The Battleship Report

4:30 AM
So, my cell phone isn't like every other cell phone... it does not automatically update for daylight savings time... I was halfway changed into my uniform before I heard Rita and Alli say, "Meghan, it's only 4:30." Sorry for the early start guys... was good practice for an hour later when we actually did get up!

5:50 AM
Meghan - "At least we're not in Raleigh, it's 32 degrees currently. It's 38 degrees here, but it feels like 31."
Gavin - "Not the direction I was hoping for."
Meghan - "Oh, don't worry, fitness and comfort index says it's 'comfortable'. But, we should wear 'multi-layer'."

We left, all in 'multi-layer' at 6:15. It was cold, just like weather.com said, but at least it wasn't raining.

The Start - 10 Miles
We found Tim G. and Rusty at the start. We also found the "guy from the Blueberry Festival", Rita's coach from high school, and I think about 7 other people that somehow knew Rita! Gavin made his way to the front... luckily he was wearing neon yellow so we could still see him. The gun went off, and we started running.

The first couple of miles featured a lot of uphills... well... up-bridges! It was windy, and cold, and running over grates on a bridge is somewhat challenging. We were happy to get into town... but running on the bricks was no bargain either. At least a lot of people were cheering... and the Christmas decorations were out. We turned a corner right after the 4mile mark and were confronted with an uphill. What?!? No fair... they totally hid that... I do not appreciate surprise hills! Luckily, we didn't have to run all the way up it... the course took a turn and flattened out for a bit.

After a while, we entered a park. There were a lot of curves in the road, which made the "finding the shortest path" game more interesting. I'm pretty sure the guy that was insisting on running right on my shoulder thought I was insane, or maybe it was the fact that I was wearing bright red compression socks. Anyways, "Mr. too short green shorts" passed us around mile 7. Rita and I had to stare at him for the next 5 miles.... this was very unfortunate.

The Last 5K
I think we all started to slow down around mile 10. This brought me to my latest theory - given that the race distance is greater than or equal to 5000m, the last 5K will always be awful! We hit the bridge just before the 12-mile mark... not much had changed since the first time we had run across it, it was still cold and windy... but running over the grates was even more difficult this time around! Gavin said this is where the guy he was running with tried to surge ahead... Gavin caught him at the bottom of the bridge... silly wasting your energy sprinting over a bridge. As for the rest of us... Rita and I saw Tim G., who had a screw stuck in his shoe... pretty sure that would make running over grates even more challenging. Alli saw Rusty on the bridge... and also made the mistake of looking down... it was a long way down!

Luckily, we could follow the highway signs for The Battleship the rest of the way. I started to pick it up when I saw the battleship, and finally managed to pass "Mr. too short green shorts". We were in the home stretch... and a minute later, we were in the home stretch... and a minute after that... where the heck was the finish line?!? No joke, there appeared to be no finish line... there was no big banner... just a timing mat... ok, there was a small banner... I didn't have my glasses on.

Post-Race
Gavin was first across the line for us, and nearly first across the line for the whole race (2nd overall)... good thing he decided that morning that he might try and run! About twenty minutes later, I was next (6th woman, 2nd AG), followed closely by Rita (10th woman, 3rd AG) and Tim G. Alli G., in her half marathon debut, finished strong, as did Rusty. We saw Jacci, she had run a PR, and thankfully gave us a ride back to Alli's car so we didn't have to wait for the trolley. We stopped at a coffee shop that Rita and Alli had spotted along the course... glad they were paying attention because I am not very observant (we had apparently passed Alli's car when we were running too, another detail which I failed to notice). It was a GREAT RACE and a FUN trip. AWESOME JOB everyone! (results) #20