Distance: 5 miles
Time: 42:21
Pace: 8:29/mile
Overall: 521/1049
Age Group: 64/184
Start Time: 10:00 a.m.
Temperature: Hades + humid
When I woke up this morning, I peeked out my window at what appeared to be cool, rainy weather. I packed up a little bag with a jacket and thanked my lucky stars that the late start time wouldn't be accompanied by the hot Mexican sun.
When I stepped outside, I realized that my assumptions were quite wrong. Humidity hung in the air like a wet sock and I began to dread the impending scoot around South Boston. A few stops down the Red line and a bus ride down the Silver line later, the dread intensified as I picked up my race packet and goody bag (which did include a cool metal water bottle, pistachio green shirt, and City Sports backpack). I saw some CRC dudes at the start, which reminded me that I need to get a singlet or something CRC-branded to run races in.
The race itself felt like running while breathing through a wet sock. Even the breeze down by Castle Island didn't help much, and there was very little crowd support compared to the Cape Ann 25K. I'm glad it was a flat out-and-back, because major hills on a day like today would have rendered me useless. Many runners did stop to walk around mile 4 because of the humidity--I was sorely tempted but knew that starting up again would feel even worse than just continuing. I was also surprised at how many women wore pants to the race. They must have been miserable. At the end I wanted to barf and pass out, but the immediate provision of ice cold water, bananas, PowerBars, hot dogs, Naked juice, Nantucket Nectars, Turkey Hill duetto, free books, free City Sports gear, and Harpoon IPA distracted me. I will definitely do this race again if only for all the schwag.
I think I started my timing wrong because my watch read 42:11 at the end. Here are the splits I recorded on my watch:
Mile 1: 8:45
Mile 2: 8:38
Mile 3: 8:15
Mile 4: 8:16
Mile 5: 8:15
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