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Tuesday, September 06, 2005

New Haven 20K Race Report

Simply wonderful—the race, the weather, the post-race food, the spectators and of course meeting some of the RBF members in person. I couldn’t ask for a better day.

I arrived in New Haven at 7:45 (which could be my biggest accomplishments of the day—not getting lost on my drive to New Haven, which took an hour and 45 minutes). :) I quickly found Dianna, Bill and Jon at the pre-arranged meeting spot, said a quick hello and then headed off to find my race number and the bathroom. When I returned I met Susan, Laura, Sarah and Michelle. We soon headed off in different directions and before I knew it, it was time to line up at the starting line. I started scanning the crowd for an orange hat. Where were the RBF bloggers? Time was ticking and I didn’t know what to do. Eventually I saw someone jumping up and down and waving. I quickly realized it was Jon the Mexican Jumping Bean. :) Sarah and David were with Jon, but Dianna was missing. I quickly asked them about their anticipated paces. I had no idea how to pace myself. I normally let Dianna deal with the pacing while I try to keep up with her.
Without Dinna I tried to find my own pace.
Mile 1: 8:20(ish) Perfect!

Mile 2: 8:10(ish) If I wanted to finish alive I knew I needed to slow down. I had been running near Sarah so I said good bye and smiled as she took off like a bullet. (What a talented runner!)

Miles 3 to 11: I have no idea what my slits were. I just ran. I smiled at the sun, watched people pass me, tried to pass people, made polite conversation with a few runners, and enjoyed the view of the bay. The cheers from the sidelines were encouraging and the bands were fun, although I really missed Dianna’s singing this year. :)

Mile 11: Dianna came up from behind me. We chatted for a minute and then she was off. After she left, Jon pulled up beside me. I was thankful he was running at my pace. We were able to survive the last mile and half-ish together. I had a blast because Jon was really funny. I could hardly breathe because I was laughing and trying to pick up the pace—not a good combination, but well worth it!! At the end we saw Susan, Lara, and Sarah cheering us on. My final kick was pitiful, but I finished with a PR so I was excited.

Chip Time = 1:42:54 (my pacewas 17 seconds faster than last year)

Afterwards, we had fun exchanging race stories and getting to know each other. Everyone was even nicer than I had imagined. And of course, there was more eating and drinking. Did anyone else notice that the RBF weekend seemed to be center around food and the race just happened to be a bonus? :) We even made tentative plans to meet for dinner the night before the Hartford race. I can’t wait until then!

Thanks to Dianna for being the New Haven Ambassador. I hope we can count on you again next year!?!

11 comments:

Rae said...

Congrats on the PR. It sounds like you all had a blast and all the pics of the food look DELICIOUS!!

Michelle said...

I'm in for dinner the night before Hartford. I have to continue with that tradition! Great race April Anne you are also a very talented runner.

brent said...

sounds like a good race april anne! nicely done.

Jack said...

Sounds like you had a great race and a great time. Congrats on the PR.

Anonymous said...

My only regret was not having more time to chat. Congrats on a well run race! What a great time:) I look forward to running in Hartford with you--AND the dinner:) (this is susan and I'm so frustrated with blogger who keeps forgetting my password, I could scream!!)

Joe said...

Congrats on the PR.

BTW, I just made a rather lengthy reply to your question about napping at lunch time. I hope my answer helps!

Jon (was) in Michigan said...

So, it was an RBF dinner, with a race afterwards. :)

Congrats on the PR for the race April Anne! I hope I didn't mess up your stride by joking around. I think I was a little overwhelmed by it all.

I hope I can come to another race out your way soon. I promise to be better behaved next time. More chocolate, less silly. :)

Sarah said...

Ahhhaa...I thought I already commented here! Gosh, I'm tardy :-) I'm glad we finally got to meet up! And we *definitely* have to hook-up for dinner before Hartford, okay?! Good luck with the rest of your training...I know you'll rock the race :-)

Lara said...

Great race and great to meet you. Hope you have an awesome race at Hartford!!

Run for Chocolate said...

Great time, April Anne! Hope everything is going well for you at school!

brent said...

thanks for the 20 comments april anne. woohoo! thanks a lot for your message right before the run too, that was awesome. i thought about it while i was warming up during the first several miles. a little boost! hope your training is going well!!