After looking at the route we drove and doing a little research,
I found a half marathon in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. My training was going well and the date
and location were perfect, so I thought it must be fate.
We arrived in Black River Falls on Friday the 15th,
found our hotel, and headed to the chamber of commerce for packet pickup. I picked up my packet and learned that
there were 42 other people running the half, if everyone showed up (the weather
was a little rainy, and the forecast wasn’t great). This was definitely the smallest race I had ever run! We spent the rainy afternoon exploring
Black River Falls, a great little town with ATV trails, lakes, parks, and tons
of outdoor activities. As much fun
as they looked, it was pouring rain so we had a great time admiring them from
the car. The town was in the
middle of its “Karner Blue Festival.”
I was curious to learn the meaning of the name of the race and soon
found out that a “karner blue” is a type of butterfly native to the area (see
t-shirt picture). For a prerace
dinner, my mom and I headed to “The Orange Moose,” a statue of which we could
see from our hotel room. While
watching the rain run down the windows of the restaurant I dined a perfect prerace
pasta primavera to prepare me for the next day.
Saturday morning the weather had not improved. In fact, it was worse. The rain was heavier and accompanied by
a fair amount of thunder and lightning.
After breakfast at the hotel, I climbed in the car, prepared to arrive
at the start and find out the race was cancelled. We pulled into the parking lot to find a group of runners
waiting in their cars instead of a race cancelled sign. Surely they wouldn’t “let” us run in
this. Five minutes before the race
was supposed to start, I ventured out of the car through a huge puddle to find
other runners. The trip
through the puddle left me with soaked feet and the race hadn’t even started,
awesome (but at this point, I didn’t think it was going to start, so wasn’t
too worried). I found a group of
people huddled by the restrooms waiting to be called to the starting line. Really, we were going to run in this? It hadn’t been cancelled. And as I mentioned before, my feet were
already wet. After reminding us
that the race was “rain or shine,” the director called us to the starting line. I had not done much training in the
rain and was worried about how my feet (and wet socks and soaked shoes) would
handle the water.
Before we took off, the race director told us to be careful,
one of the roads we were headed towards was a little flooded from all the rain. I wished I’d known something about the
course to know where that road was and think about how I might get around
it. Then I remembered my feet were
already turning to prunes, what was one more puddle (or small river as it
turned out to be). Just as the
race started, the rain stopped. I
thought this might work out, I was wet (head to toe), but things were looking
up. Maybe I would be dry by the
end. We started out on a small
paved trail that circles the town of Black River Falls before heading out into
the surrounding farmland.
Four miles into the race, on the third of countless huge
hills (who knew there were hills in Wisconsin? Not me!), the rain started again. Soon after that, lightning and thunder joined the party. Woohoo! But, the race kept going. With less than 45 runners (2 more had registered the day of
the race, although I’m sure a few sane runners stayed home and dry), we spread
out pretty quickly, which meant I could see a couple runners ahead of me, and a
few behind if I looked. Would
anyone see if I got struck by lightning?
Or swept away into the storm waters? I continued running, maybe it would be harder for the lightning to
strike a moving target.
The race passed through gorgeous farmland. I admired the cornfields and said hello
to a few cows, goats, horses, dogs, and alpaca, while at the same time wondered
why they were standing in the rain instead of inside their warm, dry barns. When I wasn’t talking to the livestock,
I did my best to avoid puddles (or be ready to swim when I stepped in
one). Thankfully the terrain also
provided a variety of places to hide from the weather. Though I didn’t use any, I kept a
constant lookout for places to dive for cover if needed (bushes, empty
culverts, nearby barns).
If the rain was not enough of a challenge, the middle of the
race brought a new one. Several
miles in, we hit a freshly tarred and graveled section of road. It didn’t take the full mile to remind
me that tar is sticky (even when wet), and gravel sticks to tar, which sticks
to shoes. At this point I decided
my shoes would never be the same.
I also gained a few “tar freckles” on my calves that stayed with me for a few days.
I would like to say that the rain let up but it instead
provided the dictionary definition of torrential downpours. I passed a water stop around mile 9,
where a rain drenched (but devoted) volunteer offered me some water. We laughed together as I thanked her
and told her opening my mouth was all I needed to do to get a drink. Miles 10 through 13 wound back into
town, where the rain seemed to have tapered to what seemed like a drizzle
(compared to the earlier downpours).
The last mile ran down the same trail we started on, and at the finish,
a small crowd gathered to cheer in the runners (there was a 5k finishing around
the same time). The rain
completely let up just before I reached the finish, where after I crossed the
line, my mom patted me on the back (for some strange reason she didn’t want a
hug). As the rain picked back up,
we hurried back to the car. Mom
covered the seats in towels then drove back to the hotel. The last thing I thought I would want
to see was more water, but a hot shower felt great before we climbed back into
the car to continue on to Minnesota.
The race was not a PR, but surprisingly close (especially
since I felt like I swam most of it).
It was, however, one of my most memorable races so far. While it was cumbersome at times, I decided
I had two options, to either suffer through and curse the weather, or enjoy the
rain and take in my surroundings.
I chose the second.
