Back of shirt
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