1. This would be my longest trail run ever. It was!
2. There were a very small number of runners racing. Only 6 of 8 runners showed up for the 9 miler and no 4 milers
3. I didn’t know anyone racing and will be there solo. I met 3 nice ladies before starting.
4. I may come in last. I came in 4th!

 5. I may get lost. Not technically, but I did not run the whole course because of poor markings.

6. It may be hilly. It wasn’t bad.

I traveled down to my parents’ home on Saturday night following Brenna’s performance at Peacock Players and arrived at 8:30. The race was scheduled for 8am on Sunday and my plan was to get there around 7:30. I went to bed around 10:30, but struggled to fall asleep. I could hear the chickens, cars driving by and my mom downstairs.[This made me appreciate our quiet home so much.]

On race morning, Sunday, August 6, 2017, I set off to Johnston, RI to
Snake Den State Park. Unfortunately, Google maps had trouble finding the right spot since the park is big and there is no clear main  entrance. I finally read written directions on the Trimom production site and arrived, although it was still not clear I was in the right spot as I drove into a large field.

There were only a few cars when I arrived and a couple of people finagling setup. At check in, I was told to take a picture of the map as well as the 2 phone numbers in case I needed help while running. This was not comforting! I was also given an ankle timing chip, which was a first for me. The 2 porta potties were down the field towards where I drove in, so I trotted back there before starting my run. The wet tall grass left my feet damp before even starting. Ugh!

The start was so laid back and we all just gathered and then were sent on our way. The two men took off very quickly as did two of the women. The course was very poorly marked, and at one point I came into an area where there was no clear marking of a trail and I had to guess which way to go. I only saw 1 guy on a bike at two spots on the course. I was not expecting spectators, but at least some volunteers would have been nice. I ran the first mile or so with a woman following me, but lost her because I was just that much “faster.” It is all relative!  At one point, I met up with the other ladies and we chatted. The other 3 ladies got lost and had to call for help. I was able to get us out of where we were and back onto the trail, but who knows if I was on the right track or not. I missed part of the course,  and I fell hard and got bumps and bruises on my left side (head, shoulder, arm, knee). I was glad I was not alone when I fell and grateful that another runner decided to finish the race with me.

 The course was pretty although scary at times, when I had absolutely no idea where the “trail” was. In the end, I did it, completing 6.7 miles (the course was actually 8.1).

Negatives:

Very poor communication with the race director via email as well as Facebook.

Limited post race refreshments – Gatorade jug w/ no cups, packs of cashews, 1 cluster of bananas, plate of cookies.

No medal, shirt, hat or anything else.

Positives:

Beautiful scenery

Registration Fee: $15.00 [but cheap does always mean better]

Would i do this race again? NO!!! Next trail race I do will be more established and better organized.

I arrived just after 8 and was lucky enough to be able to park in the business parking lot across from the Smuttynose Brewery. There were many people already on the property, but bib/shirt pickup was quick and there were no lines at The porta potties. It was 75* and sunny at the start, which is too hot for me! The lot around the brewery filled up as race time approached. A total of 1660 people finished the race.

I met up with Jen B., Kris, and Julie from LHS, but did not see Jen S. until the end. The course was nothing to write home about and in fact I don’t remember much of it, except that I was hot! 

I ran by feel and it felt hard. 3.1 miles felt long and the last turn up the hill to the brewery was tough, but I pushed hard up that hill. Unfortunately, theprofessional photographer nor my friends got any pictures of me. ☹️ The post race party was fun with draft Smuttynose beer available. There was also pizza and yogurt samples. The line for the real food was insane.

As far as my results go, they are nothing impressive, but I was there for the experience and not to PR. This race is definitely more about the social aspect post race than about the course. I don’t know if I would do it again.

One of my goals for this year was to do more trail running and so, last minute I decided to run this one.

This is the most economical race series ever. You can sign up the day of the race for $5. Of course, it is also a no-frills event – no medal, no shirt, no swag. You even turn your bib number in after the race, so you can re-use it in the future. There are no timing mats, but there is a clock at the start and finish area, although it’s not really clear where the start line is. You start behind the Nashua YMCA in the parking lot, in front of Stellos Stadium. From there you run towards the river and into the park through a narrow entrance. It is kind of crowded as you take a right to enter the trail, but the crowd dissipates as the trail widens.

I arrived about 20 minutes before race start so I could use the restroom in the Y as well as do a quick warm up and register. The sky looked ominous, but I decided to go ahead and run anyway. It started sprinkling as soon as we entered the trail and quickly turned into a steady rain.

I went into this race with no time goals, but was pleasantly surprised with my pace. I am sure that the cool temps helped me run faster and it felt so much easier than the day before when I also ran a 5K.

I told myself that I would run by feel and that is what I did. I wore my new trail running shoes and they worked great. I was glad to have them since the trail was pretty muddy. The rain picked up after mile 2 and I could feel myself being more cautious. My contacts were swimming in my eyes and I was so scared that they would just float away with all the rain. I knew that I was slowing down because of the rain and although I knew that my pace had nothing to do with whether or not my contacts stayed in my eyes, I couldn’t help myself.

As soon as I was finished, I saw this.

181 runners total

So, on Sunday, June 4, 2017, while Brian’s parents were visiting, they stayed home with Brian and Brenna while I went off to race on my own. I have gone to a race without them, but either have gone with friends or met up with friends. For this race, I was totally on my own.  Shortly after leaving the house, I realized that I had forgotten my headphones. I had prepared for the race by charging them and inadvertently left them hooked up! Even though I was probably less than 2 miles from home, I decided not to go back since I had not left much time to park, get my bib, use the porta-potty, and such. I almost never ‘run naked.’

I arrived around 8:30am at Alvirne High School and parked in the main parking lot, assuming that is where I should be, given the few people i saw parked there and then walking down the road towards Historic Hills House. There were maybe 20 cars in the lot and I thought to myself, “OMG. This is going to be such a small race.” Last year, 27 people ran the 5k and 15 people ran the 10k. Before leaving for the race, I had joked that I might come in last for the 10k!

Packet pickup was so easy with only 1 table and virtually no line. I quickly got my number and pins, a Gatorade water bottle as well as a reusable shopping bag and jogged back to the car to drop off the bottle and bag. With little time to spare, I jogged back to the start area to use 1 of the 2 porta-potties. There were less than 10 people in front of me, but nonetheless it was not quick. My co-worker came up to see me and brought me a water. He told us that they would not start the race without us. Good thing because it was a gun start – no timing mat at the start.

 All runners started together in the field. We faced a hill almost immediately that had people walking up it. Once we did a loop around the house on the field, we entered the woods. We ended up doing a similar loop many times with us going back into the woods at 2 different spots 4 different times. Honestly, I would have preferred more time in the woods on the trails and less time running on grassy fields. As far as the trails go, they are used by the high school cross country team and apparently they don’t like for others to use them because they are technical and students have gotten hurt on them. I did not find them very technical but they were hilly (239 ft elevation gain) and muddy at times.

There was one water stop on the grassy field loop and a few gentlemen in the woods on the course. The course was well marked, so I had no problem running alone for the last few miles. Once the 5k runners finished, there were very few runners on the course. 63 ran the 5k and only 30 ran the 10k, with most of the 30 in front of me. At one point, I did think that I might be last, but then I saw a women in pink ahead of me and I eventually passed her at 4.5 miles. Only 6 runners finished after me!

It was 64* and sunny, which felt quite warm to me and I was grateful to get some relief from the sun when we were in the woods. I ran with a water bottle, which I drank half of. I had no expectations for this race and just ran by feel. I was confused at the end when I was finishing and I only had 5.86 miles recorded on my Garmin. I yelled at one of the timing people and he just looked at me. It may be that my Garmin lost GPS while I was in the woods and therefore my mileage was off.

Thanks to the race organizers I got free pictures through RaceWire, which had photos and results easily available. 

The final results are funny. I won my age division!!! [I have sent them the correct information since the initial results were posted.]

• Overall 24/30
• F 14/18
• F 0- 0 1/1

We stayed the night in Somerset and drove down to Middletown, stopping at Dunkin Donuts and arriving at 2nd beach around 7am. The Middletown 2nd beach parking lot was fairly empty with few cars and some police officers. There were some canopies set up with tables for registration as well as packet pickup. This all went very quickly, since it was so empty. It was cold so we stayed warm by siting in the car except for using the porta-potties and a quick warm up just before the start.  The start was not quickly identifiable, but we just followed folks down to the other end of the parking lot where everyone gathered.  It was 43* and sunny at 8am when the race started. I started with a hat and gloves, which over the course of the race, I removed.

What I liked about this race: 

• easy parking 
• easy packet pick up on site
• familiar route elicited memories
• low cost – $45.44
• start and end at the beach [2nd Beach]

What I was disappointed in:

• short sleeve t-shirt vs. long sleeve tech shirt [as listed]
• no clinch sack or water bottle [as listed]
• very small and cheap medal
• limited race photos
• only 4 porta potties in parking lot
• no real time splits at 4, 6, and 8 miles [as listed]
• could not hear/understand the opening announcements

All racers started together which was a bit confusing, since I could not hear the announcement. We went out to Sachuest Point and then back towards the start area before heading inland.  The course was much hillier than I expected. The online course description said “no climbs to speak of,” but that was not the case with a 1/2 mile climb at mile 2.5 and a 1 mile climb starting at mile 7.5. For a race that started at sea level, a 488 ft total gain was more than expected, especially for how it was advertised.

I was hoping to meet some New England BAMRs, but only saw Adriene M. as she ran by me as I was coming back from the point. She never saw me. Later I learned that I was running very close to a Shelley S., who was a couple of runners behind me for a good chunk of the race. She ended up passing me within the last 1/2 mile.

This race was a training run for me [with a goal of <2:15] since my goal race is the Vermont city marathon in May. That will be my next race and after that will be Hollis Fast 5K.

at the finish

Time: 9:15 am 

Location: Copper Door Restaurant • Bedford, NH 
Distance: 3 miles

Alarm was set for 6:30 and our plan was to leave by 7:35. I made some old fashioned oats with banana and peanut butter and had a cup of coffee before we left. This was a first for us, since Brian and I don’t run races together just the two of us. It is either one or other other of us or the whole family. We arrived in Bedford and parked by 8 and hopped on a shuttle bus to cross 101 and get to The Copper Door. Traffic was light and we got right on a bus, which dropped us off at the start area. It was 25 and sunny at the start. We got our bibs and sweatshirts and then went to the porta-potties. Unlike last year, the lines were short, although the number of porta-potties was less than 20. We walked around to try and stay warm and checked out the booths (maple water, muscle milk, apple therapy, immediate care, Stonyfield farm yogurt, and an insurance company).

We dropped off our bag around 8:45 and went for a warm up run together. Lots of runners were still coming in on the buses when we returned to the start area and got ready to get into our corrals. We said our good-byes and each went to our own pace area. I started at the 9:00-10:00 min corral. I was ready – Bluetooth headphones ✔Garmin ✔playlist ✔and we were off. I passed quite a few people in the first ¼ mile even as we ascended our first hill. At about 1 mile, I came upon a person who had collapsed and there were a number of runners assisting. For a moment, I thought about Brian and whether I should stop to check and see who it was, but I did not.

I had decided to try and race this race and come close to last year’s time (28:09.4), which seemed challenging since I have been heart rate training and my average pace is close to 14:00 on most runs. I ran hard and really wanted to stop and walk on the hill at 2 miles but did not and pushed up the hill past many people walking. I saw Luis (a friend from running group) and just behind him was Brian. 

In the end, I was pretty happy with my results and glad to see that I still has some speed. My average heart rate was 197! My average moving paces were fairly consistent – 9:14, 9:25, 9:22.

Francine, Aimee, and I headed down to the lobby just after 5:30 and were greeted with water and bananas and a few shuttle bus volunteers. We were directed to “the middle bus” which was quite full and warm. Shortly after boarding, we departed for the start line. The ride was short and we headed to Logan Circle to meet up with Dimity and the other BAMRs for silly toes.

 Afterwards, we dropped our bags to the large trucks which were alphabetized by the first 3 letters of your last name. We then headed to the portapotties where we met up with another BAMR, Monica from Denver. The national anthem was sung while we were in line. After a quick group selfie, we headed to our respective corrals.

It was sunny, 39* and 19 mph winds at the start, which made it feel like 30*. I started with Jennifer Z. and Stephanie H. in the blue corral.

I ran with Jennifer for a few miles before she set off ahead of me. I hooked up with another girl (?Greta) for a few miles, who had done an Olympic triathlon but no more than a 10K. I left her after mile 8 and then was on my own.

 I saw Melissa near our hotel just before mile 8 where she took these pictures.

The weather was sunny, cold, and light wind for the first half. My nutrition was on the hour, every hour and I took in ½ Honey Stinger waffle or a mini Larabar each time. I took water at most stops as I walked through them. The hill up to Please Touch Museum was a long one and exposed towards the top.

I passed so many people from that point on and the only people who did pass me were those who went off course to pee and then jumped back in. I enjoyed miles 12-13 by the river facing downtown.
The clouds increased and the second half felt much colder and significantly more windy.

It was hard to go by the art museum and turn towards Kelly Drive and see all the runners coming towards the finish line with all the spectators facing them. I saw Melissa, Dimity and Tamar at mile 15/25 and yelled across the street to them. Miles 15-18 felt long, but once I was past Falls Bridge, things changed. as I approached Manayunk, I felt strong. There was great energy and quite a few different groups cheering us on including a beer stop, candy, and orange slices (which I did not partake). There were some funny signs that made me laugh and lots of police presence at all intersections so I thanked many officers. In general, there was a large police presence in the city all weekend. The police motorcycle motorcades were kind of ominous and the huge crew of police bicycles was strange.

As far as my numbers go, I had programmed my Garmin with a workout based on HR caps, but at the start line, I just pressed start and immediately was beeping because I was >140. I stopped my Garmin and chose the workout labeled Philly marathon. After about 4 miles, I wanted to change my screen display, but instead hit the lap button, which then put me ahead of where I should be. I then stopped my Garmin and saved the workout as part 1. I ended up turning off the heart rate alert and just ran monitoring my numbers. In the end, my average heart rate was 181. I progressively increased my heart rate every hour since I was no longer following a specific workout.

I went into this marathon with no specific time goals. I wanted to be part of the BAMR fun and finish feeling happy and healthy. I had no physical issues and so I accomplished my goals. Thank you to Melissa and Dimity who stayed at mile 25 to see me.

Philly was 17:41 slower than my first marathon (MCM) last fall (13:06 vs.12:26 pace), but 5 minutes faster than my second marathon (Hartford) six weeks ago. My official time was 5:43:44.

My A goal was a PR (<5:26). My B goal was a negative split – second half faster than first half (Steava back half challenge was an extra motivator). My C goal was to beat the course time limit which was 6:00.  I am proud to say that I met my B goal with 3:00 vs. 2:48!

I woke up at 5:35, got ready, and went down to the lobby to go to Starbucks which opened at 6. There was a line, but it moved along and I was able to get some oatmeal with dried berries and nuts. I had breakfast in the room and was feeling pretty good, having slept about 7.5 hours. We left our room around 6:45 and headed to the start area which was in Bushnell Park, which was about .5 miles from the Downtown Hartford Marriott, where we were staying. I made a porta potty stop on our way to the start line before meeting up with a group of BAMRs. I met 3 of 5 women from our heart rate training group at the cannon in front of the Capitol building at 7:15. 

We then split up, but Meaghan and I headed to the porta-potties one last time before heading to the start line.  I listened to the national anthem and a blessing and waited for the start with Meaghan and Melissa.

The gun went off and we moved along with the crowd slowly. My heart rate was already high and I knew that it was because of the excitement of the race.  I quickly realized that I would not be able to stick with my race plan (see below).

All three of us, we’re higher than we wanted to be, and we shuffled along at a below-target pace. Although I was not able to keep my heart rate within the parameters of the plan without getting swept, I did keep to the premise of start slow and gradually increase. The course limit was 6:00 which meant a pace of 13:44/mile.

My average heart rates were as follows:

hour 1 – 159

hour 2 – 165

hour 3 – 169

hour 4 – 178

hour 5 – 181

hour 5+ – 183

We told ourselves to “let them all go” and watched everyone run passed us. This was a challenge because we all had energy and could go faster, but we committed to the plan.  the three of us were last for MILES!  We stuck together, and the cops followed us…closely!!! 

We were lucky to find Melissa’s family at different points as well as Brian and Brenna during the first half. This gave us many photo ops.

We had a motorcycle, a car with ALL its flashers, and a couple of  bicycles with us. We carried on with our modified “don’t-get-swept”plan for several miles, running 13-14mm with HR too high. Eventually, the police pulled up next to us and told us that he was leaving us to follow other runners since we were no longer last-thank goodness!

I would NEVER have succeeded as well as I did today without these ladies. It was not just hard to be the caboose for miles…it was stressful with them tailing us so closely.

The three of us made it to 13.1 together and then started slipping apart as we tackled the next section. I decided to continue with my plan to increase my heart rate as well as my pace and did so with little difficult. I was on my own for the rest of the race, and made it a point to acknowledge every person that I passed. On the out and back, I enjoyed seeing Melissa and then Meaghan.  

I passed a total of 88 people (I may have missed a few because it was hard to remember in the later miles). I ran almost the entire second half and walked through water stops. My fueling plan worked great and I had NO nausea, which is a win for me. I took 1/2 waffle at hour 1 and the other 1/2 at hour 2. At hour 3, I took in 2 balls. At hour 4 and 5, I took in 1 ball each hour.  I stopped at most water stops, and only drank water.  The weather was mostly cloudy and 48 at the start, but warmed up to the high 60s.

My husband and daughter were waiting at the finish line where I came in with the 5:45 pacer.

Post race, I walked .5 mile to our hotel and then another .5 mile later in the afternoon to go get a Coke at Burger King. For dinner, we  headed out again on foot for another .5 mile to go to dinner. I felt great!!! #coachedandloved #winningatlife 

We chose to sit at the counter in the front window so we could people watch, since it was a crafter’s evening and there were many folks walking around downtown.

Back in the hotel room, we laid out our goodies while we watched the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics.

In the morning, we stopped at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast before heading to the shuttle bus at the Hannaford lot. We arrived around 6:30 and waited in line. The drop off was further away than last year, so we had a nice long warm up walk to the start area. Once again, there were tons of porta-potties, which made for short waits in lines. The start line was crowded as usual. We waited amongst thousands of others for the race to start at 8am.

Sticking with the heart rate training plan was not easy. I had to walk from the beginning and I sent Sarah to run her own race, since I was going to be much slower.  My run cadence shows just how much walking I did.

Being at the back of the pack has its perks. You get great solo shots and don’t get blocked by other runners.

The volunteers are also so happy to see you at the water stops and cheer you on enthusiastically.  You get spectators shout encouraging words and comment on your outfit because you are not part of the crowd.

The downside of being so slow is that you have far fewer spectators along the course as well as at the finish. You also miss out on the food for runners especially if you watch the awards, which we did.  

The highlight of the race for me was my finish when Joan Benoit Samuelson [American marathon runner who won gold at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles] came towards me to shake my hand and congratulate me.

There were a total of 6345 finishers, so I was not alone in the back of the pack.

6286 347/350  F45-49 1:49:06  1:40:21 16:09 Sandra Muldowney           

Today was a real test of my commitment to this process. I “completed” the Runners World Classic half marathon. I say “completed” because I ran 10.48 miles – not 13.1. I was detoured at mile 7 and rejoined the race course just prior to mile 10 because I had fallen too far behind the 3:00 time limit. I was the last runner for the first 3.5 miles and thought I might get lost since the 2 women ahead of me seemed to be walking/jogging and I was only walking. My heart rate was 152 at the start line and I really struggled to get it below 140. I walked almost the entire course and did try to shuffle a few times when my heart rate lowered but it would quickly rise and I would have to stop and walk again. I was so grateful for words of encouragement along the way from Melissa [my new Facebook friend from the AMR HR marathon training group] who was volunteering at the finish line. It was great to see her and Bart Yasso around 3 miles too.

Caution – Heartrate training in progress

The second half of the race was better for me with my heart rate staying closer to and below 140, but I decided to not try to shuffle at all. As I approached the finish line, Bart announced my name and said that he knew I was doing the heart rate thing and said good job. It was great. Melissa must have told him what I was doing when they saw me earlier and he remembered! Finally, a got a really cool medal put on me by Melissa. ‪

In summary, Yes. I was in last place in the race for over 3 miles. Yes. I had to be detoured because I was way over the time limit. Yes. I walked virtually the whole thing. Yes. I was asked to move to the sidewalk because they had to open the roads. Yes. I was asked if I was still in the race. Yes. I stayed true to my heart rate marathon training plan.

OVERALL PLACE 510 of 546 WOMENS RANK 270 of 299 AGE GRADE 42.61% PACE 12:43 mins/mile