We spent the night at Ashleigh and Andy's house in the Seacoast area in NH. It was not your typical race eve. We were being reunited after a long time, ate dinner late and didn't get to bed very early. Enough said. We had 5 babies in the house which, as every parent knows, can be unpredictable. And that's not even counting the husbands:)
We awoke at 4:30am and between packing bags, eating breakfast and putting babies back to sleep we left the house at 5:15am. I deviated from my usual race morning breakfast and had a greek yogurt on top of my traditional banana and peanut butter toast. The drive to Freeport, ME was uneventful and we easily found our way to the packet pick-up area/starting line/finish line. We even laughed a lot.
This race was in its first year and so the turnout was good, but not overwhelming. We picked up our bibs and stretched by the car. By the way, AWESOME shirt handed out at this race!
My dorkiest sister doing her trademark stretch. Ashleigh.
Group shot before the race: Rodney, Ashleigh, me, Abby and Ben.
It was a beautiful morning with overcast skies, however the day did turn out quite humid (okay, muggy). We all discussed our personal goals prior to lining up. Ashleigh and I decided to start out together, agreeing that we would try to go out in 8:30 miles and see if we could hold it. My big concern was the distance. As this was my first half marathon I really didn't know what I could hold for 13.1 miles. Since I am a sprinter at heart, and my 10k splits are around 7:45, I thought 8:30 would be a fair chance with some fluctuation allowance. Ashleigh runs a similar pace so we agreed that our goal would be to finish in under 2 hours.
The horn went off with just under 300 runners and Ash and I darted out too fast. Within the first mile we adjusted our pace for an 8:27 mile. Sounds good, but it was a struggle to battle the hills and be sure we were both comfortable. In fact, I was already dooming this race in my head, thinking, "I guess this is just going to be a bad day". Naughty self-talk. Second mile dropped down to 8:50, third at 8:46, fourth at 8:57. This course was hilly! Here were the "rolling hills" I've heard New England brags about. Ugh. Finally by the fifth mile I was feeling myself get in a groove and it did seem to level off for a while.
Ashleigh and I chatted here and there, took in the green Maine scenery and checked in with each other a lot. In the beginning we were in Freeport neighborhoods, but by mile 4 we were running through glorious farmland with tiny sprinkles of threatening rain. I would have welcomed it, but it never materialized. It was H U M I D.
At mile 6, which was also a water station, Ashleigh made a pit stop. We continued on together, but another 1/2 mile later we separated. It's tough to decide that you're going to leave each other, but she waved me on. I was finally in a place that I felt good and went with it.
I was able to pick up my pace a little now that I was feeling better (maybe I just start warming up before races?). I was passed by so many people in the beginning and it felt demoralizing. Now I was feeling good and passing a person here and there. My energy really came out in the latter part of the race and I even passed people on the uphills. Me? That was genuinely strange, but I loved it. It's not as if I have it out for a particular person, but I have to be honest, passing people later in the race builds confidence and makes me run faster! And, okay, it was particularly sweet when the person was a woman that looked to be in her 30's. Evil?
At mile 12 we were coming back into the town of Freeport and the energy was there. Throughout the race there were only a few sideline supporters, a far cry from my experience last weekend at Beach to Beacon. Once I was coming into town there were more people cheering and looking for their loved ones. The turn into the finish line produced Rodney on the left yelling my name and I sprinted to the end. My official time was 1:53.57 and it was good enough for 3rd in my age group.
Splits:
Mile 1 8:27
Mile 2 8:50
Mile 3 8:46
Mile 4 8:57
Mile 5 8:35
Mile 6 8:40
Mile 7 9:20
Mile 8 8:48
Mile 9 8:55
Mile 10 8:30
Mile 11 7:43
Mile 12 8:09
Mile 13 8:52
Last .1 7:21
Ashleigh and Abby coming home...
I love these girls so dang much!
After the awards we headed into Portland for lunch. We found a little place called the Porthole and it was awesome. To our dismay they were only serving breakfast, not lunch, but it was good. I just had lobster roll on the brain. Here were are in post race bliss.
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