Hangover Classic 5K & Plunge

Hangover Classic 5K
January 1, 2008
Salisbury, MA

Results:

35:58 (11:34 pace) per my watch
36:08 (11:37 pace) per the race clock as I crossed
32:08 (10:21 pace) per the official results

Well, isn’t THAT interesting? I should go with the official results, but I honestly think my watch was the most accurate. The good thing is that I wasn’t too concerned about my time today because:
(1) I gained quite a bit of weight, so I knew I’d be slower,
(2) my last race was Oct. 21st,
(3) my last run, I believe, was also Oct. 21st, so I knew slow mojo had set in...there was no denying it,
(4) my foot is still experiencing some discomfort, and
(5) to some extent, who cares what my time was—given the last four reasons and the fact is that I do this race for the ocean plunge anyway.

It was a fun race, no doubt. It was cold and windy, but I was dressed for the conditions. I planned to do the 10 run/1 walk thing, but that was a little off from the beginning when I looked at my watch and it said I had already been running for ~11:15 minutes. I could certainly tell—even just this far into the race—that I hadn’t been running for about 9 weeks, that’s for sure. I should have been able to run this race in 29 minutes, but I instead finished in 36 minutes. Or was it 32? :-) (It was probably the time on my watch, which was sub 36:00, mind you….)

So, what’s my story this race? I met another nice young boy. Noah is 10 years old and “caught up” to me when I was walking for a minute and let out a big sigh. He explained he was tired and couldn’t wait for the water at the end. I learned about his (overly?) ambitious mom who was hoping to do her first triathlon this year and was already registered for six. His leg hurt, but as soon as he saw the finish line (which he anticipated was coming up due to a landmark her remembered on the run out) he was going to “book it” to the end for some water. This was his second race; his first was Thanksgiving Day.

We walked for a couple minutes, and told him I was going to start running when we approached the orange cones up ahead. Once we did, I took off.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Robin and told her to cheer on my new friend Noah as he came ‘round. At the finish, I saw Robin. When I turned to take a look for Noah, there he was ducking under the rope about 20 feet from the finish (where they had a table with water, but he probably didn’t see that) to grab a bottle of water from a box sitting on the ground on the opposite side of the rope. He looked so happy. I think he thought since he had the water, he also crossed the finish line. I yelled, “Noah, you gotta run up there! That’s the finish line!” Astonished, I got an “OH!” in return and on he went. I think he was happier to have the water in hand. Good for him. He has his priorities all set.

I saw Peter a minute or two after and the three of us headed to the water. (When I first arrived that morning, I had actually doubted my plunge prospects due to the cold and wind. Can you believe it? But then, once in the bar awaiting the race start, I saw Lisa H.. She was still in. Then, I saw Ken. He was visibly excited about his prospective plunge. What was I thinking? I was totally in!) I stopped at the car, got my bag and we headed down. By this time, there was also a snow/rain mix coming down. Peter was nice to bring me an extra (and extra big!) towel, and coffee in a thermos for afterwards. What I didn’t know (at the time) was that he also brought his camera. I found this out as I was exiting the ocean. Initially horrified, within a bit of time, I was glad that he actually took a picture. That was very thoughtful. When I get it, I’ll throw it up here.

Robin & Peter were great. Robin came to watch but also helped me get my wet clothes off and put on my socks! I used the third towel which came in extremely handy and even took some warm coffee walking back to the bar! (It was so cold, the outside temperature even altered the coffee’s temp in the thermos!) As I said though, having been a spectator at this event four years ago after my first run here, it looks much worse that it actually is. Trust me—it’s not that bad. If you are thinking about it, just do it.

After a quick stop in the bar and dropping my stuff off at the car, we headed down to try and see Dave, Lisa & Ken, but I think we missed them, so we headed off to Robin & Jeff’s for a little New Year’s gathering. (Very fun…Thanks Robin & Jeff!)

Nice way to start the New Year. Some exercise, a jump in the ocean, and the company of good friends. Happy New Year.