Monday, March 28, 2011

Hain's Point II: Revenge of the Penninsula

My friends, you remember our first tale of Hain's Point back in February. Good times, a nice day, a reasonable 3-mile distance to cover, good cheer...

March 13th was... different.

1) No Coach. Elizabeth was off chasing leprechauns at the Four Courts Four Miler (and yes, she did beat the leprechaun, because she is that awesome). This was our first long run without her, which was actually kind of a big deal. I think we had all gotten used to her support - her expertise on area running trails, her complete faith that we could finish all of our runs and finish well, her good cheer in the face of our most grumpy, don't-wanna-run mornings.

Nope. Our band of three was on our own.

2) Weather? Not so nice. Hain's Point has a reputation for being ridiculously windy, and now, we experienced it. Hand-numbingly, nose-runningly cold wind, with an overcast sky following a week of rainy days (more on the rain later...)

3) 3 miles? Nope. Double it. Then add two more. I know I'm being dramatic, but for serious, y'all. Eight miles is far. And yes, Chelsea did bring a playlist of Eminem for the occasion, and I wore my best hoodie, but spirits were pretty daunted. And due to certain logistical challenges we were having a hard time working eight miles into a workable route that would both begin and end at Chelsea's car.

So, geniuses that we are we just decided to run all the way around Hain's Point, back to the Jefferson Memorial, and then run all the way around it again.

Geniuses. I'm telling you.

Our first time around went pretty well. I do like me some Jefferson Memorial, and, as I said in my first Hain's Point post, at least the thing is flat. Due to all the rain, the Potomac was lapping right up around the edges of the narrow peninsular park, but otherwise things were going pretty well.

Then we came around the second time. We were right at the tip of the peninsula, and had just turned around to return to find that as we ran the water had continued to rise behind us. Significantly. The swollen river now covered the running path and road, by several inches in some places. And here we were: 1) Needing to get back to Chelsea's car and 2) Needing to run another two damn miles.

So, what to do? I'm sure that there was a smarter option that none of us happened upon, but at this point we were all pretty tired and tunnel-visioned, so we just... kept going. Trying to avoid the floodwater as best we could by running through the marshy grass at the center of the peninsula for about a mile before making it out of the worst of the high water.

It was ridiculous, challenging, and surreal. And our feet got really, really wet.

But. But! 8 miles, you guys. Success! Also? Geese.

1 comment:

  1. WOW! You guys are awesome. Having never run anything, much less a race, I continue to be impressed by your commitment to this challenge and to each other. Never give up. You can do it!
    Love, Kate's Mom

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