Race Report for Half at the Hamptons

Got up this morning after only four hours of sleep, so I could jump in the Jeep and drive out to Hampton, NH for the Half at the Hamptons half marathon. This is the second race in the Will Run for Beer Race Series. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of myself from this race. I don’t feel that my training is quite where it should be at this point in my overall marathon training plan for the RI Rhode Race Marathon in May. So, today was somewhat of a test. It was a test of my fitness and a test of my left leg. So, how did it go?

Well, the race started at 11:00 and in typical Denis fashion I showed up with little time to spare. I ran to the Ashworth Hotel and grabbed my bib number, timing chip, and race shirt. I headed towards to the Men’s room - Holy crap! Look at that line! No way I would make it through the line in time. So I headed upstairs and looked around for a public restroom on one of the hotel floors. No luck. I saw a cleaning lady in the hall and asked her where I could find a bathroom other than the one downstairs. She said something in Spanish, smiled, unlocked a vacant guest room and motioned for me to go inside. I thanked her in my best Spanglish and “took care of business.”

Best thing about running in a series called Will Run for Beer

Justin and I met up with less than 10 minutes to spare and waited for the air horn to sound. When it finally did, it sounded like a dying duck (turned out to be prophetic). The first 4 1/2 miles were straight into the wind. As much as I hated that, it brought me comfort because that would mean we would have the wind at our backs for the last 4 miles, or so I thought. Justin and I were pretty casual. We chatted a good bit in the beginning and talked to some other racers. My leg was achey, but nothing too too bad. More importantly, it didn’t seem to get worse during the race. Where my race suffered was that I just got tired early. My splits were all over the place, although some of that had to do with water aid stations.

Splits - 7:53, 7:53, 8:11, 8:32, 8:26, 8:37, 7:59, 8:58, 9:01, 8:27, 8:44, 8:28, 7:48, 0:53

I ended up finishing in 1:49:56. To put that in perspective, that’s 10+ minutes slower than my PR, and only 2 minutes faster than the last half that I ran in November, but I ran that one with TWO KIDS IN A STROLLER!!!!

So, while it’s not a terrible time, it’s not anything that I feel too proud of either. I’m not competing against the other racers as much as I am competing against myself. And before you chime in with “You can’t run a PR every race” - I know. I’m just whining a little. OK. I’m done now.

I ended up finishing in the top 1/3rd today, so my rank in the series standings should improve. I was ranked 135th out of 528 series racers. We’ll see how much I climb. I’d really like to finish the series in the top 10%

I got to run with some race royalty today. Team Hoyt was there inspiring the rest of us. This was the second time I’ve run with them in the last 4 months. I also met a very nice runner after the race by the name of JoEllen Cameron. She came up to me because I was wearing a Monson Memorial Classic Race shirt and she was there too. Turns out she’s the real deal. Here’s a very nice write up about her. And last but not least, I finally got to meet Chris Russell in person (from coolrunning.com fame). Justin already knows Chris. They ran a Ragnar relay together last year.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend a February morning. I may not have run as swiftly as I would have liked and my fitness probably has slipped a little since last November, but in the big picture I think I’m on track for a successful marathon in May.

Here’s some picture. (click to enlarge):