Will Run For Pizza

The trip out west started out nice though as we left Fargo mid afternoon on Friday, things started to deteriorate. Sunny skies turned grey, then rain turned hard(frozen) and then to snow. Yes, snow. September 17th. Kristy and I were sitting in a Bismarck restaurant and laughed as outside it looked like a nice Christmas eve snow. It wasn't bitterly cold and on another day we could have enjoyed it, except in the back of our minds we knew that we were there for a running event and would have to be out in this weather if it held on until morning. After supper it was off to Kristy's brother's house. Kevin, Leigh and their 2 kids, Harley and Tom welcomed us to their home. Some good conversation and we then retired for the night.


Up early and we slowly start getting things ready to go. As usual, the pace quickens as time ticks away until we realize we are just a little behind. We get into the car for the 15 minute drive to the event site and click. Click. Click. Having some mechanical skills, I quickly diagnosed it as a bad solenoid on the starter. We rummaged through Kevin and Leigh's garage to find a flashlight and a needle nosed pliers. That is all I needed to get the car started and we were off. Would it start again? I didn't know but at least we were on our way. With a start to our morning like that, I wondered if things would deteriorate like they did the day before but all in all, Friday turned out to be a pretty good day. Maybe this day would be the same.

Once at the start of the event with our running mates Jon and Erin, we started to hatch our plans and strategy for the race. Remembering doing this event a couple years ago, I mentioned to Jon that they had a tent just for pizza at the finish. Of course, he already knew as that is why we run. I asked Jon for a prediction of our finish time and he quickly said he didn't see a problem with us coming in easily under 4 hours. I said "No way". Jon and Erin just one week prior had busted their butts at the Beardsley half, Kristy has such a laid back approach to running she has to be slow and I am just getting some legs back under me after Lean Horse. My math had us at a 4:09. 4:06 at best. No way could we come in under 4 hours.

About 15 minutes before the run starts, we split up and I walked to my relay exchange station said to be 500 yards away. Actually it was a mile, but it was a nice early morning walk/warm up to running. As I walked past the finish area, I looked for the pizza tent but didn't see it. Erin and Kristy took buses to their exchange points much further out on the course. Jon was taking the first leg, so he stayed back at the starting area. I knew how far the first leg was and figured how fast Jon would be running. Simple math said he'd be there at 8:19 give or take a minute. As that time started to get nearer, I slowly started shedding my warm clothes (it was 31 degrees) and preparing myself for the run. With 5 minutes to go, I was 100% ready except for a trip to a Spiffy Biffy. When I came walking out with 3 minutes to go, there was Jon, calling my name. What the heck I thought. How could he be here so soon. Talk about getting caught with your pants down. Literally.

My run went smooth and without issue. With untested legs, I started slow and let the pace come to me running mostly by my heart rate monitor. The first mile was the slowest and each one got progressively faster for a nice finish to my leg of the event. Being we were running the 5 person relay with only 4 people, it was nice to have Erin's parents, Tony and Luci, as our honorary 5th team member supporting us along the way. Besides cheering us on, they would pick us up at the end of each of our legs and at one point had 3 of our tired, sweaty bodies in the back of their van. I hope they can get the smell out.

Erin was leg #4. For not having done much speed work in her half marathon training, she ran a fantastic leg and kept a sub 10 minute mile pace throughout her 4+ miles. Of course I told Kristy to expect to see Erin come in at around 11:00. So when Jon and I showed up at the last relay exchange at 10:30 and told her that Erin was 7 minutes out, she looked at us in disbelief and scrambled to start getting ready for the final leg of team "PaceMakers" effort.

After Erin handed off to Kristy, we headed to the finish line and to wait for her to come in and maybe grab some post race pizza. Jon thought we'd have enough time to eat pizza, watch Kristy finish and then say, "Hey, let's go get some pizza". By my estimation, a well thought out plan.

The math wasn't looking good for a 4:09 or even a 4:06 finish as I had predicted. Oh well. I've been wrong before but it just wasn't making any sense how I could have been so far off. As we were waiting for Kristy, a running friend of ours, Heather, who had tried to and missed qualifying for Boston at the Fargo Marathon this spring, was giving it another try. She came smoking across the finish line so fast it was amazing. It was a treat to be standing there to see the look on her face when she realized that she had run a qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. Well done.

A few more minutes went by waiting for Kristy to come in and as I watched the clock tick away, I still wondered how my math could have been so far off. As we stood there waiting, we were looking around for where the post race pizza would be and out of the corner of my eye I saw a familiar face coming towards the finish. What? It can't be. My math was off even worse than I thought. It was Kristy. She was running smooth, smiling and looked like she was on her first mile. It was stunning to say the least when I looked at the clock and saw the results of our combined marathon effort. 3:52:50.


If 4:06 was probable, sub 4:00 impossible, what do you call this? I call it a team effort. We all exceeded our expectations. Even though we all intended on going out and just having a good time, this was a team effort and nobody wants to let each other down. Individual accomplishments are nice but they pale in comparison to a successful team effort. Sharing this accomplishment with friends and family is something ultra special.

Kevin, Leigh, Tony and Luci were there to watch the finish and snap a couple photos so all in all it was a great day despite the early morning troubles. Nobody even cared much after we found out that they didn't have any pizza at this years finish line. I guess we were running for something better than pizza.