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May 13, 2006
Wet in the wilds of NH
I think I can safely assert that I've never run a race in wetter conditions than those that greeted us today at the Big Lake Half Marathon. I heard it raining--hard--all night (I didn't sleep that well) and although it was only drizzling when Wynne and I arrived in New Hampshire, that soon turned into a steady downpour that never let up.
We left Somerville just before 6 am. Wynne was kind enough to volunteer to drive, and conditions were intermittently bad and worse on the drive up. Traffic was light, though--what other idiots would be out and about in this weather?--and we got to to Alton, NH in just under 2 hours. Oddly, the race's start is about a mile and a half from the finish. This caused all sorts of logistical problems. We also had to park sort of far away, which was quite an annoyance when we got to the number pickup and they would not give Wynne her number until she went all the way back to the car and got her photo ID. (We jogged, making it a short warmup.)
Several of my DC friends (including my former and soon-to-be again training partner Leilani) had planned a weekend trip around the race. If the weather cooperated, it would have been a weekend to be in New England. Nevertheless, I was glad to see them and we all went to the starting line together. I lost Wynne for awhile, but she found me. We all had to check our bags onto this truck because the race officials didn't know if the school near the start (not the finish) would be open when we got back. The truck was taking bags to the finish line, as we found out.
Anyway, Wynne and I ended up running with Jill, who now lives in NYC and runs for Warren Street, but had lived in DC for a couple of years and is friends with Leilani and the other girls who made the trip. I don't think I had ever met her in person. She is a pretty good runner but was planning to take it easy today because she just had surgery (not running-related). This sounded like a good plan to the two of us, too! It was cold and pouring by the time the race started and starting off nice and easy was a good idea. The first seven miles were mostly flat with a few downhills and some gentle uphills. We weren't totally slogging but were running comfortably enough to be able to converse (I didn't get all the splits, but probably between 7:30 and 7:50 mostly.) There were supposed to be bands at every mile but I think the rain drove some of them away. There was decent crowd support though even in the rain and apart from the volunteer who spilled a cup of water on me, the water/Gatorade stations were well-organized. The second half of the course had a couple of pretty big New England hills. I felt okay but definitely a bit tired and heavy-legged. The three of us decided to pick it up the last mile and a half and pass as many people as we could. Wynne and Jill ended up a few seconds ahead of me at the finish but all of us passed probably 10 people, maybe more. We all ran around 1:40. Not too bad for running comfortably most of the way.
It was FREEZING at the finish and everyone seemed to be ushering us to these school buses. The bag check truck was right near the buses too and although we wanted to cool down, we knew we would get hypothermic if we didn't get into dry clothes right away. Once we got changed, no one wanted to run anymore (including me) so against my better judgment, we did not do any cooling down (gasp!) and instead just stretched. We were just so happy to be in a dry place. Unfortunately all the post-race food was in a wet place--at the finish. We thought there would at least be something in the school, but it was empty.
After hanging out with Lei et al. for a bit and getting warm, Wynne and I got back on the road. We made a quick Dunkin' Donuts stop and then navigated through a tremendous downpour to get home. Between the rain and the fact that we missed an exit, it took us way longer to get back than we anticipated. Mad props to Wynne for driving though!
Matt and I are headed out to my grandparents' for dinner with them and our Israeli cousins who are visiting. All I want to do is take a nap, but food would be good too!
Posted by becky at May 13, 2006 4:47 PM
Comments
Sounds like almost as much fun as watching a track meet in the pouring rain! At least the weather was just as bad in Boston, so no matter where you ran today, you would have gotten soaked.
The race sounds like it might have been nice on a sunny day.
Posted by: Alison at May 13, 2006 8:31 PM