We rolled out of bed at 5:30am and were out the door by 6:00am sharp for the hour long drive to Middletown. The more you can prep the night before, the faster you can get out the door in the morning. Upon arrival I marched right up to the event tent to register, having decided to do the race only after ensuring halfway decent weather for the day. There were only a few people ahead of me, so it didn’t take long. LESSON ONE: For smaller events, have the registration fee with you in cash. They didn’t have a card reader or forms for taking down the credit card information. When I had my race bib and tee in hand I asked a race volunteer where on the course the portajohns would be. Turns out, nowhere, unless the occasional construction site had left theirs unlocked or you were willing to go in a thicket of thorny bushes. With that information making a bathroom visit even more urgent, I made a beeline for the portajohns, of which there were only seven, but with a short waiting line. After doing my business (yay), I went back to the Jeep, where Lou was keeping the dogs busy, to get ready. With only 10 minutes to spare I made my way back to the portajohn line, which had swelled to about 30 racers. As I got closer to the front of the line I heard grumbling that only two of them had toilet paper. Uh oh. By the time I made it to the front, zero of them had toilet paper. Bigger uh oh. LESSON TWO: Pack your own damn method of wiping, which I did. Whew! The course itself was pleasant, but a bit more hilly than advertised (aren’t they always). My plan was to run to each mile marker, then speed walk for one minute before running again to the next mile marker. I pretty much followed this plan for the first half, but speed walked a little more the second half as that was where we encountered the bigger hills. Oddly enough, I felt those hills more than the ones I encountered on my training run last week. The last mile was the best, knowing that Lou and the dogs would be waiting to whisk me away shortly after crossing the finish line. I wanted to get a photo with C.J. to commemorate her first spectating experience, and then we nabbed some snacks from the race tent to munch on our way home. I opted to NOT go for the pizza knowing we had a mini-feast waiting for us at home. Before leaving town, we drove by a house I saw for sale during the run and wanted to check it out. It looked like the ideal retirement home and was right on the water. When we looked it up at home we were stunned at the price tag AND at the size (5,500SqFt; 2.5 acres) and decided we were wrong about it being a suitable retirement home for us. When we got home we had our mini-feast on the back deck with a beer and in our underwear in celebration of it being the first truly nice spring day of the year. Lou snoozed a little while I drafted this post, and then we got busy cleaning the garage and my Lexus and loading the rest of our camping stuff into the trailer to take to camp next weekend. Next up is a hot tub, dinner and an early bedtime. After an active day like today, I might not even stay awake long enough to read before falling asleep.
What I drank:
Pre-Race: 12oz black coffee; Beachbody Energy
During Race: water every even mile; Nuun every odd mile
Post Race: ON Recovery with a scoop of creatine; bottle of water
What I ate:
Pre-Race: Peanut butter and fig sandwich; banana
During Race: Honey Stinger gel; 1 Honey Stinger chew every odd mile; orange segment at mile 7; small handful of Goldfish at mile 12.
Post Race: Small brownie; small bag of sea salt popcorn
What I Listened To: Kindred, by Octavia E. Butler
CJ is almost as happy as I am that I’m finished
This is the back of the “retirement” house, facing the bay.
This was my morning run.