Happy Mother Runner: Hyannis Half Marathon Day 2

After relaxing at the hotel for a little bit on day 1 we headed out for dinner to get our carbs for the next day. We decided on the nice restaurant in town, Albertos. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as we had wished for. One guy behind us even sent his meal back because it tasted so bad. One thing they did get right was the oysters on a half shell. I know it is a slightly unorthodox prerace meal, but my husband and I are suckers for fresh oysters. The plus side of dinner was that everyone around us was talking about the race or running. The man behind us was discussing the Boston Marathon compared to New York. The two young people beside us were talking about the difference in the new "it" running shoes. A couple with two children sitting along our other side were talking about their Garmins and discussing upgrading to the new MotoActv. All around us was running and I was LOVING it.

Fresh Oysters

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and searched for a parking spot. It was FULL with cars donning 13.1 and 26.2 stickers as well as run, swim, bike love stickers. It was a parking lot full of people who just love to run. Once in the room I turned on the weather channel and started sitting out our gear for the next day. The weather man was saying high winds with low temps in the morning, but gradual temp increases throughout the day. So to be safe I made sure we had wind jackets and some layers. And after a nice warm shower, I headed to bed.

Running attire ready for the race

I think I slept well, but in all honesty I woke-up feeling like the night went by way too fast. I started the day before the alarm and threw on my basic running outfit and headed down to the hotels continental breakfast. I thought I had beat the rush since it was so quite. But I was wrong! The eating area was packed with runners and their families making small talk. I grabbed some raisin toast, bananas, and tea and headed back up to the room to make sure hubby was up and getting ready.

The parking lot in the morning. 10 am start time means sleeping in.

Hubby taking advantage of the late start time

The race was a late start 10:00am, so most of the runners from the hotel were only starting to head over to the start around 9:00. But I was eager to go and make sure that we got a parking spot. The starting area was packed and parking was horrendous. I am glad we got there early. Once we found a parking spot we headed to the start. When we arrived at the starting line we noticed no one was actually at waiting there. Everyone was waiting in the Conference Center to stay warm so we followed the crowd. When we were 30 minutes away from the start, hubby and I started to look for bathrooms. But the lines were LONG. We finally decided to use the port-a-potties and headed outside. Those lines were horrible and we waited 20 minutes for a bathroom.

Everyone at the conference center warming up before the race.

At the start trying not to worry about the wind

Starting Line

At the beginning of the race everyone started to pile into the start. I made sure that I was towards the back, but once the race begun a wave of people passed me. They must have been waiting for the bathrooms but they were not suppose to be in my marked pace group. With the rush sweeping by, I got swept up in the pace and found myself running a little too fast the first mile.

First mile

After the first I decided to stop at a bathroom since I had skipped using one at the start. BIG MISTAKE. It literally took me 5+ minutes to get in. That one bathroom break had a huge impact on my time and I lost the group that I had begun pacing with.

At about mile 2 the course went from residential to beautiful. We were starting our leg around the bay. The sun was just really starting to rise and it was breathtaking. The course was by far the hilliest course I have ever ran. And today the wind was a killer, it really started to weigh me down. I was trying for a PR but it didn't happen. I am just happy with the fact that I finished and I tried hard. It was a witch of a course but I enjoyed it. Pictures of the first 6 miles below.

A few downsides of the race were the lack of bathrooms, the awkward spacing of water stations, lack of food after the race for runners, no real mile markers after mile 7, and not enough markings on course to make sure we were going in the direction we were suppose to.

*At one point (mile 12) I accidentally got turned around. I was following the runners in front of me and I must have followed the wrong pack. Because about two minutes after making a right turn on the course an ambulance driver chased me down to tell me I was going in the wrong direction and I would have made a second lap (when I didn't need to). So thank you random man for saving me an extra 12 miles!

Some awesome perks of the race were that it honestly felt like I was doing a long training run in a local neighborhood, the community was great support, NOBODY said you are almost there (except for the last .5 left in the race), there were a lot of police officers directing traffic because it was not a closed course, and the feeling of the race was intense because it was a BQ.

In the end my times were not ideal. But considering the hills, wind gusts, and long bathroom breaks I am also not too disappointed in the end result. Mile 11 was pretty difficult because I ended up getting some pretty bad indigestion from my GU. I did forget to stop my Garmin when I crossed the finish line, so the overall time is off. You can find my splits below: