24 miles as part of the Huntersville Holiday Half

The weather man warned me that the last Saturday was going to be miserable, and this had nothing to do with the fact that I was running 24 miles.

The real challenge would be in conquering the cold and the rain.

Saturday morning started out with Mike and me running 10 miles prior to running the 1/2 marathon. The skies were mostly threatening and only once do I remember rain coming landing on us.

We finished the first 10 miles in 74 minutes or about 7:25 pace. I then made my way over to the half marathon start which was by Fleet Feet.

There were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd: Paul, Jay, Joe, John, Dennis, etc.

Bear played our national anthem and we were soon on our way.

While I had already run 10 miles, my legs still had some bounce in them them. However, my tail lights started glowing when I started dropping 6:50s. Let's not do anything crazy today.

We cruised through the neighborhoods and by Chris and Karin’s home. Next up, we worked hill after hill after hill. Near Gilead Rd, I came up on a runner that was walking. As I passed him, I realized that it was Jeremy.

I encouraged him to run with me but he said that his legs were done.

More hills behind the elementary school and along Stumptown Rd were now taking their toll on my legs. The friskiness from early miles was all but dead. I took some Gatorade in hopes that it would revive them.

After the “traffic circle”, one single thought rang in my head. Let’s get to this done. The rain had been falling for several miles now and I was cold and tired and “soaked”.

The Huntersville half marathon course is not an easily one. Tack on the 10 additional miles, I believe I enjoyed more than my fair share of hills for one day.

With just over 2 hours and 50 minutes of running for 24 miles, I enjoyed a nice walk back to my car and some warm dry clothes.

30 or 40 minutes later I made my way over to Chris and Karin’s home for their after race party. This was really nice of them to invite us over. I was certainly very appreciative. I was mostly staying by the fire because I was still shaking pretty bad.

Also I wanted to share that Karin has done an awesome job decorating their home. This was my first visit and I was very impressed. It just has the feel that this is a “home”.

Asside from the cold, the rain, the hills, I really did enjoy it.

Happy Holidays

The Cool Down Runner