Me and The Boys

My 20th Half Marathon, A Triple Crown Age-Group Win, and A Lesson In Gratitude

The Newport Half is one of my favorite races of the year, solely for the reason that I absolutely love the course. I have to note that I think it's soon to be edged out by the Gansett Half, which will have just as beautiful a course, and which I know firsthand is going to be superbly organized and well-supported (two areas where I think the Newport half has a lot of room for improvement). 

But I do still love Newport - it's a gorgeous city, and a great place to run, which is why the race has grown so much in recent years, and why I keep going back every year (despite some organizational snafus like shuttle issues and late race starts).

It's also part of the reason I signed up for the Triple Crown again. I've got a streak going in the Providence race, and I like to run the Newport race, so I figure why not throw Jamestown in there and make it official? 

With the injury forcing me to take two weeks off, and run a very scaled back week last week, I didn't really know what to expect in Newport, but thought that I could safely plan to finish just under 1:40.   I was nervous about how difficult that pace would feel, but felt I had a good shot at pulling it off. 

After the Jamestown debacle in July, I was determined to get to this race start earlier than necessary, and I executed that part of the plan flawlessly. Driving over the Newport Bridge at sunrise has a way of filling you with optimism about the day ahead - another thing I love about races in Newport. 

I parked in the designated half marathon lot, but opted to walk over instead of deal with the shuttles. It's not a long walk - maybe just over a mile - and it was such a gorgeous morning, and I had plenty of time. I had brought a jacket and long pants, but all I really needed was a long-sleeve shirt (and gloves) over my tank and arm warmers, and I was fine. 

I didn't have a lot of time to mill about, but just enough to check my bag and hit the porta-potties. The marathon started nearly 20 minutes late, and I wondered if we'd go off on time, but made my way to the start assuming - and hoping - that we would. And luckily, we did. 

Unfortunately, despite many, many reminders from the announcer to seed yourself properly (i.e., slower runners in the back), I immediately found myself surrounded by people running just under a 9-minute pace, even though I had lined up pretty close to the front. Frustrating.

It is so difficult to try to bob and weave around people in that first mile, and I was beginning to have flashbacks to Jamestown, and didn't want to start the race in that completely stressed frame of mind, so I just let it go and passed when I was able, but didn't work hard at it.

Thanks to that, and a very large hill, I ran mile 1 at the painfully slow pace of 8:55. I didn't freak out, though - I knew it would probably be better that I started so slow, especially since I still needed to be conscious of what was going on with my hip. 

And what was going on with my hip was......   absolutely NOTHING! It felt completely and totally fine. Such a relief. 

The course flattens out and has a nice downhill stretch for mile 2, and mile 3 is mostly flat, and I got ahead of myself a little bit and ran those two miles in 7:20 and 7:18. Oops. I saw those paces, and all I could think was "oh boy, I'm going to pay for that later." 

So I really did try to slow down, and got mile 4 down to 7:32, which seemed more reasonable. But then mile 5 came in at 7:15. Crap. 

This is when I realized that I was spending too much time and energy focusing on the numbers, and I wasn't enjoying myself at all. I wanted to run well, but I also wanted to enjoy this run, mostly because a week ago, I wasn't sure if I'd even be out there. 

So after we came out of Fort Adams and headed down towards Ocean Drive, I made the decision to flip my watch over on my wrist and ignore it. As soon as I did that, I felt better. I told myself that I've run some of my best races without paying attention to my pace, and that I needed to trust that my body would run to the best of its ability, and that was all I could ask of it today. 

That strategy worked, for a few miles. Miles 6 and 7 were great. We ran along Ocean Drive, and it wasn't a wall of wind, as it has been so often in years past - it was just a beautiful, sparkling, blue-sky autumn day - absolutely ideal conditions. I had shed my arm warmers and gloves back at mile 2, and the weather could not have been better, and I felt great. (I didn't know it, of course, but I slowed to a 7:42 and 7:39 for those two miles) 

Then came miles 8 through 10, which is where I struggled. A lot. Not the whole time, but my emotions were very up and down. I'd have moments where I felt like I could run forever, and moments where I wanted nothing more than to stop. But I kept pushing on, just waiting to hit that 10-mile mark. It showed in my paces, too - 7:43, 7:40, and 7:52. 

I didn't know at the time what my splits were, though - all I knew is that I was running as hard as I could. I was not giving up or backing off. I was giving it my all, and hoping that my all would be enough. 

The last 3 miles of a half marathon are always tough, but you get through them knowing that it's only a 5K to go. And that's all that kept me going. I followed the familiar twists and turns of the course, and kept telling myself to just keep moving forward. 

As badly as I wanted to stop and walk at the water stations, I didn't. I knew if I stopped to walk, getting started again would be too hard. (Mile 11 and 12 splits were 7:49 and 7:46.)  It was a real battle at this point. My legs were like lead, and it was taking everything I had to keep running. 

I did think several times about wanting to hold onto my Triple Crown age-group win - it's really not a big deal, but it was a motivator for me going into this race. I had gotten myself to first place, and I wanted to stay there! 

So I dug deep as we made the final turns and headed back toward the finish, and the glorious downhill (the same large hill in the first mile of the course).

The only problem is that after you have that great downhill, you still have quite a ways to go before you get to the finish. You run down the street and into the parking lot, and then down the parking lot, and down some more, and down some more, and it seems like it will never end. 

But of course it does, and as I came up to the clock, I was more than a little disappointed to see 1:41 on it. I still sprinted in, though, and I'm proud that I was able to get my last mile split down to 7:33, and the final .1 to a 7:30 pace. Not my usual finishing kick, but better than nothing. 

I was pretty dejected, though, and spent most of the remainder of the day feeling that way. I was questioning everything - Philly, my overall running fitness, the wisdom of trying to run a fast marathon when I couldn't even run a fast half, and honestly wondering if I've hit the point where PRs are behind me, and my race times are going to start going in the other direction.

My half marathon PR is 1:37:28, and it's stood there for 2 years now, and I'm frustrated that I can't seem to get back there - or even get close! 

I was feeling a bit dramatic, and a bit sorry for myself. And I knew I shouldn't be - taking my injury and all the missed training runs into account, I had still run a really great race. But it wasn't what I thought I'd be able to do, and I was disappointed. 

Luckily, just a couple days later, I've gained a little perspective, and although I am still slightly upset that I didn't come closer to my goal, I have realized that I need to be incredibly happy that I raced 13.1 miles without pain, just three weeks after I was literally limping around my house and wondering if I'd be sitting on the sidelines for months. 

Honestly - 3 weeks ago, I could barely walk normally, and here I am, a few days after running 13.1 miles at an all-out effort, and I feel great. 

And that's the other thing - I found myself questioning if whether ignoring my watch after mile 6 was a good thing or not, seeing as how my pace slowed dramatically as soon as I did that. But I replay it over and over in my head, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was not holding back. Watch or no watch, I was racing, and I was giving it everything I had.

So if I had been looking at my watch that whole time and seen those slower paces, I think it would have done nothing but discourage me even further, and mess with my head in ways I didn't need. 

So what I now take away from this race is not that I didn't hit my goal, but that I ran healthy and strong, and that is the absolute most important thing at this point.

And what I also take away is that I am more determined than ever to do what it takes to get back to training and get back to running the times that I know I'm capable of running. 

In the span of a few hours on Sunday, thanks to some not-so-welcome red numbers on a clock, I managed to forget about the 8 weeks of spectacularly successful marathon training I have under my belt right now, and how everything I'd done up to that time pointed to me being able to run a 3:25 marathon next month. Granted, this little injury has thrown a wrench into the works in respect to the 3:25, and if I do feel able to run the full 26.2, I'm doubtful that it'll be in less than 3:30. 

But I'm not going to throw my hands up in the air and decide that my days of fast running are completely behind me. No way. Not yet. 

So now the focus returns to continuing to heal, continuing to go to PT and acupuncture (I had one appt. this past Sat, and will try to go back again this weekend), and getting back to some semblance of training - whatever my body is up to. 

Philly is still a big question mark, and one that may not be answered until just before race day, but I'm not counting it out yet.

The stats for Newport, and the stats for the Triple Crown Series, where I placed 2nd overall female, and 1st in my age group! 

1:41:26, 7:37 pace

11 of 434 age group

58 of 1,745 females

224 of 2,818 overall

Jamestown Half - Also Known As That Time I Got to the Race Start 20 Minutes Late

I'm not blogging about this as a way of bashing the Jamestown race. I truly do like so many things about it.

It's a great location - Jamestown is absolutely beautiful. It's an incredibly challenging course, but part of me likes that. I wouldn't want to run easy, flat courses all the time. The on-course support is great - water stops every 2 miles. The medal this year was beautiful, and the post-race watermelon was the perfect choice. And I know lots of people aren't fans of the 6:30am start, but for an early riser like me (and on a hot summer day), I think it's a great starting time. 

All that being said, they still have some kinks to work out. The first year, there was an alarming absence of porta-potties at the race start (they were finally delivered 5 minutes before the gun was scheduled to go off). Last year (I didn't run it, but friends did) the start was nearly half an hour late. This, I think, led them to decide that this year the race was starting on time no matter what.

Unfortunately, that meant that those of us who showed up to the shuttle buses in Newport just after 5:30am (leaving nearly an hour to get over to the starting area, which we assumed would be plenty of time) and discovered mile-long lines waiting for said shuttles, and ended up not getting to the starting line until 6:5o were greeted with announcements that "the race was underway, and the starting mat would soon be broken down and taken away, so we better cross it asap." 

This is not the way you want to start a race, for so, so many reasons. I was really looking forward to this one. I've been doing regular speedwork and temp runs for about 6 weeks now, and have been running faster paces than ever before, and feeling great. We did a practice run on the course just a few weeks ago, so I knew it well and was prepared for what I'd be facing. 

I was ready, I was excited, and I couldn't wait to be on that starting line with the crowd, feeling that energy and getting ready to go out and attack the course. Instead, we showed up, found out we'd be lucky if we even had the chance to cross the mat and get an official time - forget about any kind of warmup - and had to simply dash over the mat without so much as a single bit of fanfare. 

It was anticlimactic, to say the least. And yes, I'm glad I got there in time and didn't miss the mat entirely, and not having the whole 'race start' fanfare probably didn't make that big a difference in how I ran, but it did affect me a bit, because I count on that rush of adrenaline, and it just wasn't there. 

What was there was a sense of panic, when we heard that they were moments away from taking the starting mat away entirely, and I thought once I settled into my pace a few miles in, that feeling would go away.

But I soon realized that was not going to be the case. The first couple miles wind through the center of Jamestown, and at just about a mile into the race, I was met with a literal wall of walkers. And since we were in residential areas, the streets were fairly narrow, and there wasn't much open space to be found on either side of the street, so right away I was bobbing and weaving my way through the pack. 

It was frustrating, and it was making me feel very frantic. And even though I knew the race was chip timed, and my official time would reflect when I had actually crossed the mat, there was still that sense that we had started so late, so I felt the need to kick it into high gear almost immediately. 

Which resulted in a 7:21 first mile. Way too fast, and I knew it, so I did try to back off, and got mile 2 down to 7:40, which was more where I wanted to be. 

It was all just feeling so awful, though. Physically I didn't feel bad, since it was still so early in the race, but mentally, I was all over the place. And 2 miles in, and the crowd still hadn't thinned out. I skipped the mile 2 water stop entirely, as it was just too mobbed. 

I have to pause here and note that I am all for people walking a race - I admire anyone who gets out there and gets it done, and my frustration was not with the walkers, per se - it was with the fact that I had started behind them and now had to work so hard to get through. Not their fault at all - just a very tough way to race, especially when you had a very specific goal in mind. 

I continued to try to somehow find my race pace, even though I was all over the road, working incredibly hard just to get clear space in which to run. Making things even more challenging, of course, was the insane course elevation - hill after hill after hill after hill. And not small hills - crazy long hills that seem to never end. 

 

 

Even with all the crazy back and forth and weaving among walkers, I got down to 7:29 and 7:23 for miles 3 and 4, and at that point the crowd became slightly less thick, and I even pulled off a 7:15 for mile 5.

That one was probably a little too fast, but because my head was so messed up by the crazy circumstances, it was extremely difficult to maintain any sort of consistency with pacing. I kept trying, though, and did succeed in evening things out a bit with a 7:39 for mile 6. 

Mile 7 included one of the biggest hills on the course. You climb and climb and climb, and you think you're at the top, but then you go up a little bit more. That one slowed me down, and between that and the water stop just after the mile 6 mark I slowed down to 7:56 for mile 7. I was walking a bit at the water stops, because they were so crowded it was nearly impossible to try to run through.

Most of the hills - the mile 7 one included - are not steep climbing, but endless climbing. I'm proud of the fact that I did not stop and walk up a single hill, though. I refused to give in, and continued to pass people both up the hills and down the hills and on the flats. I honestly don't know if I had a single person pass me the whole race. There must have been at least a few who did, but it felt like the entire race I was passing rather than being passed, and I knew that's what I had to keep doing, so I stuck with it. 

One of the other problems with starting so far back in the race, though, is that you're nowhere near evenly matched with the people who are running around you, so there's absolutely nobody you can pace off of, and nobody you can chase. I will often stick with a runner who seems to be running the same general pace as me - or try to catch up to someone who's running stronger than I am. It's motivating, and it's very helpful, to be in similar company. 

But with the absence of that, it was just me pushing myself. And believe me, I push myself pretty hard, so that was enough, but it was tough not having that little bit of extra motivation. I count on that in a race, and it definitely wasn't part of this race experience for me.

So I drew on the track workouts, and the tempo runs, and all the times during these past 6 weeks that I was doing a tough workout and wanted to quit, but didn't. I knew I had the mental toughness to deal with the conditions I was facing, and I just had to keep reminding myself of that. 

Miles 8 - 10 were actually the best I felt all day. I was still doing a bit of dodging slower runners, but was mostly able to stick to the outside edge of the pack, near the traffic cones, and felt almost settled into a decent pace. I ran 7:29 and 7:41 for miles 8 and 9, but the mile 10 water stop cost me a bit of time, and brought that mile down to 7:50. 

This was actually also the point at which my rib started hurting. Earlier in the week, I had leaned very awkwardly over the front seat of the car to try to get something out of the back seat, and had bashed my rib into the corner of the seat. As soon as I did it, I knew it was bad. I had run once since then, and it didn't bother me on a short run, so I had hoped it wouldn't bother me on a long run.It was kind of painful to take a really deep breath, but again, I just hoped it would hold up ok, and until mile 8, it did. 

But that's when I started to feel it. It was sore, and I was getting a side stitch - probably because my breathing was a little messed up. But it wasn't so bad that I felt the need to stop, and I focused on trying to breathe as deep as I could, and it stayed at a manageable level, so I pushed forward. It was actually worst after the race, when I tried to drive home (in Scott's car, which is a manual transmission) and was unable to shift into reverse with my right arm, and had to reach over and do it with my left, which had me thinking I might be paying the doctor a visit. Thankfully a day later it was feeling much better, and a few days later it feels almost normal, so it must have just been a very bad bruise. 

And thankfully, despite the pain that was setting in, and the huge hill that I knew awaited me in the mile ahead, mile 10 is always a great spot. The exhaustion is kicking in - and on this day, the heat was really beginning to be a factor - but so is the knowledge that there's just a 5K to go. And despite the fact that mile 11 is the second-biggest hill on the course, I ran that mile in 7:15. I was tired, though. 

Mile 12 is mostly flat, and mile 13 is downhill (gotta love the downhill stretch to the finish), and those came in at 7:31 and 7:15, and I got the final .1 to the finish at a 7:12 pace. 

The clock time was irrelevant, but my Garmin showed a 1:39:20 finish, and I was anxious to see if the timing would match up with that. Thankfully it did, and my official time was 1:39:19. Not a PR, but I wasn't going for a PR - what I had set out to do was run a 7:30 pace, and I pulled it off, so I was  happy. 

And with everything I went through leading up to Boston, and the fact that I've only been doing regular speedwork for 6 weeks, I'm pretty thrilled that I ran this half a full 5 minutes faster than I ran the Providence one in May (and just two minutes off my PR time of 1:37) - and it was a course PR by two full minutes, too! 

I'm very glad about the progress I've made in such a short time, and feeling great about my chances for a PR at the Blessing in two weeks, and even better about what I'll be able to do in Philly in November. 

So although it wasn't quite the experience I wanted it to be, at the end of the day, it was a good race for me. And probably one that I can be even more proud of, because I faced down some pretty tough obstacles and still fought through and accomplished what I set out to do. 

And if I can run a 1:39 very hilly half-marathon on a hot day with a 20-minute delayed start, I know a half-marathon PR won't be far behind, when conditions are more favorable. 

I'm glad that whole experience is behind me, though, and already looking forward to my next starting line, for which I will be absolutely sure I am EARLY! 

The final numbers - 

1:39:19, 7:32 pace

4 of 208 in my age group

17 of 984 females

96 of 1632 overall 

Happy runner. 

Lucky Seven - Cox Providence Rhode Races Half

I learned a very valuable lesson when I ran this race last year - don't skimp on marathon recovery. If you don't recovery properly, you'll pay for it - and I did last year, for sure. I actually ran this half 4 minutes faster last year (but last year I was just coming off of a 3:30 marathon, so was in much better shape), but I felt pretty rotten the whole time.

This year, I ran what is actually a pretty good pace considering that I was coming off a 3:53 marathon that I wasn't properly trained for - but most importantly, I felt great, and I truly enjoyed the whole race. And that, in my mind, is well worth the additional 4 minutes it took me.

After taking a full 6 days off from running post-Boston, and just doing a couple of very easy elliptical workouts that first week, I had a great first run back, and an even better second run back, and that trend has just continued.

I still didn't have high expectations for this race, since it was just two weeks after what ended up being a tough 26.2 for me, but it was a beautiful morning and I was excited to run, because I had been feeling so good.

The full marathon started 10 minutes late, but thankfully the half went off on time, unlike last year, when it was nearly 20 minutes late.

I figured I'd start around an 8:30 pace, and after a quick first half mile (7:44 on the Garmin - oops!), I settled in nicely to a pace in the mid-8s. My first 4 miles were 8:13, 8:03, 8:16, 8:16, and I was feeling amazingly good.

This is not an easy course, but I've gotten to know it pretty well now, and I know where the hills are and how bad they are. The ones in the early part of the course are long, gradual inclines, which are the kind of hills I tend to do really well on. Last year they really did a number on me, but this year, I barely noticed them, and passed a lot of people as we climbed.

After mile 4, I'm not entirely sure what happened, but it felt like my legs found another gear and dialed in, and I was just along for the ride as my pace suddenly dipped down to 7:55, then 7:53, then 7:50.

I wondered how this was going to play out. I still felt great, but I knew the biggest hill on the course was looming, and there was still one more doozy after that (at mile 11). Did I really have it in me to run a sub-8 pace for the remaining miles? Surprisingly, I felt like I did.

And the hill at mile 7/8 that absolutely crushed me last year hardly phased me at all this year. I powered up, feeling strong, and looking forward to the downhill on the other side.

As I came to the top and started down, I decided to put in my headphones. For some reason I can't quite figure out, the song that was playing over the loudspeakers when we started the race was "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" from the Wizard of Oz. 

An odd choice, and although I love the movie, that is NOT the song you want playing on repeat in your head while you're running a half-marathon - but that's exactly where it was for the first 7 or 8 miles of my race, until I finally couldn't take it anymore and stuck my headphones in to drown it out with my own music.

The big hill slowed me a little, to an 8:00 mile, then once I hit that downhill, I knew I was just going to go for it and see what I could do. Mile 9 came in at 7:38, and mile 10 was a tad too fast at 7:19, but the final big hill at mile 11 kept me honest, taking me back down to 7:56.

But truthfully, I was still feeling great. Getting tired, but not feeling like I was overreaching. I really just felt like the whole thing was so fun - being out there with so many other runners, running a course I know so well, on a perfect spring day that was warm without being hot, under a blue sky filled with sunshine. It was just everything I wanted it to be, and I was loving it.

The last two miles were run directly into a pretty stiff headwind, but I didn't even care. I was determined to finish strong, so I kept pushing. It was only 2 more miles, and I knew I could hold on, so I did, running the final 2 in 7:34 and 7:37. And as I turned the corner for the final stretch, I had plenty left in the tank for a final little kick to the finish at 6:58 pace.

I was thrilled to cross in 1:44:01. Nowhere near a PR, and on any other day, I'd consider that a 'slow' half, but on that day, it was a time to be very proud of, and I couldn't stop smiling.

I circled back to watch my friend Lisa cross, and was happy to see that she had a great two-weeks-post-Boston finishing time, too.

After we grabbed a bite to eat, I checked my results on the race app and was shocked to see that I had placed third in my age group! Most other years, a 1:44 would not have placed me so high up, but it was a nice surprise. Prizes were only given out to 1st place age-group winners, so I didn't win anything, but it's still nice to know I was 3rd.

I don't know if I would have run this race if I didn't have a streak going, and if it wasn't part of the Triple Crown series that I signed up for again this year - but I'm glad that it is and glad that I did run, because it was such a great race experience for me this year, and left me feeling so happy and so confident and upbeat about what lies ahead.

In short, it was the exact opposite of my experience here last year. And when I think about that, I can't help but think some of that is due to my state of mind.

After Boston last year, I was kind of a mess. My head was not in a good place, and that feeling lasted a really long time. Even when the worst of it had faded into the background, it was still there below the surface, and of course as April 21 approached this year, it was front and center again. As I wrote about in my Boston recap, I knew the only way to finally let it go was to run again.

And ever since I did just that, I've felt lighter, like a tremendous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I didn't just leave it all on the course physically over the course of those 26.2 miles - I left a piece of my heart there, too.

My running identity has been so completely wrapped up with Boston for the past year, and if I'm honest, I have to admit that there's a small part of me that's relieved that I didn't qualify for 2015.

I may go back as a spectator next year, but I'm kind of glad that I won't be running. I need some space, and I need to take another step forward, and after this race, I feel like I'm well on my way.

As I ran down Blackstone Boulevard Sunday - one of the prettiest parts of the course - feeling healthy and strong and having so much fun, I realized that it was the most I've felt like 'me' in a long, long time. It was completely empowering.

And it wasn't just about the pace I was running - it was about the fact that I was out there doing what I love, and really truly loving every second of it.

It may sound dramatic, but I feel like I found myself as I ran those 13.1 miles - the part of myself that's been buried under a cloud of uncertainty and stress for the past few months. I've missed her, and I'm glad she's back.

So this absolutely proved to be lucky number seven for me, and I'm still on a post-race endorphin high (one that gave me the final push to sign up for the Philly Marathon in November - something I've been thinking about for a while now, and finally pulled the trigger on - more on that in another post!).

And the numbers aren't too shabby, either -

1:44:01

7:55 pace

3/232 in my age group

58/1,212 females

251/2,008 overall

A great race, a fabulous start to the Triple Crown, and the perfect way to kick off what I know is going to be a great, fun summer race season. Ready. To. Run!

Back-to-Back Race Weekends - and A Little Getaway, Too!

I had a feeling I was going to like the 10K distance, and I was right. I liked it, and I ran it well, and I will definitely be racing more 10Ks in the future!

This was the inaugural year for the Ocean Road 10K, and it was a point-to-point course heading up a road that I run on at least once a week (sometimes two or three times!), so I knew exactly what I was in for.

As I waited in the shuttle bus to head down to the starting line, I considered just getting out and running down there instead. I had gotten to the shuttles really early, so would have had plenty of time. 

But I wanted to really race this one, and running 6 miles to the start would be a little excessive for a warmup, so I stayed put and rode the bus.

I walked around a bit at the start - a really pretty, scenic spot - and hit the porta-potties a couple times, then headed out for my warmup. I had only planned on 2 miles, but I had so much time, I took it nice and easy and ran 3.

It was cloudy and gray race morning, so not quite this pretty, but still a very nice spot to begin a race!

I had seen the direction the flags were blowing as we drove past the beach on the way down, and I knew we were going to be running into a headwind the whole way. It wasn't a super-strong headwind, but it was enough that I felt it would be a bit of a factor mentally, if nothing else.

The race went off right at 8am, and I had lined up pretty close to the front, but I didn't want to start out too fast, so I kept a pretty close eye on my watch for that first mile, and I felt good that it ended up at 7:16. That's the pace that I've run for a lot of my tempo runs, so I was pretty confident that I could hold it for the whole distance. 

I had a bit of a side stitch during the first 2 miles, but it never got too bad, and it went away after mile 2, thankfully. Despite the side stitch and the wind, I ended up running mile 2 in 7:07. This mile was pretty much completely flat, so I think that accounts for the faster pace.

At the beginning of mile 3 we were still fighting the wind, and then we started up one of the hills on the course, so my pace went back down to 7:17 for that mile. The second hill on the course was during mile 4, which kept that one at 7:18.

The hills made this stretch of the course a little tough, but thankfully, shortly after mile 3 we were  largely sheltered from the wind, and I'm so used to running these two hills that I was still feeling pretty good. I was working hard, but I felt like I could work harder. So I did - got mile 5 down to 7:04.

And now we were heading back to the beach, and back into the wind. But we were also heading into the final mile, so I stopped looking at my watch and just ran.

Finished mile 6 in exactly 7 minutes.

I knew the finish line was in the beach parking lot, and I knew that final .2 was going to feel like forever, and it did. And it was even worse than I thought, because we had to turn a sharp corner to enter the parking lot, then had to run to one end of the lot and then circle back and run back to the other end. Tough to sprint a stretch like that, but I definitely gave it my all, and got down to a 6:26 for that final .2.

Crossed the finish line in 44:09, which I was thrilled with. I had hoped my pace would be around 7:15, so to end up with a 7:07 pace was fantastic!

And I ended up winning 3rd place in my age group, too - not bad for my first 10K! 

If I'm honest with myself, I think I could have pushed a little harder during the first half. But having never raced this distance before, I know it was better for me to start conservatively. Learning how to pace yourself at different distances takes some practice, and I look forward to practicing more at this distance!

Final results - 44:09, 7:07 pace, 3rd place age group, 8th female, 25 of 287 overall. 

And now it's on to the Newport half next weekend, which had been my big goal race for the season - until I decided to go all out and race yesterday.

I know full well that racing a 10K the weekend before a goal half-marathon is not advisable, and I know that as a result, my time in the half may be a little slower than I planned. But I'm ok with that. I had fun racing the 10K, and I'm glad I finally added that distance to my repertoire.

I do hope to run well in Newport, though - hopefully at least close to my PR of 1:37 - but whatever the day brings, I'll just do my best and be happy with that.

I'm getting a huge bonus this weekend, too - I won a contest on the United Healthcare Triple Crown Facebook page, and the prize was an overnight stay at the Hotel Viking on race weekend! Since I'm local, there's no need to stay the night before, so I opted to stay the night following the race.

We had hoped to find someone to babysit the kids so that Scott could join me and we could have a little getaway, but unfortunately we've exhausted all our possibilities and have come up empty-handed.

I am disappointed that we can't have a getaway together, but we're not going to let a free hotel room go to waste, so I'm still going to stay over.

And I can't deny being pretty thrilled that I get to finish the race, linger as long as I want (will be hanging out at the finish line cheering on lots of friends who are also running), return to the hotel, get cleaned up, spend the afternoon hanging out in Newport browsing all the shops, enjoy a late leisurely lunch, and then return to the hotel for a quiet dinner and a night with the entire room all to myself.  The silence is going to be blissful.

I'm also hoping to bring Gabe and Dante down to the Hartford Marathon on Saturday morning, to watch my friend who's running and is going to hopefully break 3 hours - something I don't want to miss! 

So, a fun fall weekend to look forward to - race spectating Saturday, race running Sunday, and a day/night of rejuvenation Sunday into Monday - lucky me!

A Blustery Day, and A New PR - Newport Half, Triple Crown Finale

Sunday's weather forecast called for "breezy" conditions. That was the understatement of the year.

I could hear the wind howling as soon as I woke up, and I knew it was going to make for an interesting morning.

Luckily it wasn't a cold wind - temps were in the 50s. Not hot, but certainly warm enough. But the wind. Yikes!

As I got ready, I reminded myself that I just needed to go out and run the best race I could, and if the wind slowed me down a little, so be it. It was something that was out of my control, so there was no use in getting all worked up over it.

I was a little disappointed it was so cloudy, though - I had been hoping to see the sunrise as I drove over the bridge. Instead, it was still dark when I pulled into town just before 7am. I had no problems parking and catching the shuttle bus, and was at the start line shortly after 7 - plenty of time to check my bag, wait in line forever at the porta-potties, and get in a quick warmup.

I headed over to the start at 7:45, and got a spot right in between the 7- and 8-minute pace signs - exactly where I wanted to be. The street the race starts on proved to be rather narrow, as we were quickly jammed in like sardines.

The combined field for the half and full (which start together) was about 5,000, I think, and I'm pretty sure that's about the same size as Hartford was last year, but I do not remember feeling anywhere near as claustrophobic at Hartford as I did in Newport yesterday morning.

And I knew that claustrophobic feeling was going to give way to a very, very congested start, with much dodging and weaving during the first mile in an attempt to find clear space in which to run.

And when the race finally began (a good 5 or 10 minutes late, and with no gun to signal the start - or at least not one that I could hear ???), that was in fact the case. I knew that, for once, I was in no danger of going out too fast - I couldn't have even if I wanted to. I doged, I weaved, and I ran soooo much slower than I wanted to be running.

But I didn't get stressed out. I figured that holding back now would turn out to be a good thing later on.

That being said, I wasn't terribly happy when I saw mile 1 beep at 7:54, and now that the field had finally spread out enough that I was able to really run, I ended up running mile 2 in 7:11. Probably a bit too fast, but I knew I wasn't going to keep that up, so I wasn't worried about picking it up too much for that one mile. And I really couldn't help it - I had a lot of pent-up energy from not being able to run the way I wanted for the first mile.

We had now gone through town and were heading out towards Fort Adams State Park, and up to this point, the wind hadn't been too much of a factor. It was windy in spots, to be sure, but it wasn't constant, so I didn't feel like I was struggling. In fact, I felt pretty good, and was resisting the urge to check my watch. I had checked it a bit after running mile 2 so quickly, and I now seemed to be settling into a pace in the range of 7:20 - 7:30, and it was feeling great, so I figured I'd stick with it.

When we hit Fort Adams, the wind became much more of an issue. It seemed to be coming from all directions at once, and the short loop we did through the park also included some small inclines, so that little stretch was somewhat challenging.

Miles 3 - 6 went pretty smoothly, though - 7:26, 7:25, 7:23, 7:23.

Then came mile 7. This was the part of the course that turns around a bend and leads up to a long ocean stretch. It's beautiful and scenic, but it's also completely exposed, which meant that when we came around that bend, it honestly felt like walking into a wall. And it was a wall. Of wind.

I am not exaggerating when I say that for most of mile 7, I was struggling just to stay upright. I honestly felt like I was in danger of being knocked over by the wind. It was that strong.

I also stopped during that mile to eat my gel and drink some water, and some of the water got blown out of my cup. Seriously. It was insane.

I managed to drink what was left, and sucked down the Gu before the wind ripped that out of my hands. As I chugged along, fighting the wind, I just reminded myself that I was already halfway done (and the first 6 miles had seemed to pass very quickly).  And I also told myself that eventually, we'd go around another bed and this wind would be at our backs.

That bend didn't come soon enough, but it did come. And when it did, I felt like I was suddenly running along a conveyor belt. Mile 7 - 7:31. Ugh. Miles 8 and 9 - 7:11. 7:13. Thank you, tailwind!

The wind was still blowing for the rest of the race, but the effects were moderated somewhat as we finished the last of the ocean stretch and headed back towards town. We ran past the mansions, and I kept thinking about how amazingly flat this course was compared to Jamestown and Zooma. It was so refreshing to not be constantly climbing hills! I was feeling tired, but it was very different from the kind of tired you feel in a really hilly race.

Miles 10 and 11 passed pretty uneventfully - 7:23, 7:26.

As we ran past the mansions and made our way back toward the beach, I could remember so vividly running that stretch 4 years ago in the full marathon, and I thought about how at that time, I was running more than 2 minutes per mile slower than I was running right now. So unbelievable to think about how hard I've worked and how far I've come since then : )

With that in mind, I thought I'd try to pick it up a bit for mile 12, but only got down to 7:22.

But after that, all bets were off. I was getting really tired, I wanted to just be done, and as I attempted to do the math in my head, I was pretty sure that I could actually pull off a PR. So I pulled out all the stops and ran as fast as I could, without so much as a single glance at my watch for the final 1.1 miles.

And oh my god, it sucked. I knew I was close to the finish, but it seemed painfully far away.

Then finally I was heading down the big hill we climbed at the start, and then back into the beach parking lot. And then, I was still running. And still running. And still running some more, along the length of the ENTIRE beach!  The whole time, I just kept thinking 'My god, how long IS this beach anyway?????'

As I fought for every last step of that final .1 miles, I watched the full marathon runners veering off to the right to continue on out of the parking lot, and I was so, so happy that I was not one of them.

Then finally, finally, the finish line was there, and as I sprinted across, it read 37:28!!!!

Complete and utter exhiliration, and complete and utter exhaustion. Two signs of a well-run race.

After I caught my breath, I checked my splits on my watch and saw that I had run mile 13 in 6:52, and the final (never-ending) .1 at 6:49 pace. No wonder it hurt so bad.

I knew I wasn't in contention for any awards at this race, and for the first time in quite a while, I actually didn't have any friends who had run, so I didn't hang around long.

I got my Triple Crown medal and goody bag (which was one of the best goody bags I've ever gotten - tons of great energy gels and bars) and shirt, and grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then I was off, basking in the glow of a great race and a 30-second PR.

I loved participating in this Triple Crown series this year. I think it's a great concept, and I'm pretty sure I'll be signing up for next year's. Focusing on the half-marathon distance this year has been a great experience for me, and has definitely taught me to maintain what are - for me, anyway - some pretty fast paces over a long distance, which has really boosted my confidence for Boston.

And I was very happy with the organization for all three races, and for the Triple Crown series itself - great communication from the race organizers, good support on the course, and nice courses, too. I don't know how many people participated this year, but I have a feeling the numbers will grow with next year's series.

And speaking of numbers -

1:37:27

7:27 pace

5 of 503 in my age group !!!!!!!!!!!!

23 of 1991 females

149 of 3300 overall

And, I noted as I was running that I crossed the 10-mile mark at just over 1:14 - a full two minutes faster than I ran the 10 miles at the Blessing a few months ago. I'll definitely be looking for a big PR at that race next year!!!

First things first, though - a little recovery, a few more track workouts, and then on to Philly to close out the year in style - running 13.1, and then cheering on all my friends who are running 26.2!!!!

Triple Crown Finale, Anaphylaxis Update, and More Boston Blathering

When I signed up for the Triple Crown series last spring, I decided that the Newport half-marathon was going to be my big race for the year. I was going to spend my summer and early fall working toward what I thought, at the time, was a blazing fast sub-1:40.

And then several weeks ahead of schedule, I went and ran a 1:38; which of course I was thrilled with, but which definitely left me wondering what I should now be aiming for in Newport. 

In the end, I decided not to really aim for anything. That was my 'plan' going into Jamestown, and going into Zooma, and it panned out very, very well, so I see no reason to change it.

That's not to say that I'm not racing, though. I still see this as my biggest effort of the year, and I want to make sure that when I cross that finish line, I have emptied the tank completely. As always, it will be interesting to see what that equates to on the race clock.

I'm excited to get out and race again, too. I have had so much fun racing all these half-marathons this year, and each one has been a slightly different experience, and each one has taught me something new.

In New Bedford, I learned how much it sucks when you pick up the pace too much too soon; in Providence, I learned how awesome it is to pace someone. In Jamestown, I learned that I am much better at pacing myself than I thought I was. In Cape Cod, I learned that I can run 13.1 miles at a 7:29 pace! Can't wait to see what I learn this weekend in Newport : )

Hopefully I won't be learning anything new about my mysterious anaphylaxis episodes. I returned to the allergist and described the Labor Day reaction to him, and in addition to making it clear to me that the 'sense of impending doom' that I felt that night is not just a feeling - it really is impending doom, and that's my signal to use the epi-pen.

He also diagnosed me with Idiopathic Anaphylaxis, which is just a fancy way of saying that my body is freaking out on totally random occasions for no apparent reason.

It's a very unsatisfying diagnosis, but I basically agree with it - I don't really feel that there is a trigger, aside from (sometimes) running. I've been keeping a very detailed food journal, and after I had another post-run outbreak of hives yesterday (no impending doom this time - just itchiness), I looked back at my journal and saw nothing at all out of the ordinary.

I'm frustrated, and mystified, and annoyed, but also not really sure what else I can do at this point, besides bring my epi-pen everywhere I go and hope for the best. 

And I'm doing my best to try not to dwell on it too much. The days that I have a reaction are kind of crappy. It puts me in a funk, which is then exacerbated by the fact that I also get completely loopy from the Benadryl that I have to take to get the hives under control.

But after a good night's sleep, I attempt to just put the whole thing behind me as best I can. People live with far worse issues than this, and I have to remember that and keep it all in perspective, and keep moving forward. 

And on the theme of moving forward - every day that goes by, I get more excited to start training for Boston. Seeing all the Facebook posts from friends who just ran or are about to run their fall marathons, and seeing all the updates about the Hartford marathon, and remembering all the excitement and anticipation I was feeling at this time last year......  I'm experiencing a little bit of marathon envy, which I think is a good thing - it means I've had enough of a break. I definitely feel ready to tackle a tough training plan again, and to get a little more serious and purposeful with my runs. 

That enthusiasm will undoubtedly fade after about 10 weeks or so, but then it will return tenfold as April 15 draws closer. I fully intend to race Boston, but I also fully intend to enjoy and savor every second of it. I feel pretty confident that I could requalify to run it again in 2014, but if I have the choice, I'd much rather come back and run Gansett again.

Maybe I'll run Boston another time, too, but in case I don't, I plan to soak up the experience completely - starting with the 16 weeks of training. Eight weeks and counting..... !!!!!

The Year of the Half

After my bizarre, out-of-the-blue allergic reaction Saturday night, I was really hoping to have a great run Sunday morning - one of the ones where I felt healthy and fit and strong the whole time. I needed that validation.

Luckily, I got it. I planned to run 10 miles, but was feeling so great that I ended up running just over 12. And I ran an 8:09 pace. And I felt fabulous the entire time. Good stuff.

Since I raced last week, and am racing again this weekend, it'll be a while before I do track work again, and I feel like I actually kind of miss it. I think I do miss the challenge a wee bit, but more than that, I miss my track partner. Now that school's back in session, and soccer has started, it's becoming more difficult for me to get out to group runs, and I'm missing the company.

Hopefully when I'm back in marathon training mode this winter, it'll be a little easier to meet up with people at least for my weekend long runs. I've done plenty of 20-milers solo, but I'd rather not do it too often, if I can help it.

Last year at this time, I was a bundle of nerves, counting down to Hartford, and wondering if I was going to be able to pull of my BQ time. And this year, I'm a bundle of nerves again - I've got my qualifying time, but since I'll be the last group to have an opportunity to register, it remains to be seen whether or not I'll actually get in before the race fills up.

I'm also a bundle of nerves thanks to the next race on my schedule - the Shoreline Biathlon in Westerly. Back to the race that started it all, 10 years ago - the first time I ever pinned a race bib to my shirt.

I fully anticipate a PR, and I think I even have a shot at an age-group award, so I'm excited to get out there and see what I can do. A little nervous, too, but it's more excited pre-race jitters than anything. I'll never get tired of those : )

I'll be feeling plenty of them come October - the race I've been working up to all summer - 13.1 in Newport, the final leg of the Triple Crown, and what will be my 5th half-marathon for the year.

I have one more half before that - Zooma Cape Cod - but I'm not planning on going all out at that one. The main reason I'm doing it is so I can have a weekend getaway on the Cape with a friend, and get to meet Sarah Bown Shea and Dimity McDowell, the authors of Run Like a Mother, as well as meeting up with some of the fabulous women from the Run Like a Mother Facebook community they've created.  The race is just the icing on the cake : )  I'm not going to run it at an easy pace, but I am going to save the real race pace for Newport.

Since Newport was my first full marathon, 4 years ago, this race is even more special to me.

Not only do I get to go back and run almost the same 13.1 miles that I ran in 2008 (the first half of the course is a little different now than it was then, but does cover much of the same territory), but I get to do it as a now three-time marathoner, a Boston qualifier, and a Gansett finisher. I've come a long way in those 4 years, and I think I'm going to reflect on that as I run in Newport again. 

And I'm also going to reflect on how happy I'll feel when I turn off to the finish chute at the 13.1 mile mark, instead of having to run twice that distance!!!  I'm excited to run 26.2 again next year, but happy to not be running it next month!

Last-Minute 5K, and Lots of Racing On the Horizon

I'm usually plan out my races pretty far in advance, but earlier this week I found out a few friends from the running club were going to do a 5K tomorrow night, and I knew I wanted in.

I like weeknight races - no need to mess with our weekend plans - and after an incredible track workout last week, I'm dying to see what I can do in a short-distance race (most of my summer races have been longer ones).

The track workout in question was 1-mile repeats. I planned to do 3 of them, but ended up doing 4, because I felt so great. Yes, I felt great after doing 3 x 1-mile repeats - who says that????  But even better than the fact that I felt fabulous is the fact that I ran each mile repeat at approximately a 6:30 pace!!!!!  And did I mention I did FOUR of them???

For someone who's aiming for a sub-21-minute 5K, a workout like that is a huge confidence booster. I'm certainly not expecting to run a 6:30 pace tomorrow night - I won't be taking 400m recovery laps in between each mile, after all - and I'm not expecting to break 21 minutes tomorrow night, either. But I am expecting to shave at least a little time off my 21:38 PR, and get closer to my ultimate goal.

Weather looks like it will cooperate, too - after two very steamy, muggy days, we're going to be treated to much drier, cooler air - so happy the timing worked out well with that!

After tomorrow, I'm going to focus on getting in a few more good bike rides to prepare for the biathlon; try to decide whether or not I'm doing the triathlon on the 16th; and continue with my weekly track workouts and tempo runs to get ready for the Zooma Cape Cod Half on September 22nd, and the Newport half - final leg of the Triple Crown - on October 14th.

I've been really good about sticking with the track workouts, but last week was the first tempo run I had done in nearly two months. I had no idea what to expect when I set out on my 7-mile loop by the ocean. I was pleasantly surprised. After a 1-mile warmup, I was able to run 6 miles at an average 7:17 pace.

With the 5K tomorrow, I won't be doing a tempo run this Thursday, but I'll definitely fit one in next week. I forgot how much I love the challenge - not quite as torturous as track, but leaves you with a similar feeling of accomplishment.

The other thing looming in September is Boston registration. Registration for the fastest runners opens on September 10th, and after all those super speedy runners have registered (those who have beat their qualifying times by 20, 10, and 5 minutes), the rest of us 'slowpokes' (I beat my qualifying time by 'only' 4 minutes) get our shot.

I like the new registration system - I think it's a much more fair and equitable way of doing things. But it's still going to suck if I don't get in. I want the Boston experience at least once, and I'd really like for it to be this year.

If it doesn't happen, there's nothing I can do about it, so I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, but I will be keeping my fingers crossed that I'm not shut out. Luckily I have all the above-mentioned races to keep my mind off it!

Back with a Roger Schonning 5K race recap later this week!

Running, Swimming, Biking, Biathlon, and the Boys

Two signs of how busy I've been the past 11 days -  1. I haven't blogged once. 2. I'm just now sitting down to watch the women's Olympic marathon, which was run last weekend.

I'm still getting in my workouts, but there's been a lot of ups and downs. Last weekend, due to me traveling out of town to visit some friends, and then us having overnight guests, I ended up going three days without any workouts at all. No long run, no long bike ride, no nothing. It felt very strange, and very uncomfortable. 

But as the third day sans workout rolled around, I kind of made peace with it, and figured that after the previous weekend of back-to-back races, my body was probably enjoying the well-deserved break.

And I figured I'd be feeling refreshed and ready to get back to it on Tuesday morning at the track - the first track workout I'd done in three weeks. Instead, I was dreading it. I'm so thankful my track partner was there, because there's a good chance I would have cut the workout short if I had been on my own.

My motivation overall seems to be lacking at the moment, and I was kind of baffled by that, but then it occurred to me that I'm probably experiencing a small case of the post-race blues. I didn't follow a specific training plan for the Blessing or the triathlon, but I was certainly working hard and preparing for those two races, just as I did for Jamestown last month.

And now that both of those are over, and my next race is several weeks away, and my next 'big' race - the Newport half - is two months away - I'm kind of in limbo, so I think it's natural that I'm not feeling terribly excited about running at the moment. 

I'm trying to get myself more excited about swimming, though. After my last post, I decided to go for it and buy a wetsuit and commit to getting in some open-water swims in these last few weeks of summer.

I've accomplished the first step, and my new wetsuit is hanging in my closet, waiting for me to accomplish the second step - getting in the water. I had planned to join in on a group swim last week, but wasn't able to. Hopefully I'll make it this week. I'm tentatively planning on the Y Not Tri for September 16, but I'm holding off on actually registering.

I did register, though, for another multisport event - the Shoreline Biathlon in Westerly on September 9th - which just happens to be the first race I ever completed, back in 2002. I can't believe I've been running and racing for 10 years! 

I love this race, and am so excited to do it again. It's a 5-mile run, followed by a 16-mile bike ride - a very small field, and very scenic courses for both the run and bike. My PR of 1:37 was from that first year (I did it two other times), and I'd like to think I can easily beat that this year, but I'll find out for sure in a few weeks.

In light of that, I've stepped up my biking a bit, and made it out for two bike rides this week, both of which went great. I've been averaging between 18 and 19mph on my 30 - 40-mile rides, which I'm very happy with. Really enjoying the biking, too - and reminding myself that, although I run year round, the bike will eventually be put away for the winter season, so I need to get out and make the most of it while I can.

Way back when I signed up for the Triple Crown series, I had intended to find a good half-marathon training plan to follow for the October half. I'm hoping for a PR at that race. Initially, I had thought 1:40 was my ultimate half-marathon goal, but since running 1:41 in Jamestown, I'm thinking that in the cool October air, on a course that's not too terribly hilly, I should be able to break 1:40.

I'm not certain that I want to follow a plan, though. I've really enjoyed this sort of 'training but not training' thing I've got going on this summer, and I think I want to just roll with it. It's much less stressful, and I've still been getting faster and setting PRs. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?  

So for right now, I'm thinking that my training for Newport will consist of mostly weekly track workouts, occasional tempo runs, and long runs right around 12 or 13 miles. Hopefully that will get me my sub-1:40, but if it doesn't, there are plenty more half-marathons to be run, and I know I'll get it eventually : )

Quickie updates on the boys - Dante is becoming a really good swimmer, and I'm contemplating having him try swim team at the Y. Gabe's swimming has improved a lot, too, but has no interest in joining the team.

We'll make sure he continues with lessons, but I don't want to push him to do the team if he doesn't want to. But I'd love to see them both become strong swimmers, given that we spend most of our summer at the beach, and I know that the swim team experience would be a great one for Dante. 

Dante also wants to try surfing lessons, and the past few times we've been at the beach, he's been catching waves and trying to stand up on his boogie board. I have a feeling we'll be shelling out some $$ for at least one surfing lesson before the summer's out.

And I have a feeling he might actually be really good at it - he's really good at timing the waves just right. He actually taught me a thing or two when I finally tried boogie boarding with them last weekend. And oh my god, why have I never tried boogie boarding before????!!!!!  I now completely understand why they love it so much!!!

Gabe has soccer camp this week, but his new obsession is Monopoly. He wants to play Monopoly ALL THE TIME. And if you can believe it, I played a game with him and Dante, and they beat me! They caught on really quick.

Carmine, meanwhile, is constantly entertaining us with his shenanigans. I bought him his own mini boogie board, and he drags it around at the beach and pushes it around in the water, and is starting to get a little upset when Gabe and Dante go out boogie boarding and he can't go with them. I think I'll be signing him up for swim lessons this winter.

He is also now, more than ever, repeating EVERYTHING he hears, so I'm really glad that we're generally very careful about what we say, since his new favorite expressions are "What the heck?"  "Oh god!",  and "Oh darnit!"  And my personal favorite - instead of ("Oh geez!") "Oh, cheese.... crackers!" 

He never fails to make me smile.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down - UHC Jamestown Half-Marathon

I've heard a lot of people say that the races that they're most relaxed about end up being the best races they've ever had, but I had never had that experience - until yesterday's inaugural Jamestown half-marathon.

I've written at length about how I wasn't putting any pressure on myself for this race. I didn't think I'd PR, given the possibility that it would be hot and humid, which always slows me down. And I wasn't really aiming high. My only real goal was to come in somewhere around 1:45, and I figured I'd be able to pull that off without too much pain and suffering.

With a 6:30am start time, and a 20-minute drive to the start, I found myself in my kitchen at 4am eating my standard pre-race coffee and bagel. I was still happy for the early start, though, since the forecast for later in the day was predicting temps near 90. Avoiding that was well worth getting up at 4am, as far as I'm concerned. And driving over the Newport bridge at sunrise was an added bonus.

Shuttles were lined up and waiting to take us back over the bridge into Jamestown, and that process went very smoothly. Unfortunately, things weren't so great when we got to the start and found that there were no porta-potties anywhere.

No porta-potties at a race start is a recipe for disaster. Everyone was dumbfounded, and even though an announcment was made that the porta-potties would be arriving within a few minutes, the surrounding woods were quickly put to use, with runners ducking in and out with as much discretion as possible. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go....

The race start was delayed 5 minutes because of the porta-potty fiasco, but there were no further delays. At 6:35, the gun sounded, and we were off.

I had planned to wear my Garmin and shut off the display, so that I'd have my splits recorded but not showing while I ran, but I was never able to figure out how to do that. So I just turned it on and wore it upside down on my wrist and hoped I'd have enough willpower to not sneak a peek at it.

The weather turned out to be pretty much what I expected - warm and humid - but thanks to cloud cover, it never got too horribly hot. The air was very thick, though, and there was actually a very light drizzle for the first few miles.

The drizzle actually felt kind of nice, and I was a little sad when it stopped. There were a few spots where it looked like the sun was going to come out, but thankfully it didn't. It would have been far more uncomfortable if it had - even so early in the morning, it was already close to 70 - plenty warm enough - no sun needed.

I had read some info about the course last week, and knew that it was a hilly one. That didn't intimidate me too much, though - I run hills often in my training runs, and I wasn't gunning for a big PR, so I was just going to take whatever came my way and do my best.

We got right to it with the hills, too - several just in the course of the first few miles. They weren't steep, but they were long. And they didn't slow me down too much, but they did tire me out just enough that as I was approaching the crest of each one, I'd be thinking to myself that I really didn't think I could take much more - then I'd be at the top and happily flying down the other side, and sighing with relief.

That proved to be the theme of the day, as the hills were pretty much relentless. There were some flat stretches, but not many. I made sure to use those flat stretches to really settle into my pace and make sure I wasn't pushing too hard (or backing off too much).

Running unplugged - no music, no Garmin - proved to be one of the most eye-opening experiences I've had as a runner. I love my numbers and I love my music. I love checking my pace as I'm running, and I love it when one of my favorite running songs comes on and I feel instantly energized.

But I learned yesterday that I also love NOT constantly checking my pace, and not constantly telling myself "too slow - better speed up," or "you shouldn't be running this fast - you'll never be able to maintain this pace."

I learned that I can trust my body to do what it's capable of, and I don't need to constantly monitor that, nor do I need a song to get my adrenaline flowing.

Without seeing those numbers every few minutes, there was no opportunity for that inner dialogue of self-doubt, and that was one of the best things about the entire day. Never once did I doubt that I'd be able to hold the pace I was running. I felt good, and I was just taking it one step at a time, and if I felt I needed to slow down, I would. It was so freeing to not be a slave to those numbers ticking away on my wrist.

There were a few times where I backed off a bit, and I didn't stress about it. It was what I needed to do, so I did it, and when I felt like I was ready to pick it up again, I did. So simple, so easy, and so stress-free.

For 13.1 miles, I just ran at a pace that felt comfortably challenging. I was working, but I wasn't pushing myself to the point of collapse. And I was enjoying the sounds of footfalls around me, and the scenery we ran past (I was a bit disappointed there weren't more ocean views, but it was still a pretty nice course), and in some ways, I was even enjoying the hills - crazy, right?  It really was a very zen-like experience for me - I reveled in every aspect of this race, and was amazed at how great I was feeling.

In all honesty, though, it wasn't a completely numbers-free race, because there were pace clocks at every mile marker, which I never ever expected. I thought they might have one at the halfway point, but never imagined them at every mile.

At first I was kind of annoyed - this was messing with my goal of running without number-crunching. But as it turns out, it was just enough information - I knew I was keeping a pretty good pace, but I wasn't seeing those individual splits, so I wasn't getting stressed about each mile being either too slow or too fast.

As I cruised along, I felt a hint of fatigue starting to creep in around mile 10. But knowing there were only a few miles to go helped get me through the next few hills.

I was definitely starting to tire, but the mile markers still seemed to be coming up pretty quickly, and before I knew it, I was at mile 11. And even though I didn't want to crunch numbers too much, I knew full well when I saw the time on the mile 11 clock that I was on pace for a pretty nice PR, and I wasn't about to let that go. 

So I took it up a notch for mile 12 and 13, and passed quite a few people down this stretch. I was tired, and glad there were only two miles left, but still feeling surprisingly strong. As I headed around the final corner, I could hear the finish line cheers and the announcer, and I picked it up again for that last stretch.

After the never-ending ups and downs, it was very nice that the last .1 to the finish was all downhill. I sprinted in with the clock reading just over 1:41, and knew I had just run those 13.1 miles more than 2 minutes faster than I ran New Bedford, but I somehow felt 100 times better.

I was kind of dazed at how fast I had just run, and how good I felt, and now that I had crossed the finish line, I allowed myself to flip my Garmin over and see how it had all played out :  7:50, 7:33, 7:45, 7:50, 7:44, 7:58, 7:36, 7:43, 7:48, 7:52, 7:23 (nice pace for mile 12!!!!), 7:32, 6:11. Not as consistent as I'd like, but given the hills, I think I did a pretty good job of pacing myself - far better than I thought I would.

I had hoped to meet up with some fellow Rhode Scholar bloggers after the race, but it turned out that they were both sick, so our meetup never happened.

I did stay long enough to check the results, though. I never imagined I'd place in my age group (I have at several small, local 5Ks, but never at a larger, long-distance race), but I always like to see where I placed anyway. So I was kind of shocked to see a number 1 next to my name in the age-group column! 

I was already on a runner's high that felt like it would last for days - now it felt like it would last for weeks!  I don't think I stopped smiling for the entire walk back to the shuttles, and the shuttle ride back over the bridge to Newport.

Not only did I pull off a huge PR and an age-group win, but I had a great race - one where I felt amazing the whole time, and truly enjoyed myself. Not a moment of self-doubt, not a moment where I felt burned out and exhausted and wanting to stop.

I'm not going to run every race without my Garmin from this point forward, but I am going to run more races without it. This experience gave me a lot more confidence in my ability to pace myself and listen to my body, and I'm just as proud of that as I am of what I accomplished, time-wise.

Inaugural Jamestown Half-Marathon stats:

1:41:26

PR by 2 minutes and 17 seconds!!!

7:45 pace

1st place, 40 - 49 age group!!!

10th female / 301 overall

59 / 574 total

So, with that, I've now completed two stops on the Triple Crown, and had two vastly different race experiences.

And now that I've managed to run a 1:41 half, I am determined to break 1:40 in Newport in October, and will soon beging plotting out my training schedule to ensure that I meet that goal.

Oh, and I just happened to plug a 1:41 half-marathon time into the MacMillan running calculator, and it just happens to predict a 3:33 marathon for me.

I know full well that this is just a prediction, and I can say from my past two marathon experiences that that prediction is typically about 3 minutes off from where I usually finish. But allowing for those 3 minutes would still give me a 3:36 marathon, which would be good enough to get me back to Gansett in 2014 : )