Flying Pirate Half Marathon Preview

As  you may be able to tell from the name of this blog, I kind of like pirates.  I’m not one of those people who dress up like them year round or decorate my house like a pirate ship, but I do like them.  As you can also tell, I like to run too.  So when I saw the Flying Pirate Half Marathon, I had to register.

It takes place on the Outer Banks in North Carolina.  The Outer Banks are basically a string of long skinny islands just off the coast.  Made famous by the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk and as a hideout for many pirates including Edward Teach – Blackbeard.  In fact, it’s where Blackbeard was killed.  So the name for this race is a combo of the flight and pirate histories.

A flying pirate would be a very dangerous thing indeed!

The course is a point to point one.  I’m assuming it’s going to be mostly flat since we’ll be at sea level.  Hopefully we won’t have to go over any sand dunes!  The course is also mostly straight…no major turn arounds or anything.  And as of today, the weather is supposed be in the 50’s.  It’s also supposed to be low wind and low humidity.  Man, I hope that’s all true – if so, could make for a chance to PR.  We’ll see though, as I’m not in top endurance shape at the moment.

The course also runs right through Kitty Hawk and past the monument to the Wright Bros. “first” flight.  I put first in quotes because my father doesn’t believe it was the first time they flew.  You see, we are from Ohio, where the Wright Brahs are from.  My dad is convinced that they did test flights there before taking the plane to NC for the official flight.  So sit on that North Crackalacka!  Makes sense, but it could just be Ohio pride.

After the race, there’s supposed to be a big party!  My sis is also running this with me and one of my bestest friends, who lives in Raleigh, will be there too.  So here’s how I see it:  Beaches, Running, Pirates, Fams, Friends,  Parties, Cool Medals….What could be better???

Oh, and get this, they put me in Corral A:

I’m usually in Corral B, so this is a first.  And I’ve never had a bib number that low.  Coolio.

All in all, I’m hoping this will be a really fun race with lots of good scenery and good times.  I don’t know many of the specifics about the course or event set up as I live about 1,200 miles away, but I’ll give a full recap when I get home next week.  Until then, keep it fresh!

The Last Place Finisher

So last night we had a really successful social run.  Prolly around 100 peeps.  Plus lots of sponsors, foods, beers….even free massages!  I felt pretty good during the run – cruised along around 7:45 per mile for 3.5 miles.  But more importantly, got to hang out some really cool folks on a cool evening.

We tri hard to fit everyone in our pics.

Prolly the last run I’ll do before Sunday’s 5 mile race.  Too Cold to Hold won’t be too cold I hope, but just cold enough to get a good pace going.  After the heat and humidity during the Disney Marathon, I’m really looking forward to running a race in cooler Texas temps.  Never thought I’d say that.

I’ll fill y’all in on the race come Monday.  But for now I just had one other runner thought running through my mind.  After the Disney Marathon I stretched, had a snack, took some pics, changed clothes, rested, chit chatted, and eventually we made our way into Epcot to get some runners’ lunch, or runch.  But on the way in, we noticed there were people still finishing the race.  We knew we had a friend walking it and decided to wait for him.  We didn’t know where he was, but the race was already well past the 7 hour time limit and there were still folks doing their darndest to finish.  That was something to see.

I’ve never watched the very last runners of a race before.  To watch them giving everything they had just to finish was inspiring.  Most were walking.  Many not in the best of conditioning.  Prolly all were in considerable pain.  Some had ice bags strapped to their ailing knees, hips, shoulders, etc.  But they kept on.  Some were merely strolling, but some were trying to run.  So we cheered them on.  It’s easy to cheer for the people who finish first, but more often than naught, the ones in the back are who really need the cheers.  We called them by name if we could read their bibs.  We showed them the medal they are about to get.  We tried to help inspire their finish, but in reality, they inspired us.

We did eventually see our friend, and he was thrilled for our support.  After all, not many people were left to cheer nearly 8 hours after the race began.  We stayed till the last runner passed us.  The Disney crew shortly behind her picking up the barrier cones that lined the race course.  I don’t remember her name, but I’m glad we saw her on the way to finishing.

One of the funniest, but also cruelest signs I saw someone holding along a race course was, “The Kenyans finished half an hour ago.”  True, the first to cross the line of the Disney Marathon finished 5 or so hours before the last participant.  But they both did it.  So did all those others in between.  Good on us all.  Good on everyone who gives it a go.

Peace and running grease.