If it's Thanksgiving, it must be time to do a race before stuffing ourselves with turkey! Normally I'm in Austin and do the Turkey Trot, but this year I was visiting Suellen in Rhode Island.
Luckily, there was a race across the bay in Newport, the Newport Pie Run. A 5 miler along the beach and over a hill in a big loop. It's called the Pie Run because the age group winners used to get pies as awards. Now they actually give everyone a little mini pie with their registration. I got a cherry one, and suellen banana creme. They made quite tasty post-race snacks :)
The weather up here in RI had been rainy most of the week, but today things held off. It was overcast and about 48. Very good weather for a run! It was pretty humid, but with the weather so cool that didn't really bother me.
There were about 1200 runners doing the race, and it started on a nice wide road by the YMCA. So it wasn't too crowded. I lined up about 10 yards from the front, as I didn't need to get caught up in a bunch of guys (and a few girls) running 5-6 minute miles!
This was mostly just for fun, but I still had a goal. I wanted to run a sub-35 minute race, to go under a 7 minute mile average. I thought if I went out conservatively and was patient I'd be able to hold on for 5 miles.
As was usual with a New England race, there was no fanfare at the start, just a sudden air horn and off we went! I went out around 7:15 pace, then as things thinned out I got down to 7. Not too many people out along the route cheering, but the few that were out were enthusiastic.
The first couple miles flew by, and I was right on pace. 7:02 for the first, 6:58 for the second. About mid-way through the third mile we crested a hill and I saw we were going to run down the much steeper back side to the beach. This was an out and back course, so I knew we'd be coming back up the hill in a little while. I also overhead someone running behind me say "this is the big hill we come up". So at least I had some idea what to expect.
It was nice flying down the hill, then hitting the turnaround. The cool weather was great to run in. The first three miles took me exactly 21:00, so I was right on pace.
Then it was up the hill! It wasn't super steep, but did go for a while. I just tried to run smooth and steady. When I hit the top I could see the road slope away in a glorious half mile of downhill! I started to pick up the pace. The mile 4 marker went by (actually a volunteer calling out the race time), and I'd only dropped about 15 seconds up the hill.
I started really cruising down the hill, and this is the point where I zoned out a bit. For some reason I thought I had 2 miles to go, instead of only 1! About a half mile from the finish I realized my mistake. Ooops! I really started trying to pick it up then, knowing I didn't have much race left.
That last mile was great, I felt really good and was passing lots of folks. The timing was by tear tag, so I could see the chutes lined up at the finish. As I sprinted in, they waved me to a chute and I crossed the finish. 34:46! I beat my 35 minute goal. That last mile with the downhill was great, I ran about a 6:30 down it.
After catching my breath I jogged back and ran with Suellen to her finish. Then we feasted on our mini pies on the drive home :) In the final results I was 3rd or 4th in my age group (depending on whether you counted the #2 overall woman who was in my age group) and 20th woman overall. The girls are fast up here in New England!
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