3rd Annual Surftown Half Marathon

15+ Miles (Roads) - Warmup/Race

Results below:

2011 - 2:12:04 @10:05 avg., #587 of 818
2012 - 1:56:10 @  8:52 avg., #496 of 1261

2013 - 1:43:31 @ 7:55 avg.,  #194 of 1613!

Huge PR, and Strava clocked me at 1:42:22, even better!  Half hour better than two years ago.  I was still at my house having a cup of coffee when Mike B. texted me to say that the traffic getting to Misquamicut was already backed up.  I decided to go the back way in, and drive down to the beach club we go to.  When I hit Atlantic Ave. and saw the traffic, I decided to park at Seaside and run the 2+ miles to the race start as my warmup.  Smart move, I think!

Got to the start line with 5 minutes to spare, and ran into a bunch of WTAC singlets lined up in front!  Everyone chatted for a minute, we wished each other luck, and I lined up close to where I thought I should be.  I'd written my "per kilometer" goal time on my hand, and the 1:45 pace leader was four rows ahead of me, so I figured this into my game plan:  Catch up to the 1:45 dude, pass him, and don't see him again for the rest of the race.

I see Beth, and go over to chat with BLS and her friend Monica, and see my friend Kenny, who waited too late to register and ran it as a fun run (and did it in 1:42?).  Gun goes off, and I'm literally standing there, then walking, then moving past the timing mat.  I kept the 1:45 pace leader in my sights and caught him at 1.5 miles and said hello.  I told him my game plan and he says "Oh, you need to catch the other 1:45 pace guy up ahead, he's going for 1:44 and if you pass him, you're gonna PR for sure.  Took me another 3 miles, but I caught him and said hello, and remarked that I wasn't going to see him again...I didn't.  Saw Leanne Noonan at mile 5, and ran backwards for a second for a photo op:

"not being an idiot during races might get my time lower, but wouldn't be nearly as much fun..."

Nothing really eventful happened after that, other than I saw John Hammett senior at the bottom of the "Hill" in Watch Hill, cheering the runners on!  Nice to see, and nice to see so many people out cheering the runners on, and early on a Sunday!  No sign of Taylor Swift, she must have slept in :)

My pace remained so steady it was ridiculous.  My running app usually chirps out my splits, but I didn't have the volume up, so I relied on how I felt, rather than how my phone was telling me I was doing.  I'm not fast, but I pretty much knew exactly how I was doing the entire race, which is another sign of progress...

Chilled post-race with WTAC'ers Seth "Action" Acton, Ryan and Leanne, had some chowda (served by Jana!), and basked in the post-race glow.  Muddy won???  He was giving interviews like a rockstar...

Ryan Woolley took third behind an Olympic runner?  Jeff 6th???  Seth 13th, Matthew 26th in his first Half at 13 years old, and Mike B. 30th of 1600+ after knee surgery in April???  Beth rocks a 2:19 and finished fast enough that I couldn't snap a picture from the sidelines...This was a great day for running, for sure.  Ryan Noonan ran his first Half Marathon in 1:48, as a warmup for the New York City Marathon, where he'll be running to raise scholarship funds for kids with Type 1 diabetes.  Cool...

So an awesome day!  The weather was perfect, huge crowd, great WTAC turnout, and we had fun!  I'll be posting pictures soon to the Facebook page, sent by Leanne, and setting up for our next race!  Trail training runs, here I come...look out, Nipmuck!