I’m afraid all we’ve done is awoken a lumbering giant. Not a slumbering one — a lumbering one. Because big freakin’ cement shoes and dis-graceful plodding were the order of the day.
Yesterday before leaving I asked what time the start was looking to be. The general advice I got was to assume it was back to 6 AM but just know it might be pushed to 7. At first blush, perhaps not the most helpful advice and yet today it proved entirely accurate. The start time was indeed 6 AM and EVERYBODY was going to start then… albeit stragglers or folks who didn’t get the non-existent memo could start later I gathered.
In any case, there was a bit of a course correction — apparently the certification for the course calls for a second loop of the grassy knoll at the onset of the race. I thought I had heard this on the first day but the bicyclist accompanying me and the course marshal both felt it was only one loop. I wound up with a Garmin GPS watch reading in excess of 26.2 miles so figured they were right.
But apparently we DO need to do a second loop of the knoll… which at the end of today meant my Garmin showed I ran an even greater than 26.2 mileage course. It all works out in the end — I do what I’m told and it’s not like I’m using this to PR or BQ. It’s a race in a park with multiple loops – I’m showing it’s an “ultra” but Garmins are notoriously fickle with distances… and it can vary because one doesn’t cut the tangents or weaves a bit on the course like a tipsy reveler at Mardi Gras… if that reveler was running a race… so I guess like a runner in Medoc, France.
Chuck Savage, our friendly race director, wanted to go over the course again then to reassure returning runners and for newbies to the Savage Seven (so I guess they’re doing either a Savage Six or maybe just a Savage One — they’re out here running, that’s all that matters). This is the cone for one of the turnarounds. I snapped a photo because it seemed really serious and important that we all respect the cone… as I said, whatever people want me to do. And I know turnaround cones quite well so I get it. They’re important. But it still felt weird to congregate round it like it was the Oracle of Delphi.
We had a little trouble finding the start line this morning. The floured line either took some pummeling from traffic or we all were a little loopy from the day before. Nonetheless, we finally found the start and Chuck began his countdown.
And with that, round and round we went once more. A few more snapshots of the course (albeit you may have a sense of deja vu from yesterday). It was less humid at the start but a lot more misty and foggy. It wasn’t supposed to get as warm as Monday but there wound up being a lot less cloud cover and thus in my closing loop I really felt the temperatures rising. The folks out there until as late as 2:30 PM (as I heard they were on the first day) are warriors of a different sort; I cannot fathom being on my feet that long and enduring that heat like that. Kudos to them.
And so speaking of the back of the packers, I had heard during my final turnaround that they were giving out mugs again to the top finishers. I resolved on my final loop that I’d ask the volunteers to hold it and hand it to the final person to cross the line today. They deserve recognition and maybe it’s a holdover of my love of the tradition at Mainly Marathons to hand a caboose to the last person in. But I was selfishly rather pleased with my not-exactly-selfless act as I was doing it in a conscious way. But as I finished, no mug was handed to me. I don’t know if there was a snafu or if I wasn’t mug worthy today. But I was denied my chance to be noble and somehow that feels right — who am I to think I could make up my own rules? I’m not Ving Rhames handing his award to Jack Lemmon after all…
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Anyhoo, according to my watch I clocked in at 3:22:01. In something out of a bad TV crime procedural, somebody asked what my time was and they said it was 9:22 AM. So when the official timer said I had clocked a 3:30, I pointed to my Garmin readout and somebody else said, “Yeah! It has to be 3:22 because she said it was 9:22 when he finished.” And thus the lamest mystery of all time was resolved.
And now, a few final celebratory pics from the finish line with some of the tireless and terrific volunteers (I’m sorry the ones at the water station were so blurry as to be unpostable… and given my lax standards for photos, you can only imagine how out of focus they must be!).
Ten loops down, twenty-five to go. Here’s hoping my lumbering feet break out of their proverbial cement galoshes and tomorrow proves to be a bit more gazelle than goose. Geese aren’t graceful on land, are they? Maybe that’s a bad example. I should google “ungraceful G animals” and see what pops up. Maybe some other time… I need a nap. 3 AM is just around the corner… and I know a thing or two about corners, loops, and laps.
Say — today’s ribbon was orange and yesterday’s was red — I wonder if tomorrow will be yellow and by the end of the week I’ll have a full ROYGBIV collection!
