We started in inky predawn darkness. Shooting stars were raining down over us. It was flippin' freezing, and I had on only shorts and a t-shirt. By the end (but that was more than 4 hours later) I was plenty warm.
Claudia, Jim and I set out, and were soon joined by Kelly, who was only doing 8, since her marathon (Marine Corps) is next weekend. A mile into the run, we saw some headlights up ahead and moved to the side of the road. Then, a horrible crashing, scraping noise. It was still pitch black, so all we could see were the two headlights, which had stopped in the road. DWR is pretty narrow - barely room for two compact cars to pass, and no shoulder on most of it. So we slowed to a walk until we got closer to the lights. We discovered a pickup, stopped in the middle of the road. It was, or had been, towing a thresher (I think it was a thresher, it was something farm-y). But it had been towing it on the truck bumper, not a proper trailer hitch, and the bumper had come off the truck, and now bumper and off-kilter thresher were stranded in the middle of the road. We squeezed past it and continued on.
We ran down Plank Road after mile two. We did the whole section, 3.5 miles to 250 and back. It's all pavement, and it felt like marshmallows compared to the stony gravel of DWR.
Somewhere around mile 12, Jim was way ahead of me, and Claudia way behind. A dog, and by dog, I mean fluffy white canine that came up to my waist, loped out into the road. He sniffed around, and looked up at me with pleading eyes. I was walking at this point, but started back to a run, inviting the dog to join me. He declined, and stopped in the middle of the road, and watched me run off into the distance.
Jim, Claudia and I met back up at the water stop at 13 (mile 6 on the DWR stretch). Claudia was hurting, but we continued on, did the .5 mi that brought us to our turnaround point, and then headed back. We were DONE, we just had to get back the 6.5 mi to the parking lot.
Claudia was way behind us, and at the 4 mile water stop (that is, with 4 to go), we waited a bit to see if we could see her. I couldn't stop for long, as my foot was hurting worse when I was stopped than when I was running. So we decided to get back to the cars as quickly as possible, and then drive back up the course to find Claudia.
Those last 4 miles were a doozy, and after the 2 mile water stop, my foot was really hurting, and my legs were dead. It was mostly downhill, but my heart sank at the sight of even a gentle uphill - all I could think about was having to schlep my bum foot up that hill. With about a mile to go, I just quit running. Jim stuck with me, and we kept on walking. One foot in front of the other, right?
With less than a half mile to go, a car pulled up next to us - it was the course volunteers who had Claudia with them in the backseat!! They asked how we were doing, and I indicated my foot hurt. They asked if I wanted a ride, and I said no way, I came here to do 20, and I was doing 20.
The last 200 yards or so is a nice downhill into the parking area. Jim and I picked it back up to a run, and entered the parking area triumphantly. There was lots of cheering (Claudia, the water volunteers, and some other runners were still there), high fives, and pats on the back. It was over 4 hours since we had started - way, way off a 5 hour marathon pace.
I still hope to do a 5 hour marathon. My last 3 long runs (14, 17, and 20) have been less than ideal. Heat and humidity (14). Driving rain and cold (17). Hurt foot (20). I'll rest my foot over taper, let my body heal, and hopefully I'll be a well-oiled machine by Richmond, and the weather will cooperate. Plus, I'll have IronMo with me. I'm holding on to the 10:30 pace I held at the last track workout. I know it's there inside of me somewhere, and I only need 11:27.
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