Boilermaker 15k Race Report- Part Two

Before we begin our regularly scheduled program, we bring you this important news bulletin: 

There is a mole in our apartment!! 

Long story short, we woke up to some noises early Saturday morning but found nothing. Fast forward to Wednesday evening when I was having a quiet night home alone getting ideas for our honeymoon location, when low and behold a little four legged friend decided to walk right by and scare the crap out of me. It would appear as though I scared him as well, but who cares about his feelings. I had him trapped in the corner behind our entertainment center and frantically called my sister and Rob. Rob was on his way home and Meredith gave me some tips. When Rob got home we each took a side, but that little sucker was wicked fast and he headed for our dining room/office. It was trapped underneath my filing cabinet and Rob thought he could get it, but he didn't. So then the little fur ball headed into the kitchen and squeezed itself behind our dishwasher. So we stood watch, nothing happened, my brother in law came over and we put two mouse traps by the edges of the dishwasher, at this time we thought it was a mouse. So now I am totally freaked out and pissed that the little booger is in our kitchen. We haven't seen any droppings or any signs of chewing and it didn't really look like a mouse to me, so I googled mole and the mug shot of the culprit seemed to resembled our guest. I also researched trapping methods but they were all suggestions for outside infestation, nothing for inside, because they aren't supposed to be inside!!!   

This may or may not be to scale. 

So the Boilermaker seems like forever ago now, but I'll do my best to try to capture the excitement. Once we got moving I was surprised at how exactly the same the race was from the previous year. Katie and I ran together for a short bit and Dad ran up just ahead of us. I was worried that he would go out too fast, since he sometimes does but we slowly caught back up to him. My favorite sign at this race is at one of the first houses you pass and it says ".1 down, 9.2 to go". At this point in the race a sign like this is amusing, being told "you're almost there" at mile 5, not so much. Katie ran off and Dad and I stuck together for the rest of the race. This race has water/ice stops everywhere you look, at least it feels that way. I kept telling Dad that something that helped me last year was the ice. Always holding a cup of ice, putting ice in my hands, cold water on my head, drinking it, helped so much to beat the heat last year. In fact, I adopted this technique to get me through the marathon too. We ran the first couple miles straight, with only slowing at water stops. The 5k mark is at the beginning of the biggest hill on the course, and as we approached the base of the hill (golf course) I asked Dad how he wanted to handle this challenging part of the course. We decided we would pick different landmarks (signs, mile markers, bands) to run to and then do the same for walking portions. The hill is long, really long. When you think you are at the top, you aren't. Our technique worked great, but when we approached the water stop at a point where it levels out a bit they told us they had run out of ice. Okay no big deal, just get some at the next stop. We pressed on, talked to some of our fellow racers and tried to enjoy the scenery and constant music playing. When I say constant music I mean it. By the time one band/DJ/musician/car speaker/speaker on a front porch is out of ear shot, you can hear another one coming. We survived the hill and enjoyed the descent, but the next water stop was out of ice too and now it was beginning to get sunny and hotter. A bit down the road someone from behind started talking to me about my shirt and she had a Fleet Feet No Boundaries shirt on. Turns out she was from Fairport also and had done the HFM program this spring to train for the Flower City Half Marathon. I told her I trained for and completed a full this spring and she seemed impressed. The zoo animals were up next and last year I missed them so I wanted to pay more attention this year. There were all sorts of animals, but my favorite was a giant tortoise just walking around in the grass munching on some lunch. The next few stops had ice and I began to take multiple cups, I also got Dad using this cool down method and it seemed to be working for him too. At one point the Red Cross was giving out ice and they were in big red solo cups, we continued to run with them for a long time, I think Dad even crossed the finish line with his, and the song "red solo cup" followed us from spectators and fellow racers along the way. I was too slow this year for popsicles, freeze pops and oranges on the course, but I was running with Dad and we were getting through it together. 

This may or may not be a proof. 

During the last mile we were plugging away and all of a sudden my Dad said "HOLY SHIT". I said nervously, "what Dad?" and he said, "we are actually gonna finish this!" Apparently up until that point he had doubts. It was neat to see him capture a new distance PR, experiment with fueling while running, staying hydrated and racing smart to get it done! It was also around this time that I heard the crowd saying "Go Canada" and "look our neighbors to the North". All of a sudden I had a flashback to the same point in the race last year, when I was passed by four Canadian women, all decked out in red, white, maple leaves and cowboy hats. And wouldn't you know it the same ladies were going to pass me around the same spot as last year. The crowd loved them and clearly they were having a great time. I could hear the bagpipes ahead which is a clear sign that you are getting close to the end, so Dad and I picked up our speed and ran down into the finishing chute looking for Mom who was there waiting to cheer us in. As we were running along the yellow barriers, I mentioned to Dad that the announcer from last year was my former band director and I wondered if he would announce our names this year. Sure enough, with tons of enthusiasm and excitement I heard him say "Art and Stephanie Keiser" we made eye contact and thumbs up, waves and smiles and then he said "good job old man". Haha, priceless. 

I love MarathonFoto!

So my time was drastically slower compared to last year, but I haven't been training as much, I have slowed down and I wanted to stick with Dad. I wouldn't change a thing. However, as we walked through the coral they told us that they had run out of pins. Which is the traditional thing they present you with at the finish line. WHAT?!?! Seriously, how do you run out, you know exactly how many people are running this thing. Last year (and it sounds like this year too) they have run out of food for the finishers as well. We were upset but continued through the mob of people to get to the post race party. I headed to claim my pint glass and to check out the merchandise table, Dad headed to the line to get a beer. I decided to buy Dad a finishers medal since he has never earned one before. Even though he came over to me before I was done paying for it, I unwrapped it and placed it around his neck. We were both pretty proud in that moment. I also happened to run into Rob's boss Glenn, what are the odds with 20,000 you would see someone you know! After a snow cone or two we met up with Mom and headed over to the Polish community center, as I discovered last year, it was a nice, dark, air conditioned place to sit and relax. They also had a fundraiser of traditional Polish cuisine so we carb loaded back up. 

Soooo good!

Everyone was hot and sweaty!

While we were getting settled Katie wound up coming in and finding us, everything was really going so smoothly. We all swapped stories and relaxed for a bit before Katie and I had to board the bus to head back home. Once we went our separate ways I crouched down in the tiny bus bathroom to change out of my wet and stinky clothes and felt so much better after that. 

Wilt took attendance, passed around some snacks and we were off headed back home to Rochester. As I sat there and thought about next year, I thought about how cool it would be to be a volunteer. As much fun as it is to race it, it has to be pretty fun to spectate as well. On FB it was posted that if you didn't receive a pin to send an email. So I sent an email on behalf of my Dad and myself but never heard anything back from them. Then Dad sent me this the other day:

Pretty clever, but still not acceptable. 

This weekend we are heading to Lake Placid for vacation and to volunteer for the Lake Placid Ironman. I cannot wait!! I will be doing a post or two on that, look for them in about a week!!