Happy New Year! Let's run 6.2 miles on a tequila / vodka hangover. Who does that? Morons. I had not run 6 miles yet, at least not in one day, and there I was running 6.2 on a hangover. Moron. Thankfully for me, January 1st, 2011, was a freak weather moment for New England. It was 55 - 60 degrees and sunny! Off came the winter wear and on came the spring spandex. This may not paint a pretty picture for some so picture this instead... all the running hotties did the same. You just have to appreciate toned tummies and bobbing pig-tails. It's a great way to start the year.
Anyhoo...
The crowd was fun. Having never been a part of the runner's world I had always assumed it was filled with hard-core, half-crazed spandex wearing people who routinely shave the hair from every inch of the bodies, religiously worry about their body fat percentage, and don the latest aerodynamic eye-wear guaranteed to cut your pace by 10 milliseconds... and I was half correct. They were there in all their glory busying themselves with their pre-race rituals: warm-up miles, stretching regiments, pre-race snacks with the perfect carbo to protein ratio. I was with the other half: the no-core, half-awake people who routinely question if they need to shave, unceremoniously poke at their body fat, and don whatever happened to be clean and athletically-looking when they woke up. We had our own pre-race ritual: warm-up sitting, yawning regiments, and wandering aimlessly around looking for the shortest line to a porta-potty.
The weather, clearly, was fantastic. It would be unfair to even use the weather as a promotion of this race. New England in January is not warm and sunny. It is cold and unforgiving. You are not suppose to need a bikini wax before going to a New England beach in January.
The course was OK. Nothing exciting. The beach is flat so the course was, obviously, without hills.
I did learn plenty that day. First of all, there are basic rules which everyone must follow. I am not talking about the race rules: no pushing, no shoving, no cheating, no running close behind that very attracted brunette in the turquoise... etc. I am referring to the unwritten rules that all runners will learn from doing one race. (The following are in no specific order or level of importance. I was also not guilty of breaking all of these rules... not all of them.)
Rule #1: Do not spit or expel snot-rockets if you are running in the middle of the road. Please move over to the side of the road and look over your shoulder before expelling to avoid spraying other runners in mucous joy. If you do not, the runners will hate you.
Rule #2: Do not run too closely behind other runners. First of all and most obvious, you might trip them. This will make them hate you. Secondly and maybe not so obvious to some people (read: guys), it might make some of them (read: women) feel less like a competitor and more like an entrée. This will definitely make them hate you.
Rule #3: Do not under any circumstances underestimate the other runners. In no way does their body type, age, or personal appearance indicate in any way how fast and/or strong they really are! Yes, you can assume those Type-A'ers with their 3% body fat will be fast; but, you may be surprised when the dumpy mother of two catches you by the third mile and crushes your soul beneath her well-trained, no-nonsense, this-body-has-pushed-out-2-kids-without-drugs-what-has-your-body-done pace. She'll do this while hating you.
You know what wasn't good? The organizers. They were clearly still drunk from the previous night. They did not have all the miles marked. They did not get approval to have their race cross over into New Hampshire. They did not have enough water at the end. They had no snacks. They did have beer at one of the water stops... still up in the air if this was good or not.
SUMMARY
I clocked a time of 47:53 (7:43 pace). For my first 10K, I'll take it. All in all the race was not great but it was not bad. Hopefully the organizers will take the multiple hints given by the competitors and get their shit together. They won't have great weather to carrying them next year.
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