I ran this race last year, and knew it was a scenic, flat course that fit very well with my training plan. This was to be my longest run before the OBX Half in three more weeks. I’ve been looking forward to it.
It was a beautiful day, if a bit chillier than last year. I wore two short-sleeve tops and long running pants. I threw on my favorite pink sweatshirt on too, hoping i wouldn’t need it once i got to the parking area. The parking was a couple of miles away, and we would need to catch a shuttle bus. I had a banana and a glass of water, but this time i didn’t drink any water on the way there. I remembered having to pee too much last year, and wanted to minimize that discomfort. My GPS watch is on the fritz, so i grabbed my regular watch. It has a timer, so i could roughly keep track of my time, even if i wouldn’t know my pace from moment to moment.
I arrived at the parking area at 8 am, and there was a line for the shuttles. It was definitely too cold to be standing out there waiting without my sweatshirt, although i saw some shivering souls without such protection. I resigned to wearing it around my waist when it got too warm. We waited 20 minutes for the shuttle.
Once arrived, i joined the throng getting the timing chips, then followed said throng to the line for the port-a-johns. Upon reflection, i should have done those in reverse order. The bathroom line was long, and there were repeated announcements that the people in line should move along to the start (which was a quarter of a mile away). Everyone ignored them. The men at least stepped aside to let the women go first, since our race started 10 minutes before theirs.
The race started only 5 minutes late. At the last minute, i saw a bunch of people leaving sweatshirts on the side of the road. I made a snap decision to do the same. And then we were off!
The race overall is basically flat. However, i maintain the first 3 miles were ever so slightly uphill. I finished the first mile in 9:30 and the second mile in 9:30. Note: this is way too fast for me, and it quickly caught up with me. My third mile was much slower. I don’t know how much slower, because the timer on my watch gave up after 20 minutes. Lame!
For the first mile i was cold, but by the end of the second i didn’t even remember what it was like to be cold. I was glad i had left my sweatshirt at the start.
I should have written this the day of the race, so i would remember more details. But without my GPS watch to help me remember which miles were slow and which were easy, all i can really recall are my impressions. The leaves had not changed much yet, but it was so nice to be running in the woods instead of on the street. There were lots of people on the trail that were not a part of the race, and they were often encouraging.
As we got into the middle miles, i started recognizing people around me. I remember feeling camaraderie with them as we all ran through the woods with the common goal of running for the sake of running. Mile 6, right after the turnaround, was pretty slow for me, i think. But mile 7 i found some energy somewhere, and passed a few people who had passed me in the previous mile. I ran mile 8 with a mom of two who just started running a few month ago, this being her longest race yet. She was hoping to finish in 2 hours, and was thrilled when i told her she was on pace to finish 15 minutes faster than that.
Miles 9 and 10 were really hard for me. This was a combination of things, i’m sure. Not the least of which is that the longest i had run before this day was 8 miles the week before. Psychologically i blamed my too-fast first two miles. I also blamed my shoes. I’ve been meaning to get new running shoes for the last 3 months, but now i think i have to.
Still, i ran. I had taken 20-30 second walk breaks at each water stop, and i walked for another 45 seconds at mile 9. But i ran the rest of it, despite being mad at my feet and at my first two miles. I even tried to sprint at the finish, though it was a rather pathetic sprint. 1:51:21. A good five minutes slower than last year’s time, but then again last year i felt like i had a really great race. This one was an “OK” race for me.
The worst part was walking from the finish back to the start (.2 miles) and then back to the race headquarters (.25) to catch the shuttle back to my car. My feet hurt so much. Half a mile to walk isn’t really far, but it seemed longer. But i had to get my favorite sweatshirt!
The fun part was the dried salt on my face. You sweat, but since it was so cool outside, it dried pretty quick during the long sweatshirt walk. That left gritty salt residue on my face. I just think that is so cool, like from a biological standpoint, or something.
There were Chic-Fil-A sandwiches waiting at the race celebration, which were tasty. Despite being mad at my feet this time, i really like this race and i think it is well-run. Next year i’ll have new shoes!
Tags: running
Today, October 20, is the first annual 