We had a local 15K running event last Sunday. The weather was supposed to be great...mid-50s, no rain...and it's an event that helps support building and maintaining a rail-trail. Really, what could be better than a 15k for a good cause? And yes - there is a t-shirt involved, so it's practically like you're getting paid to participate!
And then we got hold of the concept and had to turn it into something epic. Since we (ok, really, the RDW) have been slacking a bit and there is no glory to be had for either of us at a running race...we decided to make it a true training event. The race begins in a park about 18 miles away that's on some of our biking routes. It wasn't much of a stretch to decide to ride out there, do the run as a solid tempo workout, and then ride home. It truly briefed well - as you read that last sentence, you thought...that's not so bad and is totally do-able for those nutballs. It was supposed to play out as about an hour warm-up ride, a solid tempo run workout, and then a leisurely ride home. Too easy!
Saturday, it rained all day. The local airport recorded a record rainfall (3.49 inches!), and the creeks were out of their banks in some places. But, Sunday arrived and promised to deliver no rain and some sun. Sunday also brought with it a steady 20-30 mph wind, with stiffer gusts. The winds were out of the west-southwest. Our bike out to the start headed in the west-southwest direction. And the run was point-to-point, slightly uphill (~1%), from Newville to Shippensburg - yep, you guessed it, heading west-southwest. Despite all those facts, we decided that we needed a stiff drink from a nice, steaming hot mug of HTFU.
We found the bike locks, packed up our running shoes, put on our helmets and headed out the door in the name of "training." The route from the house goes about 1/3 mile south and then turned straight into the wind. We were averaging a whopping 13 mph with the CC&BW "breaking wind" and the RDW with the backpack bringing up the rear. About 6 miles into the ride, RDW had to ask, "At what point does this cross the line from crazy into dumb." The CC&BW could only respond, "About two miles ago," but continued "breaking wind" and we persevered. At one point, we slowed and watched a car pass through about 6 inches of moving water on the roadway - it was completely flooded and we slowly made out way across...a sarcastic hooray for wet socks and a serious hooray for both of us making it across with only wet socks. We got to the race check-in after 1 1/2 hours of hearty effort and nearly missed the last bus to the start line. At least we didn't need a warm up; clearly the training deities had taken some pity on the mere mortals.
We ran into one of the local serious athletes. He was going to drive to the start, do the run, then run back to his car for an 18+ mile day. The best part - he told us that he thought about riding out but decided not to because it was too windy to ride. Somehow, we've become less stable than the guy who thinks racing for 9.3 miles and then running the same distance back to his car is a normal training day.
The race was definitely into the wind. At some points, the tree lined rail trail gave way to open pasture and not yet planted corn fields. Aaaah, the smell of spring in south-central PA...bring that honey wagon around for another pass. We survived the run and the CC&BW took 3d in his age group! Hooray!
We scarfed down the BBQ chicken and fixins that they were serving, saddled up with our hard won t-shirts and headed home, excited about the tailwind. We practically flew back, making it (even with a bit of a detour to avoid the flooded roadway) in under an hour and averaging almost 21 mph. The RDW was in the lead for a most of the return trip, so to hit those speeds...clearly, the wind was blowing strong and steady.
And this, kids, is why you should never trust the CC&BW when he gets that "I've got an idea" look in his eyes. Naturally, he blames RDW.
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