At 0600 Chris, Joel, Elizabeth, and I received our delicious bagels and coffee at Bruegger's. We soon we off to the best little half marathon around. With just one small missed turn setting us back a whole 30 seconds. We made it to Boston GA around 0700. This give the lazy runners, myself included, lots of time to fill out the entry form. With all the forms filled out and money handed in; it was time to find out where we were going to get the BBQ sandwich. Last year a few of us made the mistake of getting BBQ from the first truck we saw. Turns out some people will sell you canned pork on a bun. Not cool. We found a few places that looked like they would do the trick.
So this race time. Shortly after 0800 the race started and we were off to see the cows. I was not looking for much out of the race because of the 50 miler a few weeks ago but I had to try something. Joel and I started out together at the first mile, ~6:32. But after that Joel was moving along really good. I settled into a nice 6:45 pace. If I could hold that the rest of the day I would be in for a great treat. As the miles clicked off I was still feeling great but I wanted to wait until the turn around before I tried to do anything, but people were coming back to me.
The turn around came fast. By the time I got there I had a few people in front of me so I could race back to the finish. Another great thing about this course is that you get to cheer on all the great runners behind you for the next few miles. This also is a great motivator to try to stay moving fast.
Around the 5k mark I started to feel my right hamstring become tight. I just thought it was not being 100% and still recovering, so I pushed on. But as each mile moved by the hamstring became tighter and tighter. I knew I was close. I just kept telling my self just make this one mile and then think about it. Well that worked. I was able to hold that monster off until the finish.
I came in 17th with a time 1:28:33. Not my fastest 1/2 marathon but I will take it. I felt great most of the course and feel like the recover is working. I hope this means some good things in the future.
So after all of us finished we went on the hunt of BBQ. The few spot we wanted to eat at were not for the people. They were there for a BBQ contest at 1600. Well this was 1000 and we wanted food now. So we walked around looking at the different vendors. Well I picked the first one. Well the place smelled like they were smoking there meat so I thought it was a good sign. So I ordered a sandwich. I was fooled yet again. This thing was a mess. The meat had no flavor to it and the sauce was just some store bought junk. I told the rest of them to go somewhere else. The second place on the other hand a long smoker. I asked him if he would let me see his BBQ and he said sure. And this looked right. I wish I took a picture of it but the sandwich did not last that long. But it had everything that your BBQ sandwich needed; a nice crust on the meat, a good sauce that did not take away from the meat, and a nice bun. I hope I remember this for next year.
Until next time keep moving forward.
KAG
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