So the rain had been around all weekend and as the start time for the Twilight Festival Half Marathon approached, my support crowd started opting for positions on the couch rather than around the track… can’t say I blame them at all! Poor Kev did not have the luxury of being able to take that option being the loving husband that he is! No way was I driving in!
We arrived with plenty of time before the start of the race and so as not to be totally unfair to Kev, agreed to let him spend the time at the car with a few beers on the proviso that he watch the start of the race and then turn up at the finish line to support me there (he missed my finish at the last half I did even though he was standing in the general area!). Since the rain looked like it was about to start before the race, I let him off the hook with the watching of the start of the race since he forgot to bring the umbrella with him.
The rain did start to come down before the race, but the race was still going ahead. I was pretty much drenched before the start of the race and was just thankful that it wasn’t a cold rain! The water was flowing across the roads even as we started and the rain was looking pretty content to stick around. I did think that these conditions were much more preferable to the humidity that we have been experiencing over the last couple of days!
I probably started a little bit too far back for my running pace though as the first 5km were a bit of a struggle to make my way through crowds as well as negotiating the puddles and small creeks that had formed! I was also running blind in regards to pace as I wasn’t wearing a timer, so was really just guessing based on what I normally run. I thought I had gone even slower as the timer at the 5km mark was at 35 mins! Of course, I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I had actually started running well after the official start time of the race! I wasn’t overly worried though as I usually start off a bit slower and pick up pace in the second half of my runs. I had another 16km to make up a bit of time and we would lose quite a bit of the pack as they peeled off to finish the 10km run (well that was the plan anyway!).
Around the 7km mark, a motorcycle cop started turning back some of the slower runners that were still making their way to the turnaround point. The race had been cancelled due to severe storms coming! I guessed that from where I was though, a 10km finish was still happening. As we continued on, we started getting more info that, yes, the half was cancelled and everyone would be finishing up at the 10km finish line.
So I didn’t get to finish my half marathon, but I did have a lovely 10km run in the pouring rain with quite a few ‘high knees’ moves to get through some road flooding! At the end of the day, it was still a run and I felt good at the end of it!
I couldn’t blame Kev for not being at the finish line as I was already on my way back to the car before he heard that it was cancelled, but knowing he was waiting for me was still much appreciated as was the support from the couches from the rest of the support crew! Thanks guys, maybe the weather will be better for the next run!
