April Sorensen Memorial Half Marathon #7

I woke up for half marathon #7 of the year expecting it to be the warmest, most humid, sunniest run yet.  The weather in the past few weeks had indicated this would be true.  What I hadn’t taken into account was actually checking the weather forecast for my race location in southern Minnesota.  When I woke up and peeked outside it was cloudy and eventually the thunder started, followed by strong winds and rain.

I had not mentally prepared myself for the idea of rain.  I had only once previously raced in rain

It was cloudy, rainy and a little lonely on the
highway but thankfully Jason stopped at
several spots along the way to cheer for me!

(a Dam to Dam 20k a few years ago) and it wasn’t a great experience.  I had convinced myself this was a horrible thing and didn’t know how far I’d make it in the race before giving up.  To top it off, they decided to delay the race start by 30 minutes, which sent me into a tail spin because that would throw off my fuel plan (I had already eaten breakfast and I didn’t think the energy would last).  As the thunder and lightning continued, I was concerned they might cancel the race and I was trying to think of plan B for a July race.

Alas, they decided to send us out at 8 a.m. I was impressed and inspired to see everyone who had signed up decide to still race.  I guess no one was going to let a little rain stop them.  That was the mantra I kept repeating to myself as I crossed I the start line.  I’m not sure if it was the hustle of a not-how-I-planned morning or the fact I just wanted to get out of the rain, but I took off strong and never let up the entire race.

I had a lot on my mind running this race.  Despite the fact I was annoyed at the conditions, I reminded myself of the purpose of this particular race.  It was a memorial race for a young woman who had been murdered in her home six years ago.  She was in her late 20’s and an athlete who had competed in several marathons.  Her family decided to honor her by starting a run five years ago, raising money to give to local schools.  I decided that I was lucky to be running a half marathon in a thunderstorm.  I am fortunate to have the ability, when not everyone does, especially someone who left her run too early in life.

Despite the thunderstorm, I felt like I had
a great race!  I was happy though to cross
the finish line and go warm up.

That momentum propelled me past several racers, none of whom I was chasing (I never pace myself off of anyone else) but felt a rush of excitement as I passed and stayed ahead of them the rest of the race. The rain continued to fall harder and harder and at times, I had to look down to try and shield my face as the rain pelted it.  I’m not a fan of lightning and it struck all around me.  I stayed super focused on the race, except at one point when the storm was so close I saw the lightning and a split second later the thunder boomed around me.  I felt myself jump while I was running.  Even though I was a little scared, I just pushed on.

This was a point to point race, starting in one town and finishing in another.  We were on paved trail and a country highway for most of the run and it wound its way around a lake.  I’m guessing it would have been beautiful scenery if it had been a sunny day!  One advantage to the rain was that it was much cooler.  It was around 60 degrees the entire race, with the rain and wind probably made it even a few degrees cooler.  I relished in the comfortable temperatures.  I felt strong from the first step through at least the start of mile 11.  My leg was a little sore but I hardly noticed it.  Around mile 11, I started to get a side stitch. I took several deep breaths, focused on keeping a straight back and moving my arms in straight movement.  It finally went away and I dug in a little deeper to finish the last 100 or so yards to the finish line.  I felt really good physically and mentally as I finished up this race.  I had many reasons to smile even though I was drenched and cold. 

Even though I thought I ran really strong, I finished in just over 1:47.  I had thought maybe I did better than my May race but I’m okay that I didn’t.  I am proud of my effort and I would hope the woman that we ran to memorialize would be proud of all the people who ran this race, despite the weather conditions.  I’m certain every participant had her in their thoughts as they crossed the finish line.