Race Review - Maple Leaf Half Marathon

It's been over a week since this half marathon. Life has just been crazy busy since last weekend! This race was AWESOME!!! It was hard, but it was awesome. I absolutely LOVED Manchester Vermont and will go back up to VT for many more races! It's not that far from Mom's - at least the south eastern parts of VT, so i will definitely plan more races up that way. I camped at Dorset RV park. I was the ONLY camper in the tent area. Had the whole back section to myself. It was only $20 a night and $5 for the fire wood. Such a bargain! I had some issues with camping - mostly the air mattress had a slow leak, so i was basically sleeping on the ground. NOT the best night sleep for the night before a half. Live and learn! The morning was chilly but was thrilled that it was blazing hot! I had camped close to the race, so I was able to get up at 6 and shower and take down camp before hand. I will definitely camp for other races. It was not hard to set up the tent and had the air mattress held up, things would have been great! I am camping before Newport Rhode Island, but will be in a little cabin. I will bring TWO sleeping bags since it was chilly last weekend so next month will be much cooler! the Maple Leaf didn't have an expo. They had packet pick up in a restaurant parking lot. I didn't want to spend the money for dinner there since it looked more expensive than i wanted to spend. I had dinner at Friendly's and then got icecream at mcdonalds next door. All in all a VERY thrifty weekend.. :) the race was absolutely gorgeous!!!!

we didn't run hills, we ran MOUNTAINS!! i realllly wanted to see a moose just grazing out in the vistas, but didn't see one...:( i walked the mountains and the water stations. At one point a guy asked me if I was doing Galloway. I said yes!! sigh.. i'm not, but seriously thinking that i should start the program. My right leg seems to be in pain much of the time. I didn't have my ipod, since the website kept saying their insurance didn't cover headphones. LOTS of people had them though, so from now on, i'm bringing mine even when they say no. i don't have to listen to it if they enforce it, but if they don't, then at least i have the distraction for two hours! the course was seriously so beautiful that it was ok, but it would have been nice to have the added motivation. I did decide during this race that I do not want to repeat races. There are just waaay too many others that i want to do and with the cost and the limited time that they can have them, i don't want to run anything twice or really even that isn't all that cool anymore. I kept thinking all the while that if i hadn't come up to run this race I would have never ever have gone to this beautiful little town! My time was actually awesome considering how much I walked! I guess running down the mountains made up for the time walking up the mountain! Musings while on the race course. This place is beautiful! I would love to have a place up here! Wonder how much these houses cost? There are LOTS of great restaurants. This place is beautiful! I hope I see a moose! I need a new air mattress. Wish I had my ipod..:( Another freakin mountain? I need to bring Jeff back here. This place is so beautiful! It was an awesome run. I loved every second of it. Can't wait to find another vermont race! two halfs down - Next week Philadelphia Rock n Roll half marathon!

Run the Reservoir Half Marathon Compuscore Stats

RUN THE RESERVOIR HALF MARATHON

Race Date:09-04-11

Bib Number	242
First Name	Jill
Last Name	Romano
City,State	Ramsey, Nj
Sex Age	F 46
Time	2:20:48.17
Pace	10:44.9
Chip Time
Chip Pace
Distance	Hm
Place	254
Gender Place	91/129
Age Group Place	F45-49: 17/20
Masters Age PLP	50.61

First half of the year - done!!

Here is my first official race recap as a blogger!  Run the Reservoir in Westwood NJ.  This was their first one and all in all, they did a good job.   I arrived an hour early and stress free.  That was awesome.  I went and got my bib, timing chip and t-shirt.  The shirt is a nice color blue.  It's a tech tee, but not as silky as the Teterboro and Ridgewood shirts.   I went back to the car since there were only one or two tables so nothing cool to browse.  At the car I took my sweet time getting prepped and then walked over to the porta potties at 8:30.  The line was HUGE!  As I am standing in line Chris Peters comes up to me!  Yay!!  She was photographing for Patch.com.  She wanted a pic so i grabbed the girl in line with me and she took our pic!  The girl was a good sport and goes "hey random girl, i'll take a pic with you!".. cute.   I was able to talk a little bit with CP, but she had to go find serious runners to photograph.  Can't wait to see the pics she puts up!

The line didn't move all that quickly, but i was able to get to the start line just before they took off.   It was overcast and warm and muggy. I didn't wear my hat and I probably should have. The sun did come out while on the course.  I can't wait until it's actually cool to run!!!!!   

The course was mostly on roads, but we did two parts on dirt roads and trails.  That was beautiful. I need to go back on another day and run it again.  I think that is one of the coolest parts about running - you see places you never knew existed even in your own town!   

One of the highlights for me was that at one point I thought I was coming up on mile 6 only to see the sign/time and I was at mile 7!! SWEET!!!    The other highlights was seeing Chris, the trail run, seeing two cranes in the United Water facility and finishing.. :)  Oh, and they did call out my name as I ran over the finish line!!  that was cool.

It was hot and there was a hill towards the end. actually two hills, so I ended up walking the hills. I guess i could have pushed it, but I have another coming up next weekend that i hope will be a faster time. :)

They didn't have medals.. little bit of a bummer, but it was a great training run :)

The thought of running another 13 miles right after this kept running through my mind.. ughhhh.. can i do it???

Next up Manchester half marathon in 6 days!! :)

Getting Ready to Run the Reservoir

Tomorrow morning is my first official half marathon of the year.  We were suppossed to run the Perk Up half marathon last weekend, but Hurricane Irene made the entire east coast unpassable.   I attempted to run the course earlier this week, but made a stupid mistake of reading the map and didn't make a turn I should have.  It taught me some valuable lessons though. :)

The first lesson is one I already knew.  Get to the place super early if you don't know where you are going.  Doing the trial run let me know exactly where I need to be tomorrow morning and now I don't need to sweat it out.  I've gone to lots of races before I had the GPS and was stressed out beyond belief because I couldn't find the place.  I vividly remember trying to find the Tenafly 5k because i printed out directions and didn't pay attention that I didn't have the actual address listed, just the town of Tenafly.   I didn't have the GPS with me the other night, but I knew basically where I needed to go and sure enough I made a turn that I shouldn't have and had to back track.  Won't make the same mistake tomorrow. :)

The second lesson is to put money in my shorts or sports band.   Because of my wrong turn, I ran in a direction that was not circular, so I had to run back once it got dark.  I ran out of water and was starving by the time I had to walk and would have LOVED to have a Dunkin Donut muffin or something.  All I was able to think about was what food was in the car that i could devour once, if ever, i got back to the car!

The third lesson is to put more food in the car!  I had fruit snacks and shredded mini wheats. I was thrilled to have them, so I put lots of snacks in the car and will be mindful to keep the supplies stocked. :)

The fourth lesson is that it gets dark.. Very dark.  I did have my cell  phone, but i should have the little pen light that I know I have someplace in the house. I can easily keep it in my belt for such occasions.  I could not run all the way back because I was afraid of the uneven sidewalks. I was sure i would trip and injure myself.  I would run through the street lights and walk the dark parts.  

The fifth lesson - pack a change of clothes.  I did have my work clothes, but i wanted the sweaty clothes off soo badly and would have been thrilled to have comfy clothes and flip flops to change into.

I now have snacks and a bag in the trunk of a change of clothes and stuff like tissues and advil in the bag.

The sixth lesson probably is to print out a regular map of the route.  this was basically a hand sketched map and I don't think i would have missed the turn had i used MapMyRun. 

All in all good lessons to learn now.  All these issues would not have been issues on race day except the stress of finding the place, but they do prepare me for future runs and since I plan on running most nights now that it's getting dark early.  I want to get a flashy light to attach to my clothes.  I saw one at Five Below that I need to go get.

Can't wait until tomorrow and run the actual course.  I'm getting up early and getting their early. I'm not sure how many people will be at this one. I didn't see it advertise very much so it may be a small event.  wouldn't that be awesome if i could medal my age group?