New Bedford Half Marathon 3.18.07

The New Bedford Half Marathon was my first half marathon and my longest race to date. Needless to say I was nervous; I am before all races. It was all good nerves and I think made the race more fun.

The Friday before the race we got a Nor'easter, which dumped about 6 inches of snow and sleet in Quincy (more up North and less down South). The wind was blowing so hard my windows were shaking and I could hear the ice pinging against the windows.

By Saturday morning when I woke up to shovel at 7:30am the snow/sleet had turned to rain, which made the snow on the ground heavier than ever. I shoveled out my car and headed back in for oatmeal, hot tea, pyjamas and more sleep.

With all this crazy weather I had no idea what Sunday was going to be like for the race so I decided I had definitely better drive down on Saturday to pick up my number and scope out the roads. New Bedford received significantly less snow fall than points north so I wasn't too worried. The roads were clear and would be ready to race on Sunday.

The race start was at 11am and I was nervous about getting there. I found a place to park, looked up and Sarah was walking by. Thank goodness! A familiar face and someone I could be lost with! We found our way to the gym, which smelled of the post-race meal - fish sandwiches and chowdah, ew! During the check in/bathroom process we managed to run into Kevin and Stephanie, more familiar faces from Team BMC.

Sarah and I headed down to the race start and were not excited about the excessive winds, but didn't really have any choice. We knew we had to keep a 8:30 - 9:00 pace so we could reach our goal of 2 hours. The start was very crowded and we weren't really able to break free of the crowd until around mile 3, but we did and got into a good groove.

Mile 3... ugh, it sends shivers up my spine. That hill was tall and long and awful! I don't want to see it again (until maybe next year). After that though we had a very nice fast downhill with a tailwind. This turned into a long stretch of flat right next to the ocean to enjoy the ocean breeze. In the summertime I love that nice ocean breeze, but Sunday was not the summertime and I hated that ocean breeze. It was cold and smacking me right in the side of the face. Not fun! We had met up with Kevin around the 6 mile mark so we joined him for this stretch of "ocean breeze" that lasted from about miles 8-11. Somewhere after that time we found Stephanie who was doing great - and thankfully had no ice in her ponytail for once! After that I was really just looking for the hill at mile 12. We headed up a hill, but it wasn't the monster of a hill that I had expected. It was more of a long steady incline, which led me to think that that wasn't really the hill I was waiting for. All of a sudden we turn a corner and this guy says, "less than 250 feet to go!" and I realize it's flat and I will be done soon. Sarah and I kicked it in for the last stretch and were so thankful we finished.

This was a great experience. I learned that I definitely cannot come out that fast for my first marathon. I also learned the importance of hydration because at one point I was feeling kind of out of it and then realized that I hadn't really drank that much. I did have one GU packet, but I don't think that was enough to help me.

I treated myself to lunch at my favorite sandwich place and then tried to relax. I couldn't really though because I was so excited about the performance. I talked Dave's ear off for the rest of the day until I crashed at about 10:15 when I went to bed. Then I woke up Monday to talk off Steve's (my manager's) ear for all of Monday. I can't even imagine what I'll be like on April 16th and after! I feel sorry for those around me and apologize in advance for not shutting up!

New Bedford Results
Date: 3.18.2007
Age: 24
Bib #: 69
Distance: 13.1 miles
Goal Time: 02:00:00
Actual Time: 01:49:34
Pace: 8:22
Place Overall: 876/1827
Age Group (19-24) Place: 27/73
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