This past weekend was a big running weekend for me. I went up to Alton, New Hampshire, early Saturday morning to run the Big Lake Half Marathon. Supposedly it’s a very beautiful course. I’m not really sure. I didn’t fuel up properly beforehand (normally I eat a peanut-butter sandwich and a banana, but since I left the house at 5 a.m. and the race didn’t start till 9, my belly got all rumbly before then) and I tried to keep up with my much-faster friends for the first three miles, so by the middle, I was just kind of chugging along without a whole bunch of steam. Much more “I think I can, I think I can,” than any speed engine. I did notice some very sweet houses on the lake (oh, how I want a summer home on a lake!), but other than that I was very focused on getting to the end. I did respectably: 465 (out of 1202) and 24 (out of 89) in my division. My chip time was 1:54:47 for a 8:46 pace, which is fine, but not my best. I was heartened to see that if the race were just one and a half months later, I’d have finished 20th in my division (the only reason I can see to truly look forward to turning 40 is that it bumps me up into the next age category).
As a recovery run, I decided on Sunday morning to do the Melrose Run for Women. This is the third time I’ve run it (fourth I’ve signed up, but one year the rains were so bad the course flooded and the race was canceled), and it’s such a lovely run. My kids talked all week about the race they were going to run, as there’s a fun run beforehand. I think Pie was disappointed because the kids’ run for the under 8s was only a dash (“too short!” she said after) but she had a blast doing it. And she ran in the right direction this year! Last year was her first time running it and she kind of spun around confused. Doodles of course took off and proudly wore his ribbon afterward. I’m so psyched my kids are into running–I look forward to the day we can do full races together (remember the days, before we were married, when Adam ran with me? Ah, yes. And we were married–what? five minutes–before he announced he hated running and never laced up any running shoes again?). The race is a nice course and it’s an easy 3.5 miles. I did a fine job on it, especially after the half: no chips, but my gun time was 27:11.5 for a 7.46 pace. I finished 56 out of 644.
Now I have to figure out my next races. My name is in the lottery for the NYC marathon again. If I don’t get into that, I’ll run the Baystate Marathon. I have a half scheduled for September, the same day my brother-in-law is getting married (and by pure coincidence, the race and the wedding are in the same town in Maine and the race is in the morning and the wedding in the afternoon. What luck!). I don’t want to schedule too many other halfs until I figure out which marathon I’m running . But if anyone wants to meet up somewhere for a race, I’m generally game. The races wear me out, but in a good way, and I’m always up for another one.
Run run run. Of course there is one added benefit: Sorry, Adam. I’m really too tired after those races to put the kids to bed. Can you handle it yourself? Snooooooze.
So cute… I notice, all the kids wear the running shoes. I just try to find my sweet daughter in this run.