Cheshire Half Marathon
Cheshire, Connecticut
State #37
This was a bit of a no frills race. Don't get me wrong, the race was a well-run race and had many of the amenities of other races, but my treatment of the race made it no frills. Allow me to explain:
The race was Sunday, April 28, 2019. I flew out on Saturday morning.... alone. I did not have to take off from work. I did not have to rush to the airport. I did not have to coordinate anyone's schedules or fend for anyone but myself. Valerie drove me to the airport, dropped me off and picked me up when I returned Sunday evening. I flew Southwest non-stop. I was in the B boarding group. Boarded the plane, picked a seat, watched a movie and after a few hours arrived at my destination. We flew into Hartford and I rented a car, and economy car. It cost me $23 per day. I had only a small carry-on, so I simply walked over the rental car shuttle area and waited. It was fairly cold when I got there. I was wearing shorts, flip-flops and a short-sleeved shirt. I had to put on a jacket to wait for the shuttle. I picked a car, drove 40 min or so to the hotel, checked in, slept, awoke, raced, drove back the airport and flew home. Simple.
The packet pick-up was at the local tree nursery. There were two people working the table. No frills. "What is your bib #?", "I think it is 547.", "You Jeff?", "Yup.", "OK, you're a Large. Here is your shirt.... Men's Large. Have a good race.", "Thank you. Bye."
I had initially entered the hotel into my phone and followed the directions. I was taken to a neighboring town and pulled up to the Welcome Inn. I was a bit nervous as it was a little seedy looking. Rather than checking in, I decided to go on to the packet pick up and then find the race start and figure out all of the logistics. I did not want to spend any more time in that hotel than I had to. I was surprised to find the packet pick-up and the race venue was 15 minutes away. After packet pick up, I drove to the race start which was at Cheshire High School. As I drove there I noticed another, nicer Welcome Inn. I entered the hotel info back onto my phone and it showed properly the location as right in front of me. phew! Anyway, I found the race start and decided the start was close enough to my hotel to walk in the morning, so I went to find some grub. A pre-race meal. I drove around for a while trying to find a grocery store. Finally found one, purchased some food for dinner and breakfast in the morning. Driving back to the hotel, I noticed there was a grocery directly across the street. GPS was clearly not working with me in this little town.
I binge-watched Criminal Minds for about 4 hours and went to sleep. I slept very well. It was cold outside, ~40ยบ F. Fortunately I remembered my "yoga pants" and my gloves and a jacket. I decided not to wear the jacket, and as it turned out, I could have gotten away without the pants as well. (I would have worn shorts, for those of you that just poked out your minds eye thinking I was running without any pants.) I walked to the start. I should have driven. Parking was minimal, but I think I could have found something. Oh well, I told myself, this will be my warm-up. I arrived at the start about 15 min prior to the start. It was a simple start. The National Anthem was sung by a young lady with some special need. She was sweet. I think most of the race support was provided by the High School students, and I think she was one of the students. Anyway, there were no corrals, nor pace signs. Just line up where ever you like and when he says, "GO!"... Go! So, I went. I was very close to the front and immediately got passed by what looked like the women's track/cross country team, but then I got passed by others. Others who did not appear to be the type of person who would ordinarily pass me. They looked like back of the pack runners. One by one, around ten of them over a period of 5-8 miles. I checked my pace, thinking I was dragging, but the first mile I ran 7:08, then 7:15, then 7:19. So, I was keeping a fair pace, but still being passed. The trend though was not a good one. After mile one, I thought I should settle in to my pace. 7:15 was what I was hoping to average. So, at mile two I was dead on. At mile three, I wasn't bothered by 7:19... It was close enough. Then came mile four at 7:24, then 7:33, then 7:35. This is not good, I need to pick it up, but then I got a cramp at mile 6. It took me 4 miles to shake the cramp, then another cramp at mile 10. This one I got rid of after a mile or so, but now I was down to 8:30 something. Positive splits is not what I was going for, and the people that were passing me? They were increasing. This was a fairly fast crowd for a small town and I was slowing steadily and they were not.
In all, I finished 1:44:13. An average mile pace of 7:54. Not really what I was hoping for. I did not feel great. I struggled most of the race after mile 2. I am not sure why, but it was just not my day. I think if I had to blame it on anything, I would say my nutrition was not stellar. Oh... and there were some hefty hills. They called this a flat course, but I certainly did not see it that way.
The race ended with a 3/4 lap around the High School track, which was kinda nice. Plenty of fan support. So, I picked up my finishers medal, grabbed a turkey sandwich, a banana, and some chocolate milk. Then walked back to the hotel. Shower, rest, pack and off to the airport.
At the airport, I had about 4 hours before my flight, so I walked. Sitting at the airport after a race makes me stiff and sore, so I tend to "mall walk" the airport. Boarded the flight again in the B boarding group, watched a movie and Valerie picked me up at the airport.
No frills.
Next race is in Hawaii. I have it in my mind that I want a PR in Hawaii. Why? No reason, just think it would be nice. I need to progress and I haven't had a PR in a while. So, I think I am due. I guess I'll just keep running. Hawaii should be fun.
