New Bedford Half Marathon - 2013

Two years ago I ran New Bedford for the first time, just before tearing my hip.  I was a little faster and thinner back then, but after re-reading my race report from that day, I've found that some things never change.  I was whining about my sore foot and painful stomach that were slowing me down, which sounds eerily familiar to how I've felt leading up to this race.  It's kind of sad that after two years, I still haven't gotten a handle on these issues.  The biggest difference this year is that, unlike two years ago, this year I was more than prepared.  Boston training is peaking at this stage, so this 13 mile run is nice and short!  Never thought I'd say that!
This year I went into the race looking for redemption.  I had disappointed myself two years ago because of my stomach problems and never really got to enjoy the race.  I was so sick that Hiroshi and I never got to enjoy anything after the race.  We immediately hopped into the car and high-tailed it home, me turning green and rolling down the window for fresh air.  We still laugh about it.
My goal for today's race was to run it faster than a training run and beat my time from two years ago (2:02 something).  I prepared well for this race.  I ate well all week, shutting down vegetables and other fiber by Friday night.  I hydrated well by drinking tons of water all week and no alcohol.  I got ridiculous amounts of sleep (8-9 hours a night).  On Saturday I did almost nothing but read a book, and then took my horse out for a little light ride in the afternoon.  Nothing strenuous.  Nothing would foil my plans.
Despite my first encounter with this race, I was really looking forward to running it again.  This is a great race, very organized, tons of crowd support, and the course is awesome.  I consider this course to be a condensed version of Boston.  There is a long stretch of downhill running in the early miles of the race, and an uphill at the end when you're good and tired.  And of course, down along the water you can be sure to endure some serious winds, and today was no exception.
I carpooled to New Bedford with Kerri (so weird that Hiroshi never called, haha).  The race doesn't start until 11am, but since I wasn't 100% sure where I was going and I have a phobia about navigating through cities, I wanted to get there early.  Kerri and I made great time getting there, arriving at the YMCA just before 9am, just in time to snag one of the last parking spots in the lot.  When we started opening the car doors and struggled to push them open against the winds, we knew we were in for a world of hurt.  We went inside, grabbed our numbers, and hung out inside the gymnasium while other club members arrived.  Crowds started getting really thick so we decided to make our way to a restroom and then head back to the car.  Back outside, the wind continued to howl and we opted to stick it out inside the car for a while before heading to the start.  It is at this time that I should have put my phone away.  If I had, I might not have seen a couple of text messages come through that I wish I hadn't seen, that really stressed me out.  Angry and a bundle of nerves, I decided it was time to head to the start line.  On the way, we'd stop in the porta-john line.  We were horrified to see the line spanning the length of a city block, and wondered if 30 minutes was going to be enough time to get to the start line.  Leave it to me to arrive two hours before the race and still nearly miss the start.  We got to the start line just in the knick of time, but couldn't get into our pace area.  I think we were stuck in the 14 min/mile section, but at least we found Ronnie.  He was pretty easy to spot with his awesome St. Patty's Day hat.
The horn started, the race was off, and after a couple minutes of standing still the crowd slowly shuffled across the start line.  We started off at a pretty decent clip, not too fast, and Kerri, Ronnie and I stuck together.  Around the 2 mile mark, Ronnie made a quick burst past a few runners, Kerri stuck with him, and I just couldn't be bothered.  I stuck to my planned pace and enjoyed the run.  Starting so close to the back has its advantages.  Psychologically it was pretty awesome passing so many people!  I remembered there being a hill at mile 3 and mile 12, and in a sick sort of way I was looking forward to them.  I wanted to prove to myself that the hill work I have done this season has been worth it.  I was definitely pleased with the way I powered up the hills at mile 3, passing tons of other runners, and by the time I reached the top I had finally warmed up.  And the best part about being at the top was that I knew the next 4 miles were downhill, and then another 3 miles after that were flat, before the next hill.  I sped up a bit, letting my legs just roll down the descent.  My foot felt totally fine which made me so happy, and the sun almost felt warm.  I even rolled up my sleeves for a little while!  About halfway down the hill I felt nearly toasty and decided to chuck my $1 throwaway gloves.  I heard someone yelling my name and turned in time to see Jackie, Hiroshi's fiancee, waving to me.  How exciting!  I hardly ever see a familiar spectator during a race, and that was so great!  I truly enjoyed running this race, seeing the spectators, all the different dogs on the side of the road, the St Patty's Day house parties, and the different costumes. 



La dee da, feelin' groovy, definitely beating 2:02. Maybe break 2:00!

 I hit the bottom of the hill and ran along the coastline, soaking in the great views.  Then the wind picked up.  The "flat" felt hard after running with the benefit of a downhill for so many miles.  Then my stomach rolled over with a nasty bout of nausea.  This isn't happening.  Yes, it was happening.  I had passed a row of porta-johns thinking I was fine, then realized I wasn't.  I marched along as quickly as possible, determined to find somewhere to make a pit stop.  I wasn't happy about having to stop, but if it meant having a strong finish and feeling good at the end, I could deal with that.  Just as I spotted another row of porta-johns, I hear my name.  Hiroshi had caught up to me.  "Jill! The hills are coming! The hills are your friend! How you doing?" he shouted. "I gotta pooooooo!" I exclaimed, and bolted to the toilet.  There was a line to use the facilities where I got a chance to practice my deep breathing while trying to calm the cramping.  Finally I got in there, and man I really did need to go!  So imagine how it felt, after nearly crapping my pants, to be heckled by the runners in line behind me waiting to go.  "Hurry up... the rest of us gotta go too ya know!"  I wouldn't say that it was necessarily directed at me per se, since there were 3 toilets, but it sure made me feel like crap.  HA! 



You can see where the pace started to falter, then got serious, and so on...

 The good thing about the pit stop was that afterwards I felt heroic.  It was like I was just starting a run fresh.  I booked it out of the porta-john (kindly holding the door for the lady that just heckled me) and settled into a good pace.  I was encouraged seeing some people that I had already passed just a few miles ago, so I didn't really lose that much time.  The mile 12 hill finally surfaced, and I don't remember it being anything like this last time.  I remember last time I had to talk myself up every step of that hill.  I wanted to quit so bad.  It had been agony.  This year it didn't seem bad at all.  Of course, I didn't feel sick this time, and I was in better shape.  The wind, on the other hand, was brutal.  The last few miles of the course included a bitterly cold head wind, which seemed like a cruel practical joke going up the hill at mile 12.

Strong finish!

One of my favorite things about running and racing is looking at my Garmin activity afterwards, seeing the split times, and checking out the elevation.  For some reason, once we hit sea level, the Garmin couldn't register any elevation.  I thought this was a problem just with my watch, but a search on Garmin Connect revealed that other runners complained about this too.  I took the liberty of correcting it.




You can see here the life-like self portrait of me, complete with flames shooting out of my feet, powering up the hill

 I crossed the finish line, without intestinal cramping, in 2:05:37.  Ronnie was there to give me a big hug and tell me how someone handed him a beer, which he drank, while running up the hill at mile 12.  Kerri was there too, and told me that she heard from Jackie who heard from Hiroshi that I had to poop.  We made a beeline to the car to change into dry shirts, and then headed to the beer garden for a beer and soup.  The piping hot soup really hit the spot, and we all relived the best and worst parts about the race.  And as usual we got a good laugh about my delicate bowels, and I have promised to try even harder to get this straightened out.  Preferably before April 15th! 

Hyannis race report - hip hip hooray!

I had every intention of posting once more before the Johnny Kelley half marathon in Hyannis, but with a bad stroke of luck my internet blew up on Friday and wasn’t repaired until yesterday, when I was already at the Cape.  If I could have blogged last week, I would have given the latest and not-so-greatest update on my hip injury.  It no doubt would have left you on the edge of your seat, wondering for days “will she or won’t she run Hyannis?!”  Sorry to spoil the surprise.  I’ll just give a quickie update on the hip and move onto the race report.  (Um, surprise!)

As I’ve mentioned a time or two, I’ve been seriously stressing out over my ability to run this half marathon ever since my hip injury in April.  I’ve been able to run lightly over the last few weeks, with the exception of the week following the dreadful arthrogram, at which point I was barely able to walk.  This past week I did a few light runs, and the hip held up fairly well.  What didn’t hold up quite so well was my ability to run in the heat.  Summer arrived in New England this week, and like a typical New Englander, I will complain about the weather even when it’s perfect and just what I had been praying for.  The problem was that it just came on so fast, my body wasn’t ready for it.  Wednesday was a fairly hot run, but Todd and I ran Jaimee’s route at lunch, which turned out to be 4.5 miles (I would’ve guessed closer to 5).  It took me all afternoon to cool down after that hot run.  Then on Thursday, Todd, Kerri and I opted for the trail run.  Since it was very hot that day, we thought the trail run would be a cooler option.  It was, but the problem was the 1.5 miles in the sun down to the trail, and the 1.5 miles in the sun back from the trail.  On the way back, I was cooked.  I had to walk, and really didn’t know if I would get back to the building alive.  My heart was beating like crazy and I was just a big melting mess.  At that point I decided I won’t be running during lunch on hot days again.  It’s just not worth it.  Last summer I ran before work or after, and that was fine.  I’ll be doing that again from now on.

If it hadn’t been for the heat, I would have considered those two runs to be successful.  I had some hip pain after but not too awful, so I definitely leaned towards running Hyannis this weekend.  The final roadblock was my doctor’s appointment on Friday.  This was the follow up appointment to review the results of the MRI.  The news, as it turns out, was pretty much exactly what I expected.  I have a labral tear in my hip.  He said the type of tear I have is fairly uncommon and there aren’t a lot of surgeons that repair them, but lucky for me there’s one in the Boston area.  It may not even need surgery, but I’ll need to meet with the surgeon to discuss the pro’s and con’s of having it repaired.  He said there’s a chance that by the time I meet with the surgeon I’ll be feeling good enough that I won’t want surgery.  In the meantime, we’re going to give the steroid shot a chance to work and see how it goes.  He said there’s no problem with continuing to run lightly.  I nodded in agreement, intentionally not pressing him for specifics on his definition of “lightly”, because I thought it might trigger a debate.  I just kept nodding and solemnly swore to myself that I would run Hyannis “lightly”.

That brings us to this weekend!  Yesterday I packed up and headed to Hyannis.  It’s hard enough packing for a race, but this was my first overnight stay at a hotel the night before a race so it required extra forethought. 



Organized packing!  (3 pairs of running socks, just in case)

 I got to Hyannis, checked into my hotel, and then walked down to the town green where they were handing out race packets.  I intentionally booked a hotel within walking distance to the race, and this worked out really well.  It was a picture perfect summer afternoon and I had a nice time, although it would have been better if I had some buddies with me.  After picking up my race packet, I strolled over to Ben & Jerry’s, picked up a small ice cream, and ate it on the grass in the park.  I did lots of window shopping, scoured the streets looking for my next meal, and then went back to my hotel to rest and freshen up.  I went to a great little restaurant downtown, sat at the bar, and had bruschetta, linguine, and a glass of wine.  (And two waters!)  After dinner I relaxed in the hotel room, continued drinking lots of water, and set my two alarms for 6am. 

Had lots of spare time in the hotel room to prep for the race!

Here are a couple of my mistakes I noticed right off the bat this morning:

1. I woke up with sore legs.  I believe this is due to the amount of walking I did last night in flip flops, which my body isn’t used to.  Which brings me to mistake #2.
2. My feet were covered in little blisters and raw spots, due to the amount of walking I did last night in flip flops.
3. Although I carefully set the alarm clock in the hotel room last night, I neglected to notice the time on the alarm clock was set as AM when it should have been PM.  Luckily I had set the alarm on my phone as well.  And if all else failed, the front desk was kind enough to call me at 6:30 for a wakeup call, even though I didn’t request one.  I politely thanked them and didn’t bother to tell them they dialed the wrong room.  I laughed wondering whose morning plans I just foiled.

Another oddity of my hotel room: I woke up this morning and everything in the hotel fridge was frozen.  This included my bottled water and my peanut butter sandwich I had packed for breakfast!  There’s almost nothing less appealing than eating a frozen peanut butter sandwich at 6am and washing it down with slushy water.  I managed to eat half the sandwich and tossed the rest.

At 7:15 I left my hotel room and walked to the race start.  I got there just in time to see the 5k runners starting off at 7:30.  I walked around the common for a while, drinking lots of water and eating a package of Sports Beans.  I thought about hitting the toilets but I couldn’t find them anywhere.  I know this was covered in the “things to remember” email from the race director a few days ago, and I was kicking myself for not paying closer attention.  I lined up close to the 10:00 pace section, because I knew the only way I had a shot at getting through this race would be to start slow.

Sure enough, the race started and I was SLOW.  I honestly felt like I wasn’t moving.  I was just shuffling along, not breathing hard, not sweating, and not passing a single person.  I wasn’t really thrilled about this approach but I was determined to stick to the plan to avoid the humiliating DNF.  The good thing was, now that I mastered my Garmin I’m able to track individual miles, and that would keep me in check.  Mile 1: right on target at a 9:39 pace.  Mile 2: still barely moving at 9:25.  I have to pee.

Mile 3: I swore I’d never be one of those people that can’t get through a race without hitting the outhouse, especially in the first 20 minutes of a race.  I broke that rule today though.  I figured, if I’m already running slow anyways and not trying to PR, then who cares if I lose another minute or two?  I spotted the outhouse and made a beeline to it.  The stop was totally worth it.  I felt like a million bucks afterward.  It was like Clark Kent went in, and Superman came out.  Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but still I felt pretty refreshed.  I immediately picked up the pace and it didn’t take me long to catch back up to people I had been running with earlier.  Mile 3’s pace was 10:40, which is pretty good considering the pit stop.

Miles 4-7 I continued to take it slow, averaging about a 9:20 pace.  I didn’t want to edge my speed up until I was well past the halfway point.  At Mile 8 I started to speed up and clocked my first sub-9:00 mile.  Miles 9-12 were all right around a 9:00 pace.  When I hit the 13^th mile, it was so refreshing feeling like I still had gas in the tank.  I easily increased my speed and hit the last mile in 8:40.  I was absolutely thrilled to see I finished the race in 2:02:29, and felt great when I crossed the finish line!  When I started the race so slowly, I thought I’d be lucky to cross in 2:10.  I never imagined I’d be just over 2 hours.

I remember back to New Bedford when I finished feeling horrible, depleted, and sick.  I wanted so badly to erase that race with a strong finish.  Today’s finish may not have been a PR, but it was a huge accomplishment in several ways:

• I finished the race feeling great.  I felt like I just finished a run, not a half marathon.  After crossing the finish line I grabbed water and two hot dogs, and sat in the park.
• I stuck to my plan by starting off slow and gradually increasing my speed over the second half of the course.  This is the first time I’ve actually successfully done this, and it was a phenomenal feeling passing people constantly in the last three miles of the race.  I need to do this for all races going forward.
• I completed this race even without logging a long run since Mid-April
• Um, hello… I just ran a half marathon with a torn hip! (“lightly”)

If you want to check out the course, click here.  What this link won’t show you is the JFK memorial, the Hy-line ferry, the salt marshes, the yacht club, the rocky piers, or the sweet smell of salty ocean air.  It also won’t show you the GIANT tom turkey that stood still on someone’s front lawn honking at us as we all went by.  He appeared to be a seasoned spectator!  That you have to experience for yourself.

If anyone is ever looking for a fun way to spend Memorial Day on the Cape, I highly recommend this race.  The Johnny Kelley Half Marathon is one of three races that all take place at the same location, as part of the “Great Hyannis Road Races”.  The other options are the 5K and a 7.2 miler.  But if you only do the 7.2 miler, you are going to miss out on 6 beautiful miles of Cape Cod scenery.  And if you only do the 5K, you are going to miss out on 10 miles of beautiful Cape Cod scenery.   I’m just sayin’…

Feeling surprisingly refreshed after the race

Hyannis - my final decision. For now.

Well it's been an interesting week here in injury-ville.  I hadn't run since last Wednesday, my final hoorah with Todd and Kerri before going in for my MRI and arthrogram.  That Thursday morning I was actually feeling not-so-crummy and still hopeful about running the half marathon on May 29.  All that changed on Thursday when I went to the hospital for my tests.

Injuries are an ugly and inevitable part of running, and it's the part we don't like to talk about.  Just like pilots don't like to talk about crashes, sailors don't like to talk about capsizing, runners don't like to talk about injuries.  Especially to non-runners.  As a runner, I often find myself justifying to non-runners why I run.  Here are some real life examples of comments I've had to defend against:

• Running is bad for your joints, you'll be needing knee replacements soon.  You should try swimming instead.
• Running is dangerous on the streets, you could get hit by a car.
• Running is dangerous on the trails, you could get attacked by an animal.
• Running is so time consuming.  It's interfering with other activities.
• Running marathons is deadly. People have heart attacks and die running marathons. Never do one of those.
• It's such lousy weather. Why would you want to run in that?
• Why don't you just take a day off and relax.

Up until now I've been able to defend against these well-meaning (I think) comments, but this injury seems to be ammunition everyone needs to reinforce why running is so bad for me.  I find myself reminding people that I sustained this injury because I tripped over a root.  I could easily have sustained the same injury tripping over my cat, my coffee table, the stairs, the dog, the dog bone, or my son's shoes.  At least I was doing something healthy and active at the time.  If I had tripped over any of those other examples, it no doubt would have occurred on my way to the fridge, and that would have been a lose-lose situation.

So Thursday I headed to the hospital for my MRI and arthrogram.  I didn't really know what to expect other than the notorious tunnel with the really loud noises.  That was the easy part.  The much less enjoyable part was the arthrogram.  This involved shooting dye into my hip socket in order to get a contrast x-ray.  Before they could inject the dye they had to numb the hip.  For some reason my hip just wouldn't numb up, and the result was sheer agony.  The doctor felt horrible as I layed on the table sweating and crying, and after a very long process and FOUR doses of lidocaine, he was finally able to inject the dye as well as the steroid shot.  the nurse had cautioned me that my hip was going to be feeling so good after the shot that I had to remember not to be over-confident.  No worries there!  I was so sore after all that, I couldn't even walk into the house without help.  Friday was no better.  I couldn't even walk, and spent the entire day on the recliner packed in ice.  It was extremely disappointing, going from marathon training to unable to walk in the matter of days.  Over the last couple of days my hip slowly started to recover from the trauma of the arthrogram, and today was the first day I could walk without a noticeable limp.  So, you know what that means!!

My running club has its weekly Monday night pond run, so I thought a 3 mile jog would be a perfect way to test out the hip.  I was a little nervous about it, since I hadn't run since last Wednesday, I honestly didn't know if my leg would cooperate.  I figured worst case scenario I'd suffer a little embarrassment and have to turn around.  Luckily it didn't come to that!  I hooked up with one of the girls I ran with a couple weeks ago and she agreed to run slowly with me, although I told her not to wait for me if she wanted to go ahead.  She was a great sport about it.  I was very relieved to find that my hip held up fairly well at a slow pace.  Granted, my standards are a lot lower than they used to be.  My hip is now only as sore as it was before the tests, which is still not good by most standards.  The good news about this is that it gave me some confidence.  For the last week I've been pretty sure this weekend's half marathon was out of the question.  After today, my final decision is that I will be heading to Hyannis.  Ideally I'd like to get a 5 mile run in on Wednesday and maybe a 3 miler on Thursday, then take Friday and Saturday off.  I have no expectations for this weekend though.  This truly will be a race where I'll be pleased just to finish.  Ah, how things have changed!

As far as the results of my tests, I haven't heard from the doctor yet.  Part of me is anxious to get a diagnosis, but the competitor in me is hoping not to hear anything before this weekend so I don't have to make the decision an even harder one.  In any event, I will be heading to Hyannis Saturday afternoon, checking into a cutsie little hotel room and playing tourist on Cape Cod.  One way or another I will be taking part in the half marathon.  Whether it's as a runner or as a spectator, or a little of both, that will be a "game day" decision.  One thing's for sure, it will make for a great story!

And now, for today's run: TVFR Hopedale Pond Run. Not bad for a gimpy hip!

New Bedford – a PR in… Puking?

Today was the New Bedford Half Marathon, which I by my own admission had not trained well enough for.  Due to my sore foot and painful stomach I hadn’t logged a long run since Hyannis, so the best I could hope for was that my base would be enough to carry me most of the way, and grit would fill in the blanks. 

                Luckily I carpooled down to the race, which was great since I probably never would have found it.  The race was well organized and volunteers were ready and eager to help runners whenever needed.  What made this race different for me though is that I’m a simple country girl.  I have this weird expectation that there’s a starting line right in front of the packet pickup, along with a sprawling parking lot to store each and every one of the 2,700 runners’ cars.  New Bedford is a city, so the starting line was a couple blocks up and the parking was wherever you could find a spot.  Again, luckily I carpooled with a seasoned veteran of this race so the logistics were out of my hands. 

                It seemed that everyone from the city was out cheering on the runners.  They treat the runners like celebrities and I couldn’t help but get swept up in the excitement.  Most of the races I’ve run have very few spectators, so this was my first glance at what a big race feels like.  Now I see why people are so obsessed with Boston and NYC.  I wish I could say that my performance wowed the crowds, but today was just not the day.  The course itself was interesting and the scenery definitely helped pass the time.  Yesterday when I mentioned to someone I was running in New Bedford his reaction was, “Where will you be packing your gun?”  I had wondered the same exact thing.  Indeed, shortly after the start of the race we went through some questionable sections and passed pawn shops, thrift stores, and even a church set up in a strip mall (prayer needs no steeple apparently).  But there were also beautiful sections, and a very scenic stretch along the ocean with piers and lighthouses. 

                My body just wouldn’t cooperate with me today and it was pretty frustrating.  Knowing that I wasn’t in top condition, I expected to have to work a little hard and feel a little soreness.  But today, I had nothing in the tank.  Even starting the race I didn’t have energy.  I started off slow, at about a 9:20 pace, and expected to maintain that until after the first big hill (around mile 4) and then pick up speed to an 8:30-8:40.  Unfortunately I just didn’t have it in me to pick up the pace, and the best I could do was about a 9:00.  I started feeling nauseous around the 9 mile mark, which came in waves, and got pretty unbearable at the 12 mile mark (which coincided with a tooth-kicker of a hill).  I had to talk myself up that hill literally one step at a time, while trying to control whatever was going on in my stomach.

                I finished the race in 2:02, which is my slowest half marathon.  Although I wasn’t thrilled with my time, I wasn’t really disappointed either because the two hills on the course were bigger than anything I had in my previous half’s.  My only real frustration stemmed from my nausea, which got progressively worse after the race.  I had been really looking forward to sampling the fish chowder available to the runners after the race, but instead I was trying to hold in the water I had just gulped down. 

                We left immediately after the race, where I turned green and had cold sweats all the way back home.  (Actually, I wasn’t sweating because I had nothing left to sweat, but if I could sweat, I would have been clammy).  My poor pal Hiroshi thought for sure I was going to make a mess all over his car.  I’m pretty sure I won’t be invited to carpool again anytime soon!  I got sick the minute I walked in my door, and then after that I felt pretty good.  I had a small dinner, but there was no post-race victory, no celebratory wining and dining this time around.   I’m sure I will spend the next two months analyzing what caused my stomach to get into such a tizzy.  I ate my normal pre-half marathon breakfast (3/4 cup fat free cottage cheese and 4 oz black coffee) three hours before the race, and a snack (20 almonds, 2 Tums, and 8 oz water) two hours before the race.  My mother thinks I ate too many almonds.  I think that’s possible, and maybe I didn’t drink enough water.  Maybe today just wasn’t my day.  On a positive note, the rest of my body held up wonderfully.  No foot soreness, no muscle soreness, and as a bonus I got my first sunburn of the year!  (Yes, you can get a sunburn when it’s 35 degrees!) 

                I’ll be taking a couple days off from running and replacing it with yoga and kettlebells.  Then I’ll be back on the pavement, vowing to train harder and seeking out all sorts of advice on pre-race food for the weak of stomach.  Maybe I’ll sample the advice each day before my lunchtime run with my buddies.  I’m sure they would love to be witnesses to this experiment! 

The signs of Spring!

Spring is in the air here in New England!  After endless complaints of the cold and snow, today was a picture perfect – and might I add – well deserved Spring day.  (Must be the luck o’ the Irish!)  I have been hiding from my Asics and avoiding looking other runners in the eyes over the last week, and have not run even once since – gasp – a week ago.  I realize I’m taking a huge gamble on this, with a half marathon coming up on Sunday, but with my foot and my stomach getting progressively crankier over the last week I felt I needed to scale back a bit.  Well… scale back I did!  At this time last month, while complaining about the weather, I had accumulated about 60 miles.  Today, I’m up to 30.  I knew it was critical that I got in a decent run today if I had any chance of completing the half on Sunday, and at some point I had to dust off my foot and see how it held up.  With temperatures in the 50’s, today was the perfect day to give it a shot.

                Todd, Kerri and I were supposed to run together at lunch but at the last minute Todd bailed (for some “work related” conference call – this is the first evidence of Todd actually “working” since I met him in December).  Luckily Old Reliable was still up for a run, so Kerri and I headed out on our favorite Ice Cream stand route.   Technically Spring doesn’t begin until Sunday, but today for us was the official start to Spring.  Here’s why:

·         Today marked the first day we traded in our full length running tights for running Capri’s.  A small change to some, but to me having my ankles exposed felt like I was running around half naked.  (Not to mention my pasty ankles would no doubt blind some drivers).

·         The roads were so crowded with runners and walkers it was akin to running an organized race.  Part of me expected to see an aid station on the way back.

·         The driving range was open!  The driving range is adjacent to the ice cream stand, and from a good distance we could hear the unmistakable strike of the golf ball and the subsequent crackle as the ball ricocheted between trees after taking a sharp slice off the tee. 

·         It’s still unclear if the actual ice cream stand was open but we once again confirmed our future Summer plans to someday stop in for a cone during our run.  

As we headed back to the building, we were honked and waved at by a guy on a motorcycle, who I’m pretty sure was mesmerized by our exposed ankles.  Seems even the motorcyclists have a touch of the Spring Fever. 

                For all the preparation that had gone into training for Hyannis, I have done surprisingly little for New Bedford.  There have been no dress rehearsals, and no time spent fretting over directions, pre-race foods, or energy gels.  At this point there’s nothing I can do to improve my fitness so hopefully the base I had developed for Hyannis will be enough to get me through this race.  And if that’s not enough, maybe the Luck O’ the Irish will carry me through!  J

(In the interest of full disclosure… I’m only a wee bit o’ Irish.  But it’s Saint Patrick’s Day, so why not jump on the bandwagon.  Plus, it’s way cooler than say… Bastille Day.)

Hyannis summary: Cold and squishy

A couple months back I had suggested to Ronnie that we get a hotel room in Hyannis for the half marathon.  I thought this would be a great way to be able to enjoy the pre-race expo and pasta party, and not have to worry about the long drive to the Cape on the morning of the race.  Ronnie vetoed the idea though, because he likes his own bed and his “morning routines”. 

                Yesterday morning I woke up very early to pack up the car and head out, and was greeted by several inches of snow on the ground.  So, at 6 in the morning when I should have been finalizing the travel bag, I was out shoveling snow and cleaning off the car.  I considered it my pre-race warm up.  It snowed lightly all the way to Ronnie’s house and the roads were slick.  Remind me why I’m doing this.  The normally long drive to the Cape was even longer because of some poor road conditions, and my plan to get there early got tossed out the window.  The Hyannis marathon is a great race, but the crowds are very thick and if you don’t get there early you’ll be facing a long walk to the start.  I started panicking a little when we got stuck in traffic miles away from the race.  Finally, we were directed into a parking lot about a half mile from the start.  Because of this, we were faced with a dilemma.  We still had to make some final wardrobe changes, pick up our bibs and our t-shirt, and use the toilets.  We had planned on being able to go back to the car before the start of the race, but now we were going to be very short on time.  We also had to find Chris, who was somewhere in the thick crowds and running the 10k for the first time.  Ultimately we decided we had almost an hour, and that should be enough time to get up to the conference center, get our stuff, go back to the car, and then back to the starting line.  Bonus: a nice mile and a half warm up!

                It was raining/snowing in Hyannis and the roads were very wet.  I’m thankful I wore my waterproof boots to run these pre-race errands, otherwise I would have been soaked before the race even started.  Inside the conference center the crowds were extremely thick and Ronnie and I lost each other a couple times trying to make our way through the lines.  Hint: Next year, enter the building through the side door near the finish line.  It’s a straight shot into the building with no crowds to wade through!  We grabbed our bibs, waited in the t-shirt line, then hurried out the side door towards the toilets.  Once we met up with Chris, we had to hurry back to the car to drop stuff off and change into race gear.  As we were leaving the car, we noticed the crowds were gone.  No more runners were in sight.  We walked quickly and then Chris finally checked his phone and realized it was 9:56.  Not this again.  Yes, for the second week in a row, I had to sprint to the starting line of the race.  We were too late to get into line, so we waited on the side of the road until the gun went off, and then jumped into line.  It ended up working out just fine, but it’s just a whole lot of stress for someone as structured and pre-meditated as me.  About 100 yards into the race I realized in my haste I hadn’t lathered up in Vaseline like I had planned.  I knew I’d pay the price later.

                The race was not just a mere 13.1 mile run.  It was an obstacle course of avoiding puddles, pot holes, slush, and people.  Oh and to make it more interesting, I did this without my glasses.  They were constantly getting wet and fogging up, so after just a mile I had to slip them into my pocket.  Ronnie and I ran together for a while.  Occasionally we’d analyze other runners and compare them to different horse breeds.  We identified a Welsh pony, a few Anglo-Arabs, and a Missouri Fox Trotter.  Eventually it took too much energy to think of other breeds and we ran in silence.  I managed to keep my feet out of any puddles for the first half mile of the race, until I ran smack-dab through the middle of a deep one.  I cringed, knowing the next 12.6 miles would be very squishy.  I felt bad for one woman who fell right into a water-filled pothole in the middle of the road.  Still, despite all of these obstacles it was relatively good weather for a half marathon.  The temperature was in the 30’s, and the snow and rain kept us cool and entertained.  The scenery on the Cape was beautiful with snow covered cranberry bogs, a white ocean, and quaint Cape Cod cottages that looked like they were sprinkled in sugar.

                I lost track of Ronnie after about 5 miles, and ran the rest of the race solo.  I had decided not to use an iPod for this run, and I didn’t regret that decision for a minute.  I had thought maybe I’d need some musical motivation in the final few miles, but the thick crowds, music, and volunteers offered all the motivation I needed.  Physically I felt good, and I ran a pretty consistent 8:30-9:00 pace.    Apparently all that snowshoe cross training paid off!  Coincidentally, right at the 10 mile mark I got passed by a guy wearing a t-shirt that said something like, “A half marathon is just a 5k race with a 10 mile warm up”.  That was the final piece of inspiration I needed to finish strong.  I had started off slow and I think it really helped me have enough energy left towards the end.  I finished in 1:56:38, a full 4 minutes faster than my previous PR.  The course itself helped too.  It was mostly flat with only a few gradual hills, and mostly flat or downhill in the last few miles.  Last year I had only done the 10k, so it was great to finally get to see the entire course. 

                At the end of the race Chris was waiting for me.  He had a successful 10k debut and is already on the hunt for another one.  My plan had been to stick around the finish line, try to find Ronnie, and watch some of the full marathon runners come in.  Unfortunately, the scenic snowfall that was so pretty during the whole race was turning into a steady rainfall and I was soaked and freezing.  I just couldn’t stand out there for one more minute, and decided to head back to the car to change.  As we made our way through the crowds I observed some people that were clearly struggling, some with nasty blisters and bleeding feet.  I was again grateful for all of the prep-work and dress rehearsals I conducted leading up to this race.  One scenario I hadn’t tested was running 12.6 miles with soaking wet, squishy feet.  But, I’d like to think my magical Asics shoes and super fancy running socks helped with that too.  Chris and I headed back to our cars and a police officer stopped traffic to let us cross the street despite the fact that Chris was wearing a Yankee’s windbreaker.  The cop said Chris was lucky the relay runners didn’t beat him with their baton.  I couldn’t agree more!  I was only at the car for a few minutes when Ronnie showed up, just as cold and wet as I was.  We swapped stories and then headed to his friend’s hotel room where we had nice hot showers before heading home.

                It was a great day and after all the hype leading up to it, I’m sad that Hyannis is over.  My only regret is that we didn’t get to enjoy the other aspects of the race:  The pre-race pasta party, the expo, the post-race party, the post-post-race party.  We did treat ourselves to a nice post-race victory dinner, and Ronnie was nice enough to drive back from the Cape so I could ice my foot.  It was a great race, a successful run, and proof that even in the worst winter weather conditions it’s still possible to train well enough to complete a half marathon.  As for next year… Hyannis is only 364 days away.  I’m booking my hotel now. J