Today was the big day. For some this was the big race of the year. The day they have been training months for. For others it's a day just to enjoy the crowds and hoopla surrounding this very talked about race content to just finish.
It's called Beach to Beacon or B2B and today was the 10th anniversay of this most successful race. It starts at the entrance of a beach and ends at a very famous Lighthouse in Maine. If you see the Lighthouse landscape pictures of the Northeast most likely it's this very beautiful scene. It's the nicest finish of any race out there that I've ever been to.
We got up at 4:50 am....yes am. it's insane I said. I'm not a morning person. I don't do coffee. I can't wake up that easily. But with a husband and son also rearing to go, they made sure I was coherent by our departure time of 5:30. Yes, as in am.
The weather had been absolutely horrid the last few days and I was very nervous about the heat and humidity. We brought our mattress down into the LR to sleep last night just to make it bearable. So needless to say, not a good night's sleep the night before a big race is not a good thing.
There were 5,500 racers including some very big names. Grete Waitz of Norway, a nine time NYC Marathon winner was there. She's a great friend of Joan Benoit who is the brain behind this whole race. I think she has the silver medal in the Olympics also if I'm not mistaken. The Governor was also there running in the race. And of course we had the Kenyans and Ethiopians who were getting ready to race the worlds. Joan's race director is the same guy who puts on the Boston Marathon every year and has been very faithful to Joanie putting this one on.
So we get into this very massive long line of people. Elbow to elbow crammed between two barriers on each side. The elites (including my son) are in the front of a large barrier. They have lots of room doing their strides and everything. The rest of us are behind the gate with estimated fininishing time signs for us to line up behind. I got between the 7:30-8:00 minute mile signs knowing I wouldn't be up for faster than an 8 minute pace but my first mile would be sub 8 for sure.
So we wait, and we wait for the gun to go off. Since I got a nice spot by hanging onto the side barrier I could at least breathe. So I just stood there, stretched and got a good view (as well as thousands of others) watching all the guys pee in the woods. Yep. They just stand there, backs to us at the edge of the woods and did their thing. A definite advantage we females don't have.
First the wheelchair racers are off and then another 10 minutes goes by before finally we're off! So I start to run but can't. Too many people. It took me about 40 seconds to reach the starting line. Good thing for chip timing I thought. Otherwise my first mile is going to be slow.
My first mile I tried to hold back. Usually I have lots of energy in the beginning and have to make myself slow down. I manage a nice 7:43 pace. Much slower than I did two years ago, but my training hasn't been good at all this year. Anyhow, I felt ok until about 3 miles when I got a good sized cramp that slowed me down. My three mile time of 24:39 was decent but I couldn't keep the pace. From mile three to mile four I struggled with this cramp and realized the humidity was affecting me. I also knew I wasn't quite ready to do a 10K yet. I knew that the hills were coming and I resigned myself to just finish half way decent if I could. I started to think about an 8:15 pace.
About mile 5 I didn't care about decent anymore. The last mile seemed like forever. The crowds were fantastic. I did something I never do. I took water at every stop. I went under every hose and every sprinkler along the course. If I were "in the zone" I wouldn't have done this. I was like....don't care. Just finish was my mantra. When I approached the finish line, I was frustrated because I couldn't sprint to the finish well. I had the energy and all but it was too crazy. Too many people and I'd have to mow them over to get by them. I figured I could have gained at least 10-15 spots at the end and cut off at least that many seconds had I room but only managed to get by a few.
I found out later that Govenor Baldacci beat me by about a minute. I beat him the last time I raced him but it was a 5K, and I was in much better shape. There's always next time.
So I finished with a 54:20 time about 4 minutes slower than last time I ran this course. While I was still in 8 minute territory not the 8:00 minute pace exactly I wanted. Oh well. I have another much lower key race on Tuesday night. This time it's a fast 5K, and I will use this as a speed run for the week.
My son David did well finishing well under 100th place. Not bad out of 5,500 runners. I was just over 2,000th place. The way I look at it.....I beat over 3,000 runners and........... there's always next year.