After saying I would not do Promise Land this year…

The Monday after Terrapin I got the flu and had symptoms for 10 days.  Then my daughter Robyn tells me she wants to do PL.   I said, "Oh my!" or something like that.  I told her I would train with her but I had no intention of doing the race.  She had been running in Dr. Horton’s class and she also did the Terrapin Mtn. half but I knew this would be a different challenge.  At this point she had two weekends to train.  One weekend we did the dark side, the other the light side.  The first weekend actually went better – it was cooler.  The second weekend exposed us to warm weather which turned out to be a good thing considering the temperature on race day.  Tuesday before the race I decided to enter – I had planned on crewing for her so I figured I could do a better job running with her.  So here I am at the starting line again sharing those same feelings of anticipation and fear with my baby girl.  I calculated the splits based on a 9 hour finishing time but we started losing time after the second check point.  We lost more time on the road to Cornelius Creek.  By the North Creek Road, Robyn was slowing more and it was getting hot.  Periodically I could detect a barely audible groan.  I didn’t know whether it was just “normal” endurance event suffering – which she had never experienced before - or if she was getting too warm.  I asked if she wanted to quit and I was given a resounding “NO!”  At this point we were 5 hours in and just past halfway and it didn’t look like we would make the cut off.  As we approached Colin Hollow she started to rally a bit.  A quick calculation indicated if we could set some kind of pace we had a chance to break 10 hours.  Coming to the gravel road we were attacked by black biting gnats.  It was also the hottest part of the course.  (BTW – I can not tolerate hot weather in my old age).  I was still pulling away from Robyn on Stave Hollow and had to figure out the best way to pace her.  We were gradually closing in on a runner in front of us.  I finally decided to go ahead and pass him as we approached the right hand turn back to the Falls trail.  Robyn followed me and we set a good pace to the Aid Station.  Six hours and 55 minutes.  I knew we were on schedule to break 10 hours but Robyn has not yet learned to “love” the climbing.  As we approached the bridge below the falls we started catching more people.  As before, this was motivating and Robyn seemed to perk up.   We had a nice group going to the top and the conversation and “shared misery” helped morale.   As usual it was difficult to start running again at Sunset and it was a relief to start the downhill plunge to the finish.  At the last aid station we got up with Jason Crouch from Knoxville, who I also ran with in 2005, and set a good pace down Overstreet Creek Rd.  A half mile later the thunderstorm hit which seemed to an appropriate way to end our day.   After that long two miles we crossed the line in 9:42 and extremely happy to help my daughter reach her goal.   It was rewarding to train and race with her and we received a lot of compliments and encouragement from other runners. 

Being young she recovered nicely and I didn’t get too beat up either.  At my age, and a person who “just can’t run” I had thoughts about staying with the 13 mile events, but I realized how much passion I have for this course.  It’s funny, I was out there for Robyn but she also helped me.  The aid stations were great and Dr. Whortley was at his usual posts.  What a fantastic event.

My oldest daughter, Rachel, said she might be interested in doing the event.  She has come a long way in her physical fitness.  Wouldn’t it be great to do it with both of my daughters?  I told her… lets try the Falls-Cornelius-Falls loop and see how that goes…

See ya in 2009!

Robert