this was not how they said it would be...

a smile is a poor umbrella. can i get a towel here?

when you're inside and comfy, weather is a ho-hum subject.

when you're outside running in it, however, it's less pedestrian. or, you know, more.

"training specificity is key," according to somebody at runner's world. "tailor your training to your event. if you're traveling to an event, there's not a lot you can do to control elevation and climate changes. but you can study the surface, average weather, and elevation of your event, and plan your training accordingly."

which means my training should've taken place on a treadmill. in the shower.

the forecast for the lake chelan shore-to-shore marathon called for a high of 74, with a 30% chance of showers. the forecast was wrong. so very wrong.

at the start: rain

mile 1: rain
mile 6: rain
mile 14: rain
mile 20: rain
at the finish: rain

every mile in between: rain

i'm not complaining. last year, i've learned, race day was sunny and 90° by 10 a.m. between those extremes, i'll take the rain, every time. it makes "staying hydrated" so much easier.

still, the sloshing was epic.

from what i've heard, the chelan course is very scenic. during the race, however, there was little to see: wet pavement. wet runners. wet volunteers. driving out of town after, the skies lifted a bit, and yes...beautiful. water surrounded by a diorama of high, rolling hills, wrapped dramatically in low clouds. it'd be worth running this event next year on that basis alone (and to test the local claim of "three hundred days of sunshine a year!").

speaking of the volunteers, those out manning the aid stations during this race were spectacular. instead of staying in their cars (or bailing altogether), they geared up and showed up and kept everybody going. they smiled and laughed and cheered, and i would like to high-five all of them.

random rain-related observation: when they're really sopping wet, compression shorts chafe in some unfortunate areas.

random gender-related stat: according to race organizers, 70% of this year's runners were women. make of that what you will ~ but according to the surgeon general, it's because more men are watching more football on the couch these days, and women are just generally smarter than men.*
(* i don't have actual statistics to back this up, but really, would you be a bit surprised?)

song stuck in my head the entire race: long road out of eden. could have been worse. could've been "the night the lights went out in georgia."

my race pace: not fast, but considerably quicker than my long-run training pace. my longest training run was 20 miles, so the last 6.2 miles at chelan were run as if uphill. underwater. still, not so bad.


goal one: finish. check.
goal two: finish in 3:56 or better. check.

waiter, we're done here. check.



on my feet and moving.