Gate to Gate Memorial Day Run - Monday, 30 May

The shirt says it all!

I have decided I love this race.  It will be an annual event for me as long as I am able to be active.  I love the whole idea of it.  What better way to celebrate our military men and women who have fallen in defense of our great nation.  The base puts on a great, well organized event.  Being retired military makes this day even more special for me.  Being able to celebrate it with like minded people is all the better.

There were about 1700 runners out of the 2000 that registered that showed up.  That's a pretty big race for around here.  The course is a fairly easy loop.  The only real challenge is the hill at the end.  It starts at about the 4 miles point.  Needless to say, a hill at the end of the race isn't fair!  LOL

I keep my pace around 8:30 to 8:40.  I felt pretty good with that.  About the 1 mile point, I noticed this young lady to my left.  Pretty darn cute if I must say so.  She was going at the same pace as I was, so her and I ran side by side for the next 3 miles.  When I would see her starting to slip behind me, I'd  motion for her to catch up and then I'd slow down just a tad.  It really wasn't as much for her as it was for me.  She couldn't have been much older then 23 or 24.  If that!  We stayed right with each other pretty good until the last water station at about 3.5 miles.  I stopped to get water as I was pretty dehydrated.  She kept going.  I thought I could catch up to her like I had done at the water station before, but wasn't able to.  Remember, this was the end of the race and the "HILL".  LOL  I ended up having to walk a couple more times on that damn hill, so my overall pace was a bit slower then how I started out.  But hey, I can live with that.

Anyway, I finished the race in 39:32.  Just about a minute slower then last year. But again, I am still not up to my level before the injury.  I was able to met up with the young lady at the end of the race and thank her for helping me keep my pace and post a decent time.  She said she was grateful as well.