Cape Elizabeth Mid-WInter 10 Mile Classic 2019

I ran a race! It’s a rare event these days, it deserves an exclamation point. I did the Mid Winter Classic, which is a challenging 10 mile course in Cape Elizabeth. It had been SOOOOO cold in the week leading up the race, but luckily the forecast was for warmer weather on race day. I tried something new on race morning- not drinking coffee and instead taking a caffeine pill before the race start. I was hoping this would help with not needing to the use the bathroom so much before and during the race. It did help, but I sure missed my hot cup of coffee when I first woke up!

 

Before the race I had a chance to meet a bunch of the Spandits ambassadors, which was so fun! We interact quite a bit on-line, but I’d never met any of them in person!

 

It was only 19 when I got to the race, so I decided to wear my thin jacket over an insulated shirt and tank, with thermal spandits on the bottom. By the time I walked out to the start 45 mins later, it felt like it had warmed up 30 degrees! This was fortunate because the race didn’t start on time. At 9:44 the race starter said “ready, set…. Hold on a minute.” He then said it would be 30 seconds. Several minutes later they said 2 more minutes. It turns out the generator wasn’t running so the timing system wasn’t on and ready to go. Around 9:50 we finally went.

 

Due to weather, and life in general, my longest training run was 9.25 miles. I knew I could finish, I just didn’t know how fast. My shorter training runs have been on the speedy side (for me), so I had hope that I could run a decent race. My A goal was sub 9 minute miles, and my B goal was sub 10 minute pace. The course starts off with about a mile of downhill and then some long, steep uphills. So I went out at a comfortably hard pace and tried to hold on. I set my watch for 6 minutes run, 30 seconds walk, but I used that very loosely, mostly only walking briefly on the steepest parts of the hills.

 

I was too warm almost immediately. My bib was pinned on my jacket, so I couldn’t get that off. I did ditch my mitten though and felt a lot better after that. I got into a good groove, listening to the Ali on the Run podcast and just continuing to push. I took a gel at mile 5 and sips of water at 3,6, and 9 miles. My only complaint about race organization was that the water stops were all on downhills. One, I don’t want to walk the downhill, and secondly all the spilled water around the water tables made it very slippery for a downhill.

 

This is very much an experienced runners’ race. It is a hard course and it is in the dead of winter, so it is usually cold. This means that the competition is stiff, so once I settled in, I didn’t really pass anyone. It was a little discouraging, but also worked to my advantage as I started to tire near the end because it motivated me to hang on to all the runner’s I’d been with the whole race. My cardiovascular endurance felt pretty strong the whole race (until I sprinted the finish), but my legs got really tired around mile 8. My right hamstring and quad in particular just locked up. Thankfully I was right with on the other Spandits Ambassadors, Gretchen, as we made the turn into the high school for the finish. I hate the finish of this race because you think you are at the end when you make the turn, but you still have quite a way to go as they make you loop all the way around the back of the school. I passed Gretchen heading down the hill, but then she passed me again on the last flat before the finish. My legs just had nothing left!!

 

I accomplished my A goal, finishing in 1:27:55, an 8:48 pace. I was 27^th in my age group, 178^th for all women, and 386^th overall. Given how competitive this field is, I feel great about this.

 

I didn’t stick around long after the race because I wanted to get home to relieve my friend Gillian, who watched Cooper for me. I swigged a chocolate milk and grabbed a couple pieces of Otto’s pizza (my favorite) to eat in the car. There was a super cool recovery station with all kinds of self massage tools that I wished I had time to try out.

 

Overall, it was a good day. The weather was amazing and given my training I did better than expected. But I was DONE afterward. Luckily I put Cooper down for a nap when I got home and then had 2 hours to shower, stretch, and rest before he was up again. I was so SORE for 2 days after the race. I guess that’s a sign that I ran all out?

Beach to Beacon 2017

I ran another race! Two blogs posts and two races in 8 days? It’s almost like I’m back to being a runner blogger!

Elite Women! I heart Shalene

So my second race post baby couldn’t have been more different than my first. Peak’s Island is a low key, small race while Beach to Beacon is a major event. For those of you not familiar with the race, The Beacon to Beacon 10k was founded by Joan Benoit Samuelson (the1984 Olympic marathon gold medalist) who wanted to bring world class running to her home state. This year’s race had more than 7,000 runners and featured elite runners Mary Keitany (who set a new women’s record at the London Marathon), Shalene Flanagan, Abdi Abdirahman, Stephen Kosgei Kibet. It is pretty amazing to have these world class runners just minutes from my house!

nice guys at the bike valet

The race totally takes over the small town of Cape Elizabeth for the weekend. I was hoping to beat the crowds by heading to the expo as soon as it opened at 4 pm on Thursday, but apparently a lot of people had the same idea! Luckily, it is incredibly well organized so I still had my bib and shirt within just a few minutes. I had planned to stay and browse the expo a bit, but it was really hot and I had a sweaty baby strapped to my chest. So I just said a quick hello to the ladies at the Spandits booth and then headed home.

bathroom line selfie

Race morning is a little more complicated with a baby, especially since I’m still breastfeeding. I have to either feed him or pump as close to the start of the race as possible, which in this race was a good 2 hours before the race started. With a point to point race in a small town, traffic on race morning is also an issue. Luckily, the Bicycle Coalition of Maine started offering a bike valet service a few years ago. This is absolutely the way to go! I had a nice 3.5 mile bike ride warm-up to Fort Williams Park, checked my bike in, and then hopped on a shuttle bus to the start. It was so easy and stress free! 

My one complaint about this race is that there are never enough porta-potties! Knowing this, I skipped my pre-race coffee in favor of a straight up caffeine pill (#hardcore). So I only had to wait in the long bathroom lines once. Then I found my husband who was working, providing security at the start, and then headed to the corals.

I was not exactly raring to go. I’d barely slept the night before and had also made the mistake of doing a million deadlifts on Thursday so my legs were super sore. So I decided to just go out at a pace that felt comfortable and see what happened.  Once I got running, the energy of the crowds and the other runners definitely helped motivate me, but I never felt the surge of energy and motivation I felt during the Peak’s Island race. It was also incredibly humid, I felt like I was running through a cloud. The first couple miles are mostly flat, with couple gradual downhills, then the next 2 miles are a gradual uphill followed a big downhill and then steep rolling hills in the final 2 miles.

The Beach to Bacon sign on one of the final hills always makes me laugh. Probably the only time in my life I say no to free bacon.

I just kept running at a comfortably hard effort, only checking my pace at the mile markers, and not stressing about my pace. As I clicked off the first couple miles I realized I was on pace to finish in under 54 minutes so I made that my goal. I actually ended up way under that: 51:40- a 8:19 pace. I’ll take it!

The beacon behind the finish line

creeping on the elites at the finish- that's Deena Kastor in black!

I got my medal, took a finish picture, and then booked it to the Dunkin Donuts tent! After skipping my morning coffee, I had a major craving! Iced coffee in hand, I headed through the food tent and then ate my blueberry bagel, blueberries, and watermelon. There are a lot of fun things to do after the race, but I skipped them this year because it had been 4 hours since I pumped and I was getting uncomfortable. Plus I missed my baby!

Thanks to the bike valet I was home in less than 15 minutes- unlike all the other people stuck in traffic in their cars! After a second strong race performance I think it is safe to say I'm officially back in shape after having a baby. Now what?