The Race That Almost Wasn't

Yes, my hat is on crooked. I'm really stylin!

Usually I figure out the distance to a race, how long it will take and plan accordingly.  This time I thought I knew how long I needed  (based on Hubby's prediction - can I blame him?) and left 20 minutes later than planned.  I had to pick up Jameson and knew that time was short. I drove faster than a speeding bullet faster than I should have but of course still within the law.  I did not know exactly how to get there but there is really only one main road through the islands so didn't think I could go too wrong.

The wrong part was not realizing

•  how long these islands are
•  the roads do not have a high posted speed limit
• cars in front of you are not hurrying to a race
• when you get to the town you are going to  the race is at the other end

Once there I saw a sign for St. Anne's Shrine where the race turn around was.  Do I turn and go that way or go straight?  I had run in before leaving and looked at the race site and had an idea of the set up.  I went straight and found School Street which was where we needed to be.  (If I had gone to the Shrine the road was closed for the race and we would not have made it.)  As I drove up to the Rec Park people were in line about to start.   A man asked if we  were going through and I said no we wanted to race.  He quickly had us park our car and run to get our numbers.  I had registered online so it was quick.  No one seemed grumpy that they waited for us or they hid it well.  One more minute and I don't think we would have made the start.

Here are the things I didn't do:

• Pee
• Knot my shoes
• Put on sunscreen
• Pee
• Take a breath
• Put my hat on straight
• Pee
• Take a picture of Jameson and myself before the start
• Put stuff in my car so I wouldn't have to carry it (in a waist bag but still a pain)
• Pee
• Cut the tags out of my new shorts before I wore them (real surprising from the lady who runs in a helmet right? At least they were on the inside)!

I ALWAYS pee several times before a race.  I had had to go for several miles.  I drank coffee on the way. Oh well, maybe it helped me run faster.

I had my camera but I didn't take any pics until after.  It is a flat area but there were hills!  I ran the first mile quite fast for me and once when I looked down I saw 7:48 on my Garmin!  Man I thought I had a PR in the bag. But I did not hold my first mile pace.  In the second mile I noticed how hot it was.  All of a sudden it felt like a blast furnace. Also in the  second mile I had to stop to tie my shoe.  Notice the second thing I didn't do.  I saw someone walking in a sweatshirt and wondered seriously about their state of mind.  But not much time to dwell on that I needed to keep sprinting trudging along.  I did look at the course as it was beautiful.  The street it was on was pretty by itself but the lake beside the street was breathtaking. All but the first/last half mile was along the lake.  The day itself was gorgeous (as was the ride up but I was too nervous about getting there to enjoy it.)  This may be the prettiest race I have ever done.  The last half mile was mostly uphill although there was some weird alien thing going on as we never ran down a hill when we began.  It took forever and my last .17 was not fast. I write .17 as the race was 3.17 not 3.1!  I heard many people talking about it. Not in a disgusted way but justifying our times of course!

I took these after the race from the car as I was driving

Sorry for lack of effort! These pictures really don't show

the beauty of the race.

I had met Jameson on the course and he was far ahead of me and did quite well with a PR for the year.  He was first in his age group. I was second.  There weren't a lot of racers but hey. We'll take it.

I was surprise by where all the participants were from.  There were four from another country.  Okay it was Quebec, Canada which you can spit and reach from here but still.  There were people from New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire. It is a reasonable guess that they were vacationing here and did not drive this far for a 5K.  

So stats:

2/3 in age group. 

21/34 oveall

5/15 women (a few were young kids but I still like the sound of it)

Mile 1: 8:34

Mile 2: 9:07

Mile 3: 9:30

.17 9:41

Not exactly a negative split race

Overall pace: 9:06 (thank goodness for that first mile or maybe it was my undoing, who knows)

Pros of this race:

The sheer beauty of the course

Friendly participants even when you arrive late

Watermelon after the race

Print out of results before they give before you leave (have you ever seen this before?)

Cheap entry fee (10)

Road closed - no traffic

Small number of participants - quick to figure out placement

Cons of this race:

None that I can think of quickly

I have talked before on here about how envious I can be when I see people running and now biking when I am unable to.  Today, driving home through these unbelievably beautiful islands surrounded by deep blue water on a sunny day I saw scores of groups of cyclists.  I had envy like I have never had it before. Never mind that I rode south of here just the other day.  Never mind that I had had a beautiful race with my son.  Never mind that I am likely to be back up here riding again in July. At this present moment the green eyed monster was rearing it's ugly head!  

Good News/Bad News/Good News

I won a creemee/the place was closed/I'll have to  go back

A shout out to my son who never got grumpy when it looked like we weren't going to make it.  I got him up early to race and no making me feel badly that it might be for nothing.  (But we would have at least taken a run there.)

There was also so much evidence of the flooding all over the place.  There is a bridge that connects Isle La Motte to the other islands and there was major damage there. It was evident they put a lot of effort into just keeping it open throughout the flooding.

More stylin!  I do promise you

it was inside the shorts.