Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon
Finishers: 3,884
October 4, 2014
Some of my trips become a race within a race. I have been known to make 24 hour trips out and back to a race and this was definitely one of those races. I took an early afternoon flight up to Boston, grabbed a car and started on my rainy adventure to Hampton, New Hampshire. It's only an hour drive but it was raining and driving in the rain is my biggest fear. To add to that, the rental car had the right side view mirror flipped in and I didn't notice it until I had already started driving. So rain + side mirror dilemma = stop for coffee. I made it up to Hampton which is right across the Massachusetts border on the small coast that New Hampshire has. The packet pick up was at the Smuttynose Brewery but it was too rainy to enjoy the brewery festivities.
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| Thank you. |
The race numbers were alphabetized so I went up to my table to find a mother and daughter chit chatting away. I gave them my drivers licenses and you would have thought I was Oprah based on their reaction:
"Oh my Gosh!! It's Ashley from Atlanta! We've been waiting for you all day!!"
I was very confused but they explained that everyone on their list was from one of the northeastern states and they had been waiting all day to ask me why in the world I had come all the way to New Hampshire. I told them I just flew in for the race and told them about my goal and they immediately wanted to be my best friend. (I mean...who wouldn't) We chatted some more because the daughter was interested in looking at Mercer and Emory for school so they wanted to know about the Atlanta area. After about 15 minutes of chatting, I'm surprised I never just pulled up a chair, but finally I said my goodbyes to my new friends and scurried on my way. The man passing out shirts in the rain asked if I was excited for the run and wanted to know if this was my first race. I decided to keep this stranger interaction simple and replied "Yup - I'm really nervous" to which he gave me some advice and sent me on my way.
Now that I had my race bib, it was the holding stage of my 24 hour trip. I went to the hotel which was in Amesbury, Massachusetts and just hung out for a while and watched the Auburn v. LSU game debating on what to pick up for dinner. After skimming through a ton of small town options, I ran to the grocery store to get popcorn for the night and then picked up some pasta from a local restaurant and then went back to eat in my bed and stay off my feet. I tend to get two double beds when I travel so I can eat in one and sleep in the other. That's normal, right? After my popcorn snack, I called it a night and got some beauty sleep for race day.
October 5, 2014
I don't remember being unnecessarily nervous for this race but I do remember having a little "uh-oh" with a coffee pot and a single serve oatmeal container. I don't want to talk about it but let's just say, don't put a cardboard container holding oats and water on a hot plate...it will melt and the bottom of the container will fall out and make a mess (I'm an idiot). That being said, I had to make a stop at Dunkin Donuts to get me a sandwich and a coffee before driving the 20 minutes or so through the small beach towns to the race start. I was one of the first people in the parking lot so I just hung out in my car parked on the boardwalk while the sun came up. The crazy people at Dunkin had decided to try and kill me by adding a zillion pounds of sugar and cream to my coffee which was a big surprise when I took that first sip. Needing a little pick me up, I ventured to a little icecream shop turned morning coffee shop for a little brew. Please note this is all at like 6am and I'm just wandering the streets. It was by no means warm, but it would be perfect weather for a nice 13.1 mile jog. The race started at 8am so I figured I may as well get my game face on and head to the start.
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| Gorgeous sunrise to start the race morning! |
The race started in waves, and as usual it was based on your estimated finish time. I was in wave 3 of 5 and they had wave 1, 2 and 3 lined up down one side of the street and 4 and 5 on the other side. Well, some genius decided to start wave 1 then 2 then release 4 and then 3 and 5 at the same time. If you have ever run a distance race, you know this makes for a very interesting start. For one, you are stuck with all of the people who have an estimated finish time of about an 3 hours when I am trying to run at a 2 hour pace and this creates a bit of traffic. On top of that, the first 4 miles of the course was two 2 mile laps around the town of Hampton so the streets were roped off and they were literally corralling us like cattle - for 4 miles. It was a mess but it has some element of entertainment because you basically play frogger and shoot the gap with all of the other runners. I may not be able to merge in Atlanta traffic, but I am a professional merger in the game of half marathons. It take a bit of practice but after four years of cross country and 31 other half marathons, I think I've gotten it down to a science. The other nice thing about the race start being a bit packed, was that it forced me to conserve my energy instead of taking off like a crazy pants and getting winded which happens a lot just because of the adrenaline.
So, after the first four miles, the course broke off on the road and headed up the Atlantic Coast - this was gorgeous. The coast was on our right side and the waves were crashing over the seawall so every now and then you'd get a little splash. You could see the cliffs up in the distance and for some reason the beauty of it all was very motivating. There was a group of guys really strong looking guys running in kilts and they had a girl with them who was running in one of those high altitude training masks. I was super impressed remembering my race in Santa Fe a few weeks back, and decided to try and keep pace with them. I was feeling really strong and after a while decided to sprint ahead a little. When we got to Mile 6.5, the course cut off to the left and ventured through the hilly neighborhoods of Hampton for the next 3.5 miles. I have only been to New Hampshire once before for work, but everyone always told me I HAD to come back in the fall to see the leaves changing and now I knew why. It was gorgeous. The colors of the trees was amazing added to the crisp, cool morning made the miles just fly by. I was excited that I still felt strong and knew that once we made the turn at around mile 10, that I only had a 5K to go. Added to the fact that race was so pretty and I still had some gas left in the tank, I was ready to do some serious running on this last leg.
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| Not my picture, but you can see what I'm talking about with the sea wall |
Mile 10 to 11. 5 was a slow, gradual uphill climb but that is oddly my specialty. I had taken a energy gel around Mile 9 and was ready for it to kick in so I could make that last stretch to the finish. I conquered the uphill and the route then followed the coast, now on my left and wound back around to the downtown area where the race had begun. A mile and a half to go and I had so much going through my mind. I was confused about where this new found speed was coming from but I felt confident that I could hold the pace and stay strong. I love races where you can see the finish line - I could see this big seashell on the coast from a mile and a half away and I just kept my eyes on it. It is times like these that I wish I wore a watch that tracked my splits because I was easily kicking at a 7-8 min/mile pace for this last bit of the race and I was feeling incredible. The last bit cruised through the downtown and instead of my super sprint at the end that I usually had, I cruised in with whatever I had left after using most of my energy for the last 3 miles. Crossing the finish line, I got the text of my time -- 2:00:10. Ten seconds....woof. I never set a time goal but breaking the two hour mark always means I had crushed the race. I knew had it not been for the bottleneck in the beginning of the race, I may have been able to break two but what can you do? So close.
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| Snapchat sent to friends immediately after race |
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| Official Race Photo - New Hampshire #32 - 18 more states to go! |
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| Medal #32 and Lobster Roll |
All in all, it was a gorgeous race that I highly recommend!
32 states down, 18 more to go! -- 2:00:10
#DREAMBIG
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