Narragansett Fall Half Marathon

In the past 6 weeks, I have spent 3 of them on our race courses and the other two on my sons’ cross-country courses. On the 6th one – what do I do Test my own legs with a half marathon!

I haven’t raced a half in 2-3 years, I haven’t even run longer than 7 or 8 miles since June. But the Race Director for this race is just a great guy, I have heard nothing but wonderful things about his races. So I wanted to give it a go – both to see what I have personally and see what he has professionally!

I feel that I have to continue to race other events so I know what works from a participant’s point of view. While the runner doesn’t care how the aid stations get set up at 4 am, they do care what side of the road they are on, how protected the course is, how much fun the post-race festival is, and what kind of medal is given out.

So my expectations were low for myself and high for the race – both proved out to be awesome! The race was a great course of beautiful back roads and neighborhoods. I don’t think I passed a car on the whole course. It helps that it was FREEZING and early Sunday morning – but both work for me as a runner! While running, I was looking at both how the race is logistically executed and how I should execute my own race! I picked up a few good ideas for our races but ended up having a great day of running on my own.

The finish line was in the parking lot of a mall, but he had it decorated so wonderfully with barriers, pumpkins, hay bales, and corn stalks – you forgot you were in a parking lot instead of a farm! Lots of music and excitement greeted you as you came home. I was 12th overall so it was still a bit quiet when I arrived but ramped up quickly after I ran back to my car to get my jacket. The finish had pie, cider, and beer as well as a few vendors. Very fun!

Personally – I PR’d by nearly 5 mins, finishing in 1:32 and 3rd overall female. I enjoyed a yummy DownEast Cider (beer at 9:30a on a Sunday seemed wrong – Cider is practically Apple Juice, so that’s ok!), I hung out with some of my Rhode Island Runner peeps and headed home to shower and warm up.

I have been running for nearly 30 years, I thought my days for PRs were behind me – gave me a new confidence to think there are still some ahead of me! I focused on feeling positive and without pain, feeling light and fast. This article hit home because it epitomized how I focused on feeling comfortable.