Run The Goose!

Happy Labor Day and what a Labor day it has been! Let me start with my pre-race fuel starting with my dinner last night. After a nice day at the beach with family I came home, to my parents' house, to eat a burger and left overs. I put my burger on the goat cheese bread from Friday night, SO GOOD!

With a brownie sundae for dessert (needed the extra fuel for today's run!).

Last night I tried to go to bed around 11 (I had to watch Mad Men), but could not fall asleep till close to midnight. In addition, I had some pre race nervous and was up frequently through out the night because I thought it was time to wake up. When my alarm finally went off (6am) I bounced out of bed and immediately made a pot of coffee. While the coffee was brewing: I changed, washed up and got all my race stuff together. Then I made my usual toast, peanut butter and banana with a large cup of coffee.

I was on the road by 6:50 and headed to meet my cousin at his house (he also ran the race). I arrived and jumped into his car and we were on the road by 7:20. After a lovely car ride of chatting and water drinking we arrived in Gloucester at 8:15. We parked, signed up for the race, picked up our swag (a t-shirt) and went the bathroom. By 8:40 we ran an easy (9ish/mile) mile around the track to warm up. We stretched and lined up on the start line by 8:55.

By 9am we were off! My cousin and I stayed together for the first mile, but it was WAY too fast (6:15/mile) and we looked ahead of us and all we could see was hills, hills and more hills. My cousin said: "Go ahead, I am going to slow down a bit." I tried to keep my pace, but I quickly slowed down too. There were SO MANY hills and most of the race was around a pond, so the roads were unpaved. It was like a nature path of hills. Also, I did not grab water at the first water stop because I figured I would get one half way, however there was not a second water spot until mile 3.5. Needless to say my second mile was a LOT slower (8:06/mile). My third and forth mile were better: I eventually got used to the hills and got into a groove, although by mile 3.5 I heard a lady yell: "keep going you will be the second girl overall." So I sped up and kept going, but then a girl came right behind and I looked ahead and saw at least 3 more hills. I gave up, mentally, and let the girl pass me and then a second girl pass me. I ran the last 1.85 miles at about a 7:45 minute/mile pace. I felt strong and good, just a little out of breath from all those HILLS!!! Here are my splits according to my Garmin:

Distance: 4.4
Time: 33:51
Mile 1: 7:04
Mile 2: 8:06
Mile 3: 7:58
Mile 4: 7:45
Mile 0.4: 2:57

I crossed the finish line and in less than 1 minute saw my cousin finish. Great Job Anthony!!! After we both crossed I ran a slow 1/2 mile to cool down and then stretched.

We went to check out our results and the awards ceremony. Surprisingly, I won an award for coming in 1st place in my age group (women 20-29).

After the race I re-fueled with some orange slices, sandwich (chicken, pastrami, cheese on a wrap), goldfish and a peach. Beautiful morning and a great time running "Run The Goose" with my cousin! Thanks Anthony!!! Enjoy Labor Day!