Post race picture with race shirt (not what I raced in)
Race 2 – May 12, 2018 @ 9am
Bourne – Feet, Fins & Flippers 5k
Weather: Cloudy, cool, damp; trying to rain. Course was a nice & flat but narrow.
Time: 28:30
I found myself, once again, obsessing about the weather all week. The longer I am in the running game (and the older I get) the less I like running in rainy, cold weather. The forecast for Saturday morning was pretty dismal all week. Weather can change, I do know that but this forecast seemed to be holding. My husband (who is a baseball umpire) had his game cancelled due to the rainy forecast so I figured that was it: It would be a rainy run. To top it off this 5k was taking place on the Cape Cod Canal; a notoriously windy location.
I had no choice but to stick to my plan. My Run the Cape Challenge plan is focused on completing a race in every town on Cape Cod before the end of the year. Fifteen towns in seven months seems like it should be pretty easy. It is not. The scheduling of this challenge was harder than I ever imagined and when I finally figured it all out it was clear that not sticking to my schedule would make meeting my goal impossible.
It was with that thought that got me out of bed Saturday morning early enough for coffee and to figure out what to wear. Coffee was easy; what to wear; not so much. I went with my gut. Capri’s and a long sleeve, light fleece, tech 1/4 zip. It turned out to be the perfect choice.
I arrived about 30 minutes before the start; picked up my bib, visited the restroom and sat in my car till 5 minutes before the start. I figured there was no sense in getting cold just standing and waiting. Fortunately it was not raining and there was no wind (yes, a miracle happened that morning on the canal!).
Since I had been obsessing about the weather I really hadn’t thought about the actual race; nor had I set any goal. In the back of my head I thought it would be great to do better that the last 5k and run this one under 30 minutes but honestly, that was a fleeting thought.
I tried to get relatively close to the start as there seemed to be a number of walkers and folks with their dogs. (This race was dog friendly). The path along the canal is narrow as well and it was an out and back so when the gun went off it was a cluster. I thought; no way is this going to be a fast race with all these people on the narrow pathway. Fortunately the cluster thinned pretty quickly and I settled into a pace.
One cool thing about having been running for 5+ years is that I have gotten pretty good about knowing my pace without a watch. It is not always exact but I am pretty freakishly accurate most of the time. As I ran I could tell I was pushing myself and I knew my pace was faster than my normal training runs. I was excited but cautious. I have been duped before.
As I made the turn at the halfway mark I jockeyed for position with a few people who were in my zone. One runner had a dog on a leash and honestly the only reason I kept passing them is the dog kept stopping to pee. (Spoiler alert; the dog did beat me.) The second half of the race I continued to push and while my legs and head were in the race my lungs and heart were hurting. I motivated myself purely by being annoyed that my aerobic conditioning was clearly lagging. I could feel myself slow up a little but fought hard to not give in. As I approached the finish-line I could see the race clock ticking at 27:something. I started to get excited. I put my head down and pushed over the finish-line. I did see the clock when I finished and I don’t have a working run watch but I had a feeling I made it across somewhere in the 28’s.
I had to wait to find out my official time so I hung out by the canal. I grabbed a bottle of water and sat by the water to enjoy the view and the fact that it was not raining. After about 10 minutes my official time was texted to me. 28:30!!!! Wow! I haven’t run a 5k race in under 29 minutes in years!
I could not text my success fast enough to my remote fans and support group! Once I got my time and had my moment of celebration it started to rain so I left and took myself out to breakfast.
It was an awesome second race of the Run The Cape Challenge!
For more info on the beautiful town of Bourne, MA; home to the Sagamore and Bourne Bridges (our link to the mainland) visit: Bourne
Next two back-to-back races: LM5K Run/Walk for Women and Children in Sandwich, Sat. 19, 2018 and YPD Run for a Cause in Yarmouth, Sun 20, 2018