Another Mile...Another Smile: Bird-In-A-Hand and Whoopee Pie's

School has started, which means I have no time and my blogging has been lagging. I was notified this morning that I am way over due for a posting...plus I haven't informed you about my fabulous race a couple weekends ago. So here you go!

I needed a tune-up race for my upcoming marathon and my friend, Elena, signed up for the Bird-In-A-Hand half marathon in Amish county Pennsylvania, which was the perfect timing. She had run the marathon in the spring and if she completed this half, she was to be given a unique "road apple" award. So we planned a little road trip.

We set out Friday afternoon, checked into our hotel, and headed to the expo. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery, being from Vermont and all...even the smell of manure...yep, country girl at heart. The expo was quite quaint, not much in it for running merchandise, but there were some homemade whoopie pies and apple cider donuts (sorry Amy, I'm not a very good Paleo devotee...I cheated...a lot). After a little snack, we headed to the hotel for some race preparation and relaxation. Then, we went back to the expo to watch the 5k...and eat s'mores (more on that later).

An interesting thing about running in Amish county is that the Amish people run. Yep, some of the men run dressed in there pants and suspenders. I was surprised to see some even had Garmins. And the pace leader...a horse and buggy. Well, they also had a bike in case the horse decided not to follow the rules of the race. People gathered as the race set out to start. Then we waited for the runners to make their way to the finish, which was a long stretch lined by a white fence, crowded with cheering locals and family members...it was quite a site!

5k male winner sprinting to the finish

After the race, it was time for s'mores...Elena, the poor soul had never had a s'more before. I guess they don't make them in Belarus, her native country. I was excited to introduce her to them at the Finger Lakes 50, but she missed them before the kids gobbled them up. So this was her second chance. I think she enjoyed it...and the second one...

First taste of a s'more...yummy

With full bellies, we watched Bart Yasso give out the awards and then headed off to bed, but not before checking out the hardware. Age-groupers got medals with a whoopie pie on them...nice For the half, the medal would have a shoe-fly pie. Back at the hotel, I read some of the race facts...the course record was 1:28. My PR was 1:28:57. So I thought, either the course is harder than I think or not many fast runners come out. I studied the elevation chart, noting one quite big hill in the beginning, but thought the rest would be a piece of cake.

We woke up bright and earlier and headed to the race start in time to get a stellar parking spot. Then we relaxed in the car and ate our breakfast. The morning was cool, so I was hoping that the forecasted exceptionally high humidity would lay low so I could really push it on the run. When it was time, we headed to the start, positioning ourselves in the front. Then, we were off. In the beginning, I was running with another female. I let her stay in front, as I sensed that she wouldn't be able to hold the pace for too long. And I was correct. After about 2.5mi, we hit the big hill I was prepared for and she dropped back. But, I quickly realized that wasn't the only big hill. The course was completely rolling, with some hills steeper than others. And the humidity was high...~95%.

My thoughts were going back and forth about how hard to push. At this point, I already knew this wouldn't be a PR course. I kept telling myself I would rather have a shoo-fly pie medal than a generic trophy. I thought "you should just slow down and let that girl catch up". At a small out and back portion, I noted she was about a half mile behind me. Then I saw Elena. She excitedly yelled at me. I can't recall what she said now, but I remember telling her I was winning. Seeing her running well (this was her longest and fastest run since recovering from multiple stress fractures) gave me a push. I moved my thoughts to my intention of proving to coach that a marathon goal time of 3:05 isn't too ambitious. I kept running up and down the hills. At mile 7, at what I thought was the top of a hill, I grabbed some water, only to turn the corner and see the hill kept going. That was hard as I lost my momentum. I needed a gel, but had to wait until the hill was over and I found another water stop. My stomach wasn't really happy, but with the heat and massive amount of sweat, I needed some electrolytes. The water stops were great! Amish families came out. Running past all the little hands of the kids, seeing the smiles, was rewarding. Everyone cheered you on. Many noted I was the first female and cheered louder, which felt good. It gave me the drive to keep pushing. I took my gel shortly later and felt better.

Then we turned onto a dirt road. And I thought "What the hell?!?!" Although I love running on dirt roads, I wasn't prepared as I wore my racing flats and just hoped it wouldn't last long. I was lucky because it was just down a hill and then up another before we hit pavement again. The next thing I remember was passing a water stop that seemed to have only Powerade, which I didn't need, so I flew by...only to realize they were handing out Rita's italian ice in little cups. Damn, that would have been good cause I was HOT! Oh well, had to keep running. I caught up to a fellow Amish runner. We were going back and forth, but I eventually passed him. I had started passing male runners a while back, especially as I worked the downhills...for some reason many of them slowed on the downhills. At this point, I was getting my second wind, really wanting to gun it, wanting to be done, knowing I only had a 5k left...but I was nervous since I didn't know how treacherous the rest of the hills would be. So I kept plugging along, as hard as I could while still maintaining some steam. About a mile to the finish, I climbed the last hill, crested a turn and saw the finish....down hill, turn and there was the shoot. I bolted! The crowd was cheering. They were a blur. I ran as fast as I could straight across the finish line. Happy to be done, but knowing I needed to go back and get Elena. I took a quick water break and then asked one of the finish line volunteers to hold my medal while I went back to get my friend. She tucked it safely in the pocket of her dress and I was off. As I ran, onlookers pointed me out as the winner, it felt great. But I secretly hoped Elena wasn't too far off. I was hot and had already decided I didn't want to run the other 5 miles I was supposed to for the day. Lucky for me, she was close and very happy to see me! She pushed to the finish, coming in 5th female and 1st in her age group. It was a great race!

We cooled off and headed to shower and check out of our hotel, then back to the race for awards.