Valerie decided she wanted to go to New Hampshire. We don't make it to the New England states very often, so she wanted to tag along with me and even run the half. This being only her second half marathon ever. The above picture was just before the race near the starting line. I'll talk more about that in a minute.
The trip started on Friday. We left the house at 6:45am to catch our flight to Washington, D.C. All was normal and good. We got to DC just fine and made it to the next flight. We had over an hour wait for our next flight, so I went for a walk. I made my way over to the international gate area. It was amazing the difference. I felt like I had entered the twilight zone. Not because it was eery or spooky or anything like that, but because of the dramatic, immediate, and stark contrast to the adjacent gates. I walked from an area filled with crowds of people and narrow walkways and clamoring noises and a fast-food culture, and I don't just mean the food... Everything seemed quick and easy and designed for a nameless, faceless culture whom all had their faces firmly planted in their mobile device, all of which seemed perfectly normal to me until I wandered aimlessly into the international area. By contrast, there was opulence and a capacious atmosphere. It had the feel of a high end mall. There were high end watch and jewelry shops. There were restaurants, not simply chains of fast-food resellers. These were sit-down restaurants with wait-staff and chefs and a host, probably a sommelier, I am guessing. There were significantly less people around, and those that were there were not running and rushing around, but walking calmly to their destination. It was a whole different world. I did not feel like I was being punked, but it was palpably different. I found it odd, calming and relaxing and enjoyable, but odd. As I was walking through the oppulentport, Valerie texted me to inform me that they had cancelled our flight. So, I reluctantly made my way back to 'Merica and then to the United Customer Service desk. I am only using the term customer service as it was written on the sign, but rest assured, there was NO semblance of customer service associated with the desk here in "Merica at the United counter. We waited in the line for... ummm... almost two hours.... all the while the sole working agent assisted a grand total of two people. And when I say assisted, I mean to say that she told them all sorts of things that they did not want to hear and they left rather upset. One was yelling and the other was crying. Eventually, another two agents showed up on the scene and Valerie and I were able to get another flight out that evening. We were originally scheduled to fly to Portland Maine, but we were now headed to Boston, Mass and then we would rent a car and drive to Alton, NH. There were a few other "funny" (not funny at all) things that happened in that "customer service" line, but suffice it to say that all of the elderly people that were scheduled to go to Portland for a cruise the next morning all angrily and reluctantly found another way to get to where they were going and we maintained a laissez-faire attitude and developed an alternate plan for ourselves. The rental car drive would take us a bit longer and would cost us three times as much, but we were able to spend the day together in the airport. lol.
Finally we made our way to Boston and drove to our hotel. We stopped at a restaurant out in the middle of nowhere and had some pasta as our pre-race meal. It was average. Then made it to the hotel and checked in, only to remember that we had not yet run that day... so, we ventured out and ran our obligatory mile just before 11:00pm... then shower and off to bed as we both had a race in the morning. Our hotel was about 30 minutes from the race venue, but the race was not scheduled to start until 8:00am. Packet pick-up was only the morning of, starting at 6:45 to 7:30 am.
I woke up at 4:30am. I don't know why. Maybe because we stayed in the noisiest room in New Hampshire. Our room was a "special" room called the Bell Tower Room. It was above a restaurant and the "night life". There was actually a bell tower and it did toll. There was also a waterfall that was powered. I believe the motor was right adjacent to our room. There was also a refrigerator in the room that I eventually unplugged so that I could sleep at all. Anyway, I was up at 4:30am and I was instantly startled to note it was bright out. I thought I had over slept and we were going to miss the race after all. The picture to the left was at 4:30. Since when does the sun rise at 4:30????? I finally woke Valerie at 6:00am. I normally get up a few hours before the race to make sure I can get some nutrients in me and make certain I have time to get things moving adequately and out of my system before I am forced to enter the porta-potty mayhem. Valerie finally got moving at 6:30 and we were off to the race at 6:45am. At the race by 7:20am. we had plenty of time to get out race bibs and t-shirts. 
There were 920 people signed up for this race and there were 699 total finishers. I am proud to report both Valerie and I were counted among the finishers. The start was a simple start with a guy talking on a two speaker PA system and an inflatable up and over START banner. The announcer informed us to make our way to the start and "seed ourselves", although there was no signs delineating pace or time or anything. So, one simply walked up and positioned themselves somewhere in front of people they thought they might be faster than and behind those they thought they might be slower than. You can imagine how well that worked out. We started some 7 minutes late and he said, "on your mark.... GO, GO, GO!!!" And off we went.
As we were driving in to the race start, we noticed the mile markers and cones on the road. It did not take us long to figure out that this was the course for our race. It also did not take very long for us to notice that we were driving downhill a LOT... which meant that we would be running uphill a LOT! Take a look at this elevation from my Garmin.
The aspects that are striking to me, that I would like for you to notice is the significant uphill portions, but also the severe downhill portions in a couple spots. There was one section just after the big uphill that was seemingly straight down. I ran that portion of the downhill at a 4:58 pace. The entire mile I ran at 7:02. It was steep. I struggled a bit with all of the uphill sections, but the most difficult part for me was seeing all of the rolling hills ahead. I kept thinking we were done with the uphill part. The course was partly out and back, and the out part was uphill like the whole way, so I figured the back part HAD to be downhill, and it was in net change, but it was steep downhill, then uphill again, then steep downhill and back uphill, over and over and over. It really messed with my mind. In fact, at mile 8 or 9 or somewhere near there I convinced myself that I was not going to make a PR, so I should just allow myself to slow down and not stress myself mentally or physically... what would be the point? So, when I got near the finish and realized that with just a bit of effort in those tough moments I could have posted another PR. I somewhat gave up, and paid the price for it with my finish time.
It was a pretty course, that is the area was pretty. Right on the lake much of the way and through some residential neighborhoods that backed up to the water. A long stretch was on the major road with only partial road closure, but there was a fairly wide shoulder, so it was not a big deal as long as you don't mind cars wizzing by. New Hampshire is a beautiful place with all of the trees and colors etc... The weather was 47F at the start and warmed to 55F or so with a light to mild breeze. 47F did not fell like what 47 feels like here in Florida. It felt more like 55-60. I was very comfortable in my shorts and T.
Valerie tweaked her hamstring a bit and had to walk much of the last mile, but she did the smart thing and did not push it and injure herself like I probably would have done. She is the smart one.
There was Pizza and ice-cream and bananas and popcorn at the finish. I waited for a while and then walked back up the course and found Valerie and jogged in to the finish with her. Here we are post-race.
And here is the medal and my post-race selfie:
I finished with a decent time. Overall I am happy with the results. We had a nice time and the trip home was much less eventful.
Next race is in a couple weeks in Steamboat Springs, CO and then a couple weeks later in Alaska. I will post after the Colorado race to keep you up to date. Thanks for reading this far. TTFN, TTYL.
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