Short way to go but a long time to get there

It’s only 90 miles from Perduret House in Mayo, Maryland to Fredericksburg, VA for the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon . But on Saturday afternoon it took the Whisman Clan over 4 hours to navigate through the mess that is I-95 South and even alternative routes of US 1 South.   I never did figure out what it was that was causing the delay, but it did cause a lot of stress and took a lot out of us.  We tried to relax by going to going to see a movie (STAR TREK: Into the Darkness...great movie BTW) the night before the run, but I don’t think I every really relaxed.

Race morning we took the shuttle from a Park-n-Ride near the hotel and got there in plenty of time, to get Bobbi on another shuttle to downtown Fredericksburg  for the Historic 10K (more on her awesome day later).

Then I got the girls over to the Team Semper Fi Fund tent in the finishing area. The girls volunteered and assisted Elizabeth O’Connell and the ladies. As always, they are awesome and I can’t wait to meet up with them again in the numerous events we have left in the season.

As for me and the run, I was feeling great for the first 5½ miles. Running a nice 7:32/mi pace, somewhere between 5 ½ and 6 my body started to shut down. I drank some G2 and ate half  of a Bonk Bar that I had.  Some of it was the humidity that I was way overdressed for.   I had worn my compression shirt under my race T, and I never seemed to be able regulate my heat. I am sure some of it was the left over stress. Oh, I can't do well on them all.

The rest of the Half was a slugfest and I just grinded out a 2:01:02 or 9:14/mi. (181 of 462 Age Group (M 45-49), 1272 of 3198 Males, and 1752 of 6276 Overall)). No course PR, no Half PR, but Bobbi and the girls were waiting for me at finish and it was best part of the race.

Bobbi ran the Inaugural Historic 10K and she rocked it!!! A 1:02:43, 10:06/mi and finishing 20 of 120 in age group (F40-49), 108 of 498 in gender, and 219 of 772 overall. Soon she’ll have to start her own blog and talk about how she is quickly catching up to me.

Next up for me the Henderson Hall Ooh Rah Run Series Iwo Jima Memorial 7K, on Wednesday!!!!! I have posted on this one in the past, it's one of my favorite runs and since I haven't been running at Henderson Hall much since I moved to working at the Navy Yard, it will be a treat.