Rain, Geese, and a Not So Elegant Stumble

Today I ran the Cedar Rapids Run the Flood Race.  The day started out with lots of thunder, lightning, and rain.  It stopped by 8:30; the race was at 9 A.M.  It was muggy and more storms were threatening.  If a person could run the 7 mile race in 60 minutes, they stood a good chance of not getting rained on, and getting through before anymore storms hit.

I was not one of those people.

First of all, Bud and I were walking in Green Square Park, when I managed to find the only hole in the grass, and proceed to step into it, and fall very clumsily onto the ground.  It was a jolt!  But, I was fine.  I think later today I will probably feel it.

The race started about 8 minutes late--don't know why.  I talked to my co-worker M, who was at the front starting line.  He's pretty darn fast.  I went to the back.  Finally, it started.  We're running, and about a mile in, there are a large group of geese and their babies on the side of the road.  When do they decide to cross?  As the runners are running by.  We were all kinda freaked out, as were the geese.  Feathers and bird poop were all over the place!  We were dodging geese, because the geese kept on coming across the road.  Apparently they were determined to get to the river.  I managed to avoid getting nipped, and stepping in poop.

I saw Bud around mile 2, and then lost him.  I didn't see him again until I was about 30 yards from the finish line.   He thought I was behind him, and he couldn't find me along the route. I was actually ahead of him.  So, not too many pictures.   At about mile 4, it started to sprinkle.  No big deal; it felt good.  Then it started to rain harder.  So, I was one of the unlucky people who ran about half the race in steadily increasing rain.  That's the first time I've ever run in a pretty good rain storm.  I felt bad for all those people who had ipods--I wonder how many are working now?  It was kinda fun to run in the rain.  It was warm enough not to cause a chill, and helped me cool down.

I got to the finish line in 1:15:49.  I was about 4 minutes longer than last year.  I would have like to have done better; I had to stop and walk dang it!  I'm taking some time  to work on a plan to increase my speed.  Bud said start all over again at 1 mile, and I may do that.  I have until Sept 5th, when I will run the BoFest Half Marathon here in Cedar Rapids.

My co-worker, M, finished in 45 minutes, and came in fifth out of 1500 people.  Pretty impressive!  A dog and a small boy beat me to the finish line.  By the time Bud and I got back to his truck, it was pouring, and once home, the thunder began.  I thought about all those people still walking and running, and hoped they made it safely to the finish line.

Onward to the next race!