This past Sunday I woke up at 6AM to head to the beautiful (and cold) New Hampshire coastline for the Run for the Border Half Marathon. I had a small cup of coffee and left to meet up with two friends, Erin and Lauren, in Salem. Once there Erin, who got me to sign up for this race, brought muffins so I gladly accepted one.
This race start (and finish) was a little odd. Since the half marathon is part of a 20 mile point to point race (the Eastern States 20 Miler) we had to park in Hampton, near the casino and take a bus to the starting point for the half. We got to the casino around 8:45, hopped in line for the bathrooms (thinking the bathrooms would be mobbed at the start - not the case), and had no trouble getting onto the bus.
 |
| So Bright! |
The half marathon start was in a little parking lot in Rye. It was quite chilly but the view more than made up for the temp. It was absolutely gorgeous out. Clear blue sky, sun sparkling on the ocean, nice waves... there were even a few surfers out on the water. I think that's crazy. I'd much rather run 13.1 miles that get in that ice cold water. Eeee! Anyway, we walked around a bit because we had a while to wait before the 11:00 start time.
This is where things started to get sketchy. We all gathered in the parking lot where we sort of assumed the start would be - there were no markers or anything - and then we were told that the start was actually up the road a ways. We all trekked over and just stood in the middle of the road blocking traffic and everything and we were told once again that it was FARTHER back up the road. We all stepped back yet again and then there was no song, no announcement, no nothing and then we were off!
 |
| Not bad for a picture on the run! |
The best parts of this race for me were running with friends and the insanely beautiful scenery. I've never run a distance race with people before so it was awesome to have company... However I do think I talked to much and that took a toll on me in the later miles. Then there was the scenery! Ocean on the left and biiiig beautiful houses to drool over on the right. Another really fun part of the race (in my opinion anyway) is that the other friend we ran with, Lauren, has a house in Hampton so she was very familiar with the area. I kept asking her what beach we were running by and how many beaches we had left. I thought that was a fun way to keep track of our progress.
Although I had my GPS watch with me I didn't really pay attention to pace. I was doing this as a training run and mainly just wanted to have fun with Erin and Lauren. In the first few miles they had us cross the road a couple of times... not for any reason that I could see. Usually we'd just see people ahead of us running across the road so we figured we should too but otherwise there were no cops or markers at that point telling us what to do. This was a bit dangerous because the road was completely open to traffic. Luckily after a few miles there was a guy who told us to cross one more time and that that was the last time we'd have to switch sides of the road.
The first 8 miles really flew by. We were all talking and picking out people that we wanted to pass so that is all a blur. There were barely any hills but I felt like the whole thing was slightly up hill, which I am sure is not true. Mile 8 was memorable because that is when the lead male in the 20 miler passed us. Mile 8. Yikes. From that point we got to cheer on the lead runners for the 20 miler which was fun and would give me a little boost every time. I was running in my Team T-Rex shirt and one of the guys that ran by actually said that was the coolest shirt he's ever seen! Haha, thanks T-Rex Runner!
I think it was around mile 11 when I started not feeling well. We were running up this fairly small bridge and I just wanted to slow down. I told Lauren and Erin to go ahead and from that point on I just went at my own pace. I realized that I had only eaten 2 Shot Bloks around mile 4 and then I had stopped fueling. I really don't think that should have caused me to slow down on a 13 mile run though. No excuses, I really just wussed out for some reason.
Miles 11-13.1 consisted of me running and walking when I felt like it. But if I walked it would be for 5-10 seconds tops. Even with my major slow down at the end I was only passed by one other half marathoner and I ended up catching up to her again before the finish.
 |
| Yay! We finished! |
The finish line was much like the start. It was disorganized again. This race was not chip timed so when I got through the finish chute they wrote down my bib number but then asked for the little tag thing that is attached to the bib. I had pulled that off because they didn't say anywhere that they would need that so she ripped my whole bib off. As usual I forgot to stop my watch at the finish so my data at the end suuuucks. I forgot about it for a couple of minutes. Yeesh.
The after party was held in the Ashworth by the Sea. As we walked in there was a little girl selling girl scout cookies. I told her she was an evil genius and bought a box of Samoas. At that point there were not a lot of people at the award ceremony/after party so there was plenty of food for us. I got a small bowl of soup and a slice of pizza. It was delicious and I would have gone back for more but we were going out to lunch at Redhook! I talked to someone who finished the 20 miler and she said by that time they had run out of water at the finish and the after party had very little food. Seeing as the 20 miler is the main event you would have thought they would have prepared a little better and saved food and water just for the 20 milers. Imagine getting to the finish and finding that after 20 miles there was nothing left. I would have been pretty upset.
E, L, and I drove up to Redhook and got a table in the sun and ordered lots of food and drinks. It was delicious and really hit the spot. I of course forgot to take pictures at that point... not so good at this blogging thing... but I got a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon jam and tomatoes and I had a small glass of the IPA and a serious brown ale. I ended up heading home around 4:30 or so I think and after a shower Evan and I decided to go out for dinner. We went to Georgio's where I once again ate and drank too much. (Fettuccine Alfredo and a Corpse Reviver II.)
Now that I have had a while to think about this race I don't really know if I would recommend it. If I think about the race details - the late and disorganized start, the confusion on the course, etc. I'd say no. It was poorly done. However, the views did go a long way to make up for it. I'd run that route again... but probably skip the race.
Even though the race itself was not the greatest I still had a good, fun run. Running with friends is awesome. This was Erin's first half marathon in about six years and Lauren's first ever! Congrats to both of you!
Results: 2:19:38
Place: 254
Division Place: 75
Pace: 10:40
