Kevin and I decided to leave around 4 to get there for 6 start. What we didn't account for was the early Friday rush hour in Providence and Narragansett. So we made it to Nikki's house at 5:30. We ended up parking in the Stop and Shop parking lot and running a half mile or so to the registration table. After we signed up and got our bib we had about 2 minutes before the start of the race to pee and stretch what we could.
The start of the race was pretty sweet. There was a huge group of runners, 3500+ I think. The first half mile or so, in fact pretty much the whole race, was littered with people on the side of the road (most of them drunk) yelling encouragement. The weather was great for the first 2 miles, I think it was about 70, no sun, no rain, awesome. I felt great, no pain running with ease. I think, in retrospect, I went out too fast, considering my lack of training for the race.
At about mile 3, it started to drizzle a little, which was nice because I was starting to sweat and the cold rain felt fantastic. There was a great supply of water during the race. I think the first one was a quarter mile in, which I appreciated because I was parched going in. There was a stand at least every half mile. Anyways, at about mile 3.5 I think, it started to downpour. At first it didn't really affect me much, but after a while it started to get to me. My shirt and shorts were so heavy and worst of all my socks were soaked. Once my soaks started to get wet it was only time for the blisters to start coming...and of course they did. Right now I have a pretty sweet looking blood blister that I just popped, and it leaked like an ounce of blood I think.
The rain persisted for about 3 or 4 miles I would say, as did the smoothness of my running. I hit a WALL at about mile 7.5 or 8 that I couldn't shake. Even though I told myself I wouldn't I had to walk for about a quarter to a half mile... weakkk. Although the crowd support got me back into it. The one thing the race lacked were mile markers. I never had an idea of how far we were or what my pace was. Everytime one of the spectators yelled something out, like 4 miles done I would run about a half mile and someone would say almost at 4 miles... It didn't bother me till the end, when I just wanted the damn thing to be over. At what I think was mile 9, Jess told me we had a mile left, so I was like OK lets pump out this last mile. Then we ran another .3 miles maybe and someone yelled out almost at 9 miles. I was like ARE YOU SERIOUS, where in God's name is this finish line??
Once the finish line was in sight, I finished pretty strong, and enjoyed the post-race water, oranges and grapes... best oranges I've ever eaten. I finished around 1:48 or 1:49 I think. Not what I was expected but I'm going to name some excuses because it makes me feel better. First the weather, my inflamed foot and blisters, my lack of really eating anything all day, and my lack of the recent long run training. It made me feel confident for the Half, and excited for more future races. If anybody ever told me before 3 months ago what I would run 10 miles, I don't even know what my reaction would be.
The worst part about the race was walking back to the car (over 2 miles away) with those damn blisters. The best part was the post race oranges, the crowd support, and stopping at Leo's for some nostalgia on the way home.
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