Our family decided to book a room at a Quality Inn in Montgomeryville PA on Friday night to avoid a long commute before Saturday's 9:00 am race time. Both Mom and I were tired and wanted to go to bed early. The kids and puppy had other plans. Being in a new place they were excited and wanted to explore every inch of the room several times. After a relatively stressful evening watching over the kids and puppy, we retired around 10:00 pm. The picture on the Internet gave this establishment a look of a hotel, however it really was a motel. Not our general preference, but with taking the puppy outside to do her business it worked out well for us.
Saturday morning everyone was up at 6:00 AM and then we ate a less than stellar Continental breakfast at the motel at 7:00 AM. At 8:00 we embarked on our three mile journey to Lansdale for the race. Lansdale PA is only 25 miles west of New Jersey.
The race's command center was set up in a small strip mall, called the Pavilion off of Broad Street. There was a DJ, food vendors, a Hatfield Farms pig mascot and generally a small fair atmosphere.
The kids race was first. Dylan did not like the pins they used to attached the runner's race bib to your shirt. All the kids had a #1 race bib. For this 1/2 mile run we ran a quarter-mile down the road and back. About the midpoint of the run Dylan shouted, "Daddy this is really fun !" That made my day. Once we crossed the finish line, Dylan was given a medal with #1 on it. A Kodak moment indeed.
The five mile race was next. I was nervous, but I had trained reasonably hard for this race. The course was 2.5 miles out and the same distance back in. I was fine until I hit a hill at the 3.5 mile mark. I wanted to stop running and walk, but I persevered. There were three water stations on the route, I did not take water at any of them because I was not sure how my body would handle the water. I am sure all would have been fine, I didn't want any surprises at the time.
My five mile time was 42 minute and 46 seconds, an awesome time for me. This translates to an 8:33 per mile pace. I had wanted to break 45 minutes. I have come a long way in 2 1/2 months of training. I finished 160th out of over 400 participants.
My next major hurdle is to run 13.1 miles in Connecticut on Sunday Jun 28th. I have a lot of work to do before I am ready for the half-marathon. Although the motivator for this race is I am guaranteed a medal if I finish.
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