The race started at 8:00am, and we arrived in Midway around 7:00am. It was dark and freezing when we arrived, but things warmed up a little bit as the sun came up. The race started in the middle of Midway and went out to the east (or north) and then back into town, and then out west (or south) and then back into town for the finish (a guy who ran the race posted the map and elevation of the course here: http://runkeeper.com/user/bencjedi/activity/19251117?&channel=web.activity.shared.facebook.manual)
The first part of the course was beautiful and we knocked out the first 6 miles keeping between an 8:50 and 9:00 pace. Our goal was to finish under 2:00 hours, so we were hoping to build in a little bit of a time cushion. The 6 mile mark was right in the middle of town, and then we headed back out into horse farm country to finish up the rest of the miles. The second half of the race was the Midway 10k course that I did earlier in October, and it is pretty hilly. The word brutal even comes to mind!
Nonetheless we kept chugging along at a pretty good pace. As we were nearing the end of the 11 mile mark, I was definitely starting to get fatigued. I was actually feeling pretty fatigued at the 10 mile mark, but Kelly is great at keeping the pace up so I just tried to hang with her. So when we were almost to mile 12, a girl came up behind us and said "we have 11 minutes to finish under 2 hours, let's do it!" And we were like "we are sticking with you!" I'm not sure who the girl was, but we stuck with her and really picked up the pace for the last 1.3 or 1.4 miles - more than I would have picked it up if I was on my own. We came back into downtown Midway and crossed the line at 1:58:44! At the Lexington Half I finished in 2:00 on the nose and set a PR, so it was nice to set a new PR by 1 min. 22 seconds!
After the race we got some water, food and Gatorade and headed home. Once I got back to Nicholasville, I went straight to Taco Bell! Then I took Emma for a long walk to ease some of the soreness in my legs.
A special thanks to Kelly who has been my running partner for the last 3 years (or is it 4?)! We have trained together and raced together many times, and I know I wouldn't have made it in 1:58 without her!
And another shout out-to Tony, Kelly's husband, who came to the race and carried our bags, cheered for us, and took lots of great pictures. Thanks, Tony!
Here are some pictures from the day (taken from Kelly's Facebook):
A dark and spooky shot for Halloween morning
Walking to the start(Ok, Megan. I guess you are right after all these years...I DO have a big butt!)
Ready to race!
At the start
The Midway water tower was like a beacon to us!
Downtown Midway - so cute!
Proud finishers! We got engraved rail road spikes instead of medals, pretty cool!
Darlin' Jeans, which was race HQ
The end.
