smuttynose

Time for another race recap! This one is from the past Sunday at Hampton Beach in NH. A couple friends and I did the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon. Overall, it was a great race; and as usual, it was so fun to do it with friends.

I drove up on Saturday in the cold, misty rain to pick up Brenda's and my bibs, shirts and pint glasses (what else do you expect from a race sponsored by a brewery...). The whole time I was there I was hoping the forecast was right and we would not be running in this weather the next day.

before...

Sunday dawned clear and cool - not a cloud in the sky! After an early breakfast, Brenda and I began our drive up to Hampton just after 6am. Luckily, we arrived when we did because traffic was already backed up for a mile and a half. Thankfully, the wait was quick and we were soon parked - in a lot that cost us each $5... Part of me understands that they want to charge people, part of me thinks they should just let the runners park for free. While we were in the parking lot, I spotted my coworker, Jared! I had just found out he was running this race a few days before and out of 4000 people running, I was glad we ran into him.

We all headed to the baggage claim to check our warm clothes for later - then froze our noses off while waiting for the start in the corral. The starting corral is where we said good luck to Jared (in a faster wave) and found our way toward the back of the pack for our slower wave.

Once the race got going it was PACKED. The little street was flooded with 4000 people all running together, elbow to elbow. There was a lot of "sorry, excuse me, pardon me, whoops, sorry"as we made our way through the first mile. But the scenery sure did make up for all jumble of bodies! Most of the first half of the race was along the ocean at Hampton Beach. The sight and sounds of the beach made me wish summer would have lasted just a little bit longer.

...after!

Halfway we wound through some neighborhoods, and up over a couple of hills before heading back down to the beach for the final few miles. We had maintained a pretty good pace, one that might have been a bit on the fast side for Brenda. Over the last few miles I told her I wouldn't tell her our pace anymore - if it felt good, just keep at it. And she did!! The last mile was one of our fastest miles and she crushed her previous PR by 5min!! We crossed the line in 2:13:44, a 10:13min/mi pace.

Our next priority was getting our warm clothes, and then beer! It was a race sponsored by Smuttynose after all... We met up with Jared - who ran an incredible 1:42 for his first half - and enjoyed some tunes by the most punked-out 80's band I've ever seen and a couple of well deserved adult beverages.

Thankfully, we had amazing weather! The past three years have been cold, windy, and rainy. I'm a little nervous that I'm due for a really gross day of running...I'm just hoping it's not in NYC!!