The Home Game

A couple of weeks ago, I completed half marathon #6 of 2013, the Charity Chase Half Marathon.  This is a challenging race, hot & hilly (it IS June in Hickory, NC), but it is our hometown race, so I didn’t want to miss it.  So, I decided to suck it up and just walk the race, despite my poor bruised tailbone.

I am not going to lie.  This was a very tough race.  There was not a time I did not feel my tailbone.  It’s amazing how that works.  You can go your whole life knowing the tailbone is there, but in reality unaware of it until BAM!  You fall several thousand feet and land on it. 

I was worried that I might not finish in the allotted time of four hours.  Luckily, I know most of the race committee and one of them who is a very good friend told me she’d save me a medal and be there at the finish for me no matter how long it took.  Gayle is the same friend who during my very first half marathon ran back out to me with a mile to go and helped encourage me up that last never-ending hill to the finish.  This was after she had completed the entire 31.1 miles herself earlier that morning.  It was also during this same race, the first year of the Charity Chase Half Marathon.

The Charity Chase will always hold a special place in my heart for many reasons.  It was not just my first half marathon, as previously mentioned.  It was also the first race in which I was involved in planning.  It started out as The Hickory Jaycees Charity Chase Half Marathon, and I was on the inaugural committee.  In fact, have you seen that cute little logo for the race?  I designed it.  That first year, the race raised money for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center, then the fund raising was expanded to include local charitable groups.  The race was spun-off into its own non-profit to give it room to grow, and it has.  I have continued my involvement whether as a volunteer and/or participant every year of the race except for one, when I was in New Orleans for a convention.  This was the 8^th year of The Charity Chase.

Now that's a good looking race logo :)

So, back to this year’s race experience.  As I expected, I started off and maintained a position at the back of the pack, like back with the tail end police cruiser.  This did not bother me, I’ve been there before.  I made some new friends with some ladies from Fayetteville who were doing their first half marathon.  About three miles in, I was unable to keep up with their pace, so I was the lone person in the back.  The edge of the road was banked, so I moved to the sidewalk to provide more stability for my lower back and tailbone.  I don’t know why, but the tail-end officer took this as a sign of surrender (Ha!  He obviously does not know me.)  So, I was kind of on my own for a while, but still on pace to finish in time. 

Fortunately, the course loops back to the finish area, where I let the race staff know that I was still at it and I was going to finish.  This proved to be unnecessary, as I caught back up to the tail end at about the mid-way point.  This time, the ladies could not keep up with me, so I no longer had to worry about being the lone gunman on the course.  This was not because I was moving fast, far from it.  The day was hot, I was in pain, but I was determined to finish.  I actually passed another couple of people around mile 9.  Woot!  (I don’t know why passing someone makes me feel good, but it does.) 

On the last mile, there is one last killer hill before turning to the home stretch.  A young volunteer decided to join me as I plodded up the hill, he kept telling me that I could do it and to keep going.  Finally, I cleared that %$#(*& hill and turned the final corner where I could see someone approaching me from the direction of the finish line.  As I got closer, wouldn’t you know it?  It was my friend Gayle, once again sensing my struggle, who came out to bring me home.  It was not a heroic finish.  I was sagging, dragging, and hobbling to the finish, but I did it and within the time limit.  Oh, and I beat five other people.

I was not the only one to struggle that day.  Jeff and Z also had rough days, but that is their story to tell.  On the positive side, one of our Jaycee friends, Salil set a PR that day.  Also, a new Jaycee friend, Alison finished her very first half marathon.  Way to go, Alison!

That'll do, Pig . . . Pork Chop, Jeffrey the Ham, and Alison, the first-timer

Next month, I will be taking yet another new turn.  My July race will be my first trail run.  I am a bit nervous that this clumsy chick might trip and break her neck.  We’ll see.  Hopefully my still sore tailbone will cooperate.