Hyannis Results

Hey everyone (all 3 of you right now).

It's been almost a week since Hyannis. I've run twice since then, a 3 miler and a 10 miler. Both were attempts at getting back to my normal pace (~8:30) after training for the half at around 10:00/miles because I ran it with my girlfriend. Well; I've committed myself to the Providence Marathon (Rhode Races) on May 2, so I need to get back to my training routine, because that race is less than 2 months away.

But anyway, that's not the purpose of this post. I wanted to comment on Hyannis.

The day couldn't have been better. The temp was probably around 38 at race start and 43 at finish. There were clouds in the sky, and the air was clear. As we lined up for the start I felt a little rushed, and too packed in so I found a spot to stretch some more and gather myself. I did and got back in line. The race started about 10 minutes late due to people not getting to the line in time (which I think was a direct result of inadequate port-a-potty numbers). For the 4000+ runners, there were probably only 25 port-a-potties. For 4000 runners, you conservatively need 50 to help everyone 'prepare'.

Nonetheless, eventually the race started, it took us about 2 minutes to cross the start line, but the race was timed with D-tag, so it didn't affect our time at all. I love D-tag, and always keep mine as another race memorabilia. During the first 2 miles it was still pretty congested but was moving at the pace I was hoping for Morgan. We continued on, and at around 2.5 miles hit the first water stop which had plenty of volunteers and water, but Morgan needed to use the port-a-potty, but there was only one there and had a long line (every port-a-potty along the course had long lines, so Morgan was unable to use them during the race).

The route was great. It took us along the water a couple of times which gave us spectacular views, and the hills were manageable. I do wish there were more spectators along the course itself, but there were SOOO many at the finish line which gave Morgan, who has never experienced that sensation in that magnitude, a great burst of final adrenaline and speed.

We crossed the finish line in 2:14:49, which is around what I expected for Morgan. She beat my first half time by about 4 minutes, so she was happy with that. She's running another half in Providence, but this time realizes that race I will be running my own speed to better my first (abysmal) marathon time.

I am waiting on most of my pics to come in, but here are a few others I've found.

In the first image, Morgan and I are in the background (the blue glove is basically pointing at us) this is taken about .1 miles from the finish. The right image is of me and Morgan mid race. I am in the light blue with the hat, and Morgan is next to me fixing her hair.

Well, that's it for now, so I will post again when I have more time. I want to post about what got me starting to run.

Cheers everyone!

Hyannis Half

Well, I'm leaving tonight to begin my weekend vacation which will eventually lead me to my 6th half marathon which I am running with my girlfriend to accompany her on her first half. Clearly this will not be a PR (1:45:17) attempting run because Morgan hasn't been running these longer distances as long as I have, so she hasn't quite built up the speed yet; but I can't wait to see her face when she crosses that finish line and feels the great sense of accomplishment. The weather is looking a little chilly with the possibility of an accompanying rain or snow shower but as of right now only 30%. I'm also running with my dad, and my Aunt in the half marathon. My dad will probably beat Morgan and I by a few minutes. He's ran one other half marathon in a 2:09ish time. My aunt has run one half and one full, with her half time around 2:45 so Morgan and I should beat that. Also running in the even is my sister, who only began running about 4-5 months ago, and she is doing the associated 10k. She ran a 5 miler on Thanksgiving 2009 morning in just under an hour, so I expect her to be around a 1:15 for the 6.2. We're going to have a lot of support; my mom, my sister's boyfriend, my uncle (aunt's husband), Morgan's mom and her mom's friend will all be around to cheer us on.

Also, there are about 20 Dailymilers (http://www.dailymile.com) who will also be running in the race, so it would be nice to meet some of them!

We have a hotel, so we are going down to Hyannis on Saturday to attend the race expo, and to relax, and we have extended checkout on race day, so we have until 3pm after the race to go back and take a shower/celebrate/etc. All in all I am greatly looking forward to my favorite race distance, and looking forward to enjoying this weekend race experience with my girlfriend. I will post pictures and results in my next post.

Till then!

Cheers everyone!

Daily Mile

The first post I want to do is to tell anybody out there about a great running website. Dailymile.com is a facebook-like community of runners. You can post your runs, follow other runners workouts, post and read forums, ask for advice, and much more. It allows me to view my distance by week, by day, by month, and by year. It is a continually growing community, and I check it everyday. If you are a serious runner or athlete, I strongly encourage you to go to Dailymile.com and sign up for a free account. You can also map your runs if you are unsure of the distance, and keep track of your time. If you do sign up be sure to add me as your first friend by going to my Dailymile page. Thanks. Cheers for now.

Remember, Runs will always end, but being a runner never stops.

Welcome

I figure now more than ever might be an opportune time to begin a running blog.

Hi. My name is Matt and I am, amongst other things, a runner. I am not a fast runner, and chances are good I will never place in a race let alone win, and I'm okay with that. That is not what running is about to me. Running is freedom, running is passion, running is a feeling...running is fun. In my future blogs I will recount stories, races, training runs, and experiences I have had while running. I hope to make things interesting to read about and hopefully can inspire others to journey out there and take their first steps towards becoming a runner. And if you already do consider yourself among the running community then I look forward to sharing similar but unique experiences with you.

For now.

Cheers