Unfortunately, we were in New Zealand on the day of race registration. The race sells out in minutes, so I figured I was out of luck. But then just last week, my husband was able to get me a bib through his job. Yeah!!
Although this is only a 10k, it feels like a major marathon. The expo is good, there is a separate night of kids' races, the t-shirts are really nice, and the post race festivities are awesome.
However since the population of the town basically doubles on race weekend, the traffic can be atrocious. Luckily, I got to avoid all that thanks to a bike valet put on by the Bicycle Coalition of Maine. I had a nice little 4 mile ride to warm up my legs and then handed my bike off for safe keeping!
I hopped on a shuttle to the start and ended up having about 45 minutes before the race started. I said hello to my husband, who was stationed at the start for security, hit up the bathrooms, and then stretched out a bit.
Since I just found out last week I was running, I didn't have time to do any specific training for the race. Last week at the Peaks Island race my strategy was just to go out hard and try to hold on. I knew however, that wouldn't work in this race. First it was a good 25 degrees warmer and there are some really punishing hills in the last 2 miles. I needed to be more conservative. Plus I made some poor life choices yesterday by eating a bunch of greasy Chinese food, followed by a Dairy Queen Blizzard, followed by a few beers. So my stomach wasn't in the best shape. I told everyone I just wanted to run under an hour, but really I was hoping to run about 9 minute miles.
I made my way up to the 9:00 pace and planned to start there. However, 5 minutes before the start I really needed to go to the bathroom one more time. So I wormed my way back to an opening and made a pit stop in the woods. There was no way that I was going to be able to make it back through the crowds in the corral, so I start quite a way back close to the 10:00 pace mark.
The first couple miles were a little frustrating because I was doing a lot of weaving around people. It was also the hottest part of the course because we were in the direct sun with no breeze. Given this, I was really happy to click off my first couple miles at an 8:40 pace.
I kept pushing at that moderately hard effort and the miles kept going by. I was working, but I also felt strong and good. I decided to just switch my Garmin screen to the clock, because I didn't want to worry about my pace. I just wanted to run as fast as I could.
A little more than half-way the course turns right onto Shore Rd. There is a nice long downhill and we were in the shade. I was passing a lot of people. Around 4.5 we hit the hills, but I was still feeling good. I ran strong up the first couple and then a little less strong up the 3rd, but knowing that I had less than a mile to go made me feel better. I was very tempted by the bacon at the "Beach to Bacon" water stop, but I refrained! As we turned into Fort Williams Park, I saw my husband and that gave me a little extra lift to get up the last hill. Once I was up, I pushed it as hard as I could for the last bit around the back of the park and to the finish by the lighthouse.
My official chip time was 54:19, so I came well under my secret goal of a 9 min pace! I was 126th out of 559 in my age group and 2251 out of 7,000 overall. Not a bad race for someone who hates the heat!
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| the infamous beacon. Otherwise known as Portland Head Light |
My only poor decision was waiting in line for more than hour for a 5 minute massage. Oh well! However, I more than made up for that time waiting in line on my way home. I retrieved my bike from the valet, looking at huge lines of peoples waiting for shuttles back to the parking lots. Then I flew right by the bumper to bumper traffic waiting to get out of the fort, and the whole way down Shore Road. Love it!
Overall, I was really impressed with this race. It's really neat to have such a big, well organized, event right in my back yard!
Then I spent the rest of the day at the beach. So for me, it was Beach to Beacon to Beach!
Did you race this weekend? Is there a famous race near you that you've never done?
Fantastic job! Isn't it great to not pay attention to your watch pace and just GO?! :)
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool you could use the bike valet!!! How did you find out about it?
I just realized a local blogger I know was at this, too!