Yesterday (Saturday) Melissa and I traveled eastward a few miles to Palm Coast to participate in our respective races...I ran the half-marathon and she walked the 5K event. Anticipating a downtown setting with cheering onlookers, I was surprised by the race location, which was in an isolated area south of the main city by several miles. Other than a movie theater and an adjacent Christmas park display (much like the duck pond at Gainesville's NFR Hospital), there were just open fields and many walkways...not exactly civilization as I was expecting it. For the races, which were started five minutes apart, the website had originally stated that the half-marathon runners would go first, followed by the 5K five minutes later. But the event organizers abruptly reversed the order before the race, causing a lot of confusion among the runner/walkers, including Melissa and me. But the races got off all right in the end, and we were on our way...
The starting times were at 6 and 6:05 PM, and we were already cautioned to carry flashlights or headlights with us to light up the nighttime paths...which they warned had "spots" of darkness. That had to be the understatement of the century, for fully half of my half-marathon race was spent in pitch blackness on an isolated paved trail with only my flashlight providing any visual aid. On top of that, the humidity was awful (temperature was moderate in the 60's) with it starting to rain at various times in the race. My throat/esophagus had been irritating me of late, and unfortunately whenever I downed some water or Gatorade it would send me into fits of coughing...so I dispensed with any rehydration for most of the run. Also, at about the 4-mile mark I began to experience a light stomach ache...but fortunately, that let up after about a mile. Then, toward the end of my journey through darkness, around the 9-mile mark, the arch in my left foot began to ache...making me wonder whether I'd even be able to finish the race. However, after about a couple of miles of this, once I was back out "in the light" and could see where I was going, I was able to speed up and run like I was accustomed. This made the foot-ache completely disappear and I haven't felt any pain since. A little past the 12-mile mark, I had a big scare when I misjudged the distance between the curb I was running off of and the pavement, causing me to go several strides in a near-horizontal position while I desperately floundered with my arms to maintain my balance and avoid a bad fall. When I was finally able to straighten back up, I marveled at my own sense of balance through the ordeal and finished the race without further mishap.
My final time for the 13.1 mile run was 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 30 seconds. I finished 4th out of 8 in my age group (55-59). Melissa also completed her walk and made me proud! After it all, they provided some food and drink for all us participants. Overall, it was a good experience...but I still think the organizers misled us about how overwhelmingly dark conditions would be as well as the fact that the race was far, far away from the business area of Palm Coast (we were actually running through a swamp at one point). As for my own running, I was astonished with my time at the end, although I had finished several half-marathons in the past with better times. The reason I thought I had run slower than I did was that I had to be very careful with my footing for about half the race because of the darkness...I'm sure I would have broken 2 hours had I been able to better see where I was going...
