Because this wasn't even supposed to be a Newport recap. This was supposed to be a Mountains2Beach marathon (M2B) recap.
In 2013.
(I was also supposed to write up a recap of a summer 2013 trip to Victoria, B.C. -- which I loved! -- but that didn't happen either, though it was no fault of a run and just a fault of my procrastination. But Victoria? Go. Though I have heard good things about their marathon, too.)
I had/have been fighting achilles tendonitis for about a year, off and on, first on the left, and then on the right. Generally, my left side is quicker to heal than my right (because I am right-brained?) and so the right side dragged on for far longer than expected.
Sometimes I think it would actually be kind of a pleasure to have two left feet...
Anyway! So that precluded a marathon in May of 2013 as well as in December of 2013. I signed up for M2B again...and then Newport, in case M2B fell through or it was too hot or in case life came up. Well, life came up and for reasons beyond my control I was unable to run M2B, so Newport was my backup.
It's like the plot of an '80s teen movie: Say M2B was the date I really wanted to take to the prom, and Newport was the plain friend. And like any good '80s movie, the dark horse rears up and announces, "You know what? You're not good enough for me. And here's why!"
But we'll get to that later.
Begin nerdy runner stuff/
Training? It'd been okay. This was marathon #7. In previous training cycles, I'd actually peaked in training and then been unable to run the race (Boston 2011, I'm looking at you!). So I didn't do that at all here. I didn't want to push too hard in training (and maybe that's what got me) because my true focus was ensuring my Achilles wasn't going to snap up like a cheap motel room shade.
So I limited speed work--I did some tempo runs, but even then not super-fast--but my long run pace was getting faster with less effort, so I was happy about that. I focused more on maintaining the pace I wanted to do in the marathon.
So what was that pace? Below 3:45 would be good and would be totally doable, as a lot of my training runs were around that pace, and it didn't feel too fast. It felt normal, like regular pace. I felt like I could beat my PR of 3:43. In a pipe dream I might have done 3:40 or below but I didn't want to push that far yet. I turned 40 two months ago, so I do have the 3:45 qualifying time for Boston; while I like the extra five minutes, I also want to be enough under it so that I don't miss qualifying by like one second or something.
/End nerdy runner stuff--for now.
But travel! Let's get to the photos, yes?
Justin and I left work early on Friday to drive down to Newport. I didn't let on that I was running a marathon to basically anyone else. I will spew all kinds of shit about my runs and races after I do them, but beforehand I am a combination of superstitions and OCD. I did say we were going to the coast for our anniversary, which is kind of true (12 years June 2!), but that's about it.
("Happy anniversary, honey! Nothing says lovin' like moving like an arthritic Tin Man!")
The drive was uneventful but in that freeing way that escaping four hours of work on a Friday on a sunny day is. Got to Newport, picked up my bib number and goodie bag from the Embarcadero Resort (where we were not staying) and got the hell out of there. I was glad there wasn't a real expo; a couple vendors sold things like extra Gu and some t-shirts but that was about it.
I am, however, thinking about starting a tumblr of The Random Things Included In Gift Bags. When I ran CIM several years ago, my bag had mini olive oil and balsamic vinegar samples. What does this have to do with running? For this race, they included Odwalla bars and a mini Clif bar -- ok, I get it, I can't eat them but I get it--but then also, a plastic disposable razor, with no identifiable brand name. What? They also had a small bag of dried cherries. Because mainlining dried fruit is a great way to prepare your GI system for 26.2 miles.
(I did eat a few of said cherries this morning and they were fucking delicious.)
Then we drove through Newport, which is cute and small. I'd been there seven (I think?) years ago, when my friends Joe, Kristin and I drove down and stayed there for a night and Joe and I paced Kelly in her first marathon at Newport, while Kristin took race photos. That had been a lot of fun: Joe and I started at the finish and ran to meet Kelly and then ran her in.
In the famous last words category, I'd then said to Joe as we ran out to meet Kelly: "Why do they call this race flat? This race isn't flat? It rolls. I'll never do this race."
Fuck.
I should have listened to my 33-year old self. She knew things.
But the memories were fond and the race was close to home and it would be cheap to go, so we went.
Back to 2014: Justin and I made our way to the Best Western where we were staying. It was friendly and clean (I'm sure the strand of hair on the bed was mine when I leaned over the pillow, right?). Even the remote was specially cleaned (?)
and our room had an excellent view of the lovely and very wide Agate Beach:
Though this was a bit Engrish:
WTF?
We went for an early dinner and to walk around the town. Driving back to town, Justin saw a store that advertised Antiques! Coffee! Jewelry! so we screeched into the parking lot. Maybe a find for his job!
But...no. For the first time he wanted to leave before I did.
But I was having a grand ole time. Sparkly hats! (That I was wary of actually putting on my own head, but whatevs, right?)
Perhaps Nora Ephron's inspiration for THE WAGON WHEEL COFFEE TABLE?!
Anyway.
Then by the Bayside: Seals! I LOVE seals!! Seals are awesome. I could watch them for hours.
Ate an early sushi dinner and retired early. Justin actually fell asleep before I did. (12 years of marriage, yay?) No photos of that, but here's a sunset photo taken from our room. You can't really tell with the shitty iPhone, but it was one of those skies where multiple sunbeams shoot out from moderately densely packed clouds and it's like a hand from the sky. I took that as an omen of sorts.
What KIND of omen, you ask? Wait for the next post.
No comments:
Post a Comment