Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Summer Scamper in West Lafayette, IN



Much cooler temps here in rural Indiana. Our plane was three hours late getting to Indy and we arrived around 3:30 am. The Hertz rental desk closed before our flight got in, but since we were sooo late, it opened at 4 am for the next day. We got to the hotel for a few hours of shut eye and just 24 hours before the start of the Summer Scamper 4 miler hosted by the Wabash River Road Racers in beautiful West Lafayett, Indiana.




The WRRR picked a great course. It was just west of the Purdue University campus. One loop around a shopping strip center and then up McCormick Hill. Not used to hills, it was challenging, but the good news is that it was only one hill and we got to come down it on the way back. After running on McCormick Road, we got to run on the Cattail trail (pictured above) next to the Purdue Golf course. Lots of fast runners in this race and not many penquins, like myself. Right before the turn around I started running with Candy, a local runner that ran at about my pace. We got to talk about running and life in Indiana and it kept my mind off the running. She doesn't ever stop, so it was good for me. I finished the last 2 1/4 miles without stopping. Only stopped twice to get water in the middle of the race. My hopes were to finish in under a 12 minute pace. If I finished under an 11 minute pace, I would be thrilled. Finish time, 43:43. Just slightly under the 11 minutes I really wanted. I had an entourage for this race too. Jeff and Annie, in laws from Madison, Wisconsin came to watch the race. Jeff ran the Twin Cities Marathon in '99 and plans to run it again in '09. We might make a party of it and all run. I appreciate them coming out to watch. Not a really thrilling thing to do, but they were troopers and were at the start, mid point and finish of the race. Jeff took some pictures and I'll post them when I get 'em.
50 States: This makes the 3rd state that I have run a race in. Arizona, California and now Indiana. I might do a race next saturday in Ohio. We'll see.
I ran in Indiana last year, so I'm still at five total states.

2 comments:

J~Mom said...

Great job!! 11 min pace is outstanding!! Don't even rub it in about the cooler weather...it's supposed to be 115 here tomorrow!

MNFirefly said...

Great pictures, Pat. Thanks for sharing!