Boilermaker 15K

Well, I did my third Boilermaker Sunday and once again would recommend every runner do this race at least once. It is simply awesome to run with 11,000 plus runners in such a well organized race, beautiful course, and the best damn post-race party (heck, it ends at Matt FX brewery -- how can you screw up a party like that??).

The hardest part of the race was getting in -- I waited until a week after Morgantown and ran my favorite 7.3 mile loop -- successfully, so I figured I'd go ahead and sign up for Boilermaker. Except when I logged in on July 7th, I discovered entries closed out on June 30th. Not to be deterred, I emailed the race director and he called me right back and said to fax an application by 3:00 PM and he'd get me in. Done!!

We stayed in our usual hotel in Syracuse the night before which meant I had to still pick up my packet and chip on race morning. Let me tell you it is not easy to get to the race start, pick your way through the start to get to the packet pickup and back to the car before heading back for the race start. . . . I made it but as Conor said, he didn't listen to some of the words that came out of my mouth . . . .stress released, apologies to the guys, and I'm off to the start.

Finally, the race starts and we stand there for a minute and a half. I crossed the start at 2:40 into the race and started to pick through the crowd. The weather was the best it has been in ages. The rain brought it down into the 70s (the other times I ran it was in the 80s by 8:00 AM) but the humidity was 70%. My foot was a little sore at the start, but I hoped to work through it and sure enough it was fine after a couple miles. Again, I had to remind myself this was a training run and not a race (I actually said it out loud three times in the car on the way. . . .) as I hit the first mile in 8:51. Miles 2 and 3 were 8:56 pace. Mile 4 up the hill to the golf course slowed to 9:08, but I was happy with the race so far. Coming down the hill in mile five I ripped off my 8:07 and thought coming in under 9:00 pace was looking likely. Mile 6 was a surprising 8:43, but 7 was my slowest at 9:10 -- not sure if I dozed or took it easy so I would finish. Mile 8 turned out to be 8:40 and mile 9 was 8:32! With a final finish of 1:21:48. Over three minutes off my previous races, but not too bad without the training. The chip timing was off, so they only had gun times which put me at 1:24:30 vs my 1:21:48, but I finished 91st out of 539 women in my AG and 3285 overall.

Now the fun stuff. . . . where else can you see bag pipers and belly dancers -- and that was the first 2 miles! I did get to see a llama again this year, but it was a baby one being held by a girl. Three years ago a full grown llama was at the bottom of the hill -- definitely made me do a double take! The bands along the course were good, but a little less than in the past -- maybe the weather forecast did it. Coming in the last half mile, I did spot Bill and the boys and waved. My left calf was either strained or about to cramp, so I was worried I was going to be in trouble at the end. I finished and got my pin then wound my way around to the party for food, my goodie bag, and BEER! I met up with the boys and we did some grocery shopping throughout the party before heading to the car for a quick change before heading on to Lake Placid! Whew -- what a day!