Loaded up the fam in the van for another trip up north for a race. In the past this weekend has been a weekend of friends, competition and a small pub crawl in Old Orchard Beach but this year because of new jobs, new babies and babies on the way it was just me and my family for a weekend of relaxation, some back to school outlet shopping and a 15 mile long run with a 5k race tucked in the middle.
We arrived late Fri night and ordered pizza for convenience but not the best prerace dinner or a long run for that matter, but it sure did taste yummy. I got to bed early and as I set my alarm I went over my prerace plan that I developed on the advice of the Running Chick. Run to the race 3miles and then the 5k leaving 6 miles along the beach and 3 miles back to the camp ground.
Everything went as scheduled, I had a nice easy run to start area, met up with some race day friends and lined up at the front of the midpack. As the gun went off I was off like a dart and had to slow myself down in my head. Mile 1 starts with a up a big hill with a turn around at the top. As I came down I spied my cheering squad and a high five from my Little Miss cruised me to a 7:44 first mile. Mile 2 was nice and flat with a water stop that I took advantage of, 7:49 and Mile 3 the home stretch, 7:46 and the .1 was 41 sec for a finishing time of 24:02 and 2nd place for my age group.
The last of the 15 were uneventful with great people watching and wondering if a lot of the beach goers had looked in the mirror before heading to the beach :). The outlet shopping was washed out by the rain that took out power in downtown Freeport so we were forced back to the campground to listen to my sad Red Sox get beat again by the Yanks. As if the rain wasn't depressing enough!
So I continue to ride the wave of excitement in my new level of running and am actually looking forward to the 17 miles on the schedule for Sat followed by a swim and lounging on the new deck!!