Bartram 2009 recap

As I pulled into the parking lot what do I see but alot of cars already there. Last year it was a small turnout. Not this year. I think we had 88 runners this year compared to last year was about 40 something.
Mandie and I walked down to the pavilion to set up our chairs and bag. I brought 3 pairs of shoes and socks with me to change if I needed to during the race. I then walked over to Chef Kenny that had the coffee there waiting for me. I was great cause it was cold. I think it was 34 or 35 degrees. But thank God it was NOT raining this year. I then ran into Stef who was helping getting our race bags together. I looked at my watch and decided that I would start running at 7:30.
So Stef, myself, Deb 1 and Deb 2 would run as a group. We decided to run a ratio of 1:1 today. This was going to be a fun day cause I signed up for the 50K but Stef and myself decided to just run as far as we wanted too. The pressure was now gone. I knew I could stop at anytime if I felt bad.
Well we were off and running the new course this year. When we started, they did not have a barrel out and we missed the first turn. Oh well. We didn't know and kept going until we ran into Donna. She told us that we should be running with the blue flags on our right. We told her that we should stay to the right of the blue flags. Then we ran into more runners that we going the other way also. We stopped and just agreed that we would continue for the first lap and then turn around and go the right way on the other laps. Somehow we missed another turn and got back to the aid station and only had 1/2 lap logged in. We stopped and got a drink and turned around and went for more. We joked around and said we just did a 5K warm up for a 50K race. HaHaHaHa.
Lap 2 done and time for some food and drinks. I had gotten hungry and Chef Kenny was cooking some great grilled cheese sandwiches. We had sooo much food to munch on during the laps. This made it hard cause I wanted to just sit and eat. Not run. There were the sandwiches, home-made fudge, chips, soup and lots of other goodies.
Lap 3 down.
Lap 4 down
Lap 5, we decided to go backwards to see who was still on the course. This way we got to see everyone and say Hello and Goodbye. People were asking us if we went the wrong way and I told them it was a victory lap. When we got back to the aid station we had decided to go back the midway aid station and run back to get in our other lap that we missed on our first lap. Off we went. OMG that was a long 2 miles out. We kept looking at our watch to look at the time and distance. Stef had told me that her marathon PR was 6:45. We were 2 miles out and had 40 minutes to go. That was when it hit me. Stef went out with the intention to run a couple of laps to help pace me so that I could finish my 50K today. I did not have it in me to finish it today and I was ok with that. I was at least out running. I then thought if she was so nice to want to help me today, I would help her cause I was not going to run the entire 50K. I told her we need to continue our pace and she would have a new marathon PR today. I looked at my watch and the last 4 miles we had gotten faster. We hit the 1 mile mark to go and I could see/hear the finish line. We were playing Marco Polo with others on the course. We made the last turn and there it was, the finish line.
We turned and PROUDLY crossed the finish line. I had another marathon under my belt, Stef had a new marathon PR but most of all I was leaving happy and proud that I just ran many hours with my friends. We stayed around to watch the last runner cross the finish line and then packed up went for an early supper. MEXICAN FOOD AND BEER!!!!!! Why because I earned it. I think I burned a couple of calories today and I was HUNGRY.
I should have some pictures in the next couple of days and I will post them. Until then, have a great day.