Monday, October 20, 2014

Nantucket Half Marathon

I was out of town from Friday to Tuesday of last week and it took me until now to recover enough to be able to sit down and write this (and download photos).  This trip exhausted me and I'm not sure why it took so long to get back on my feet.  Am I glad I took this trip?  Yes, I had two wonderful friends accompanying me that I don't get to see often enough.  Would I do it again? No just because of the mere fact that it was sooooo far.  It was 12 + hours of travel to see an island at the end of the season when everything is shutting down.  For cheaper and less travel time I could see equally as breath taking places.  I'm not trying to down play Nantucket it is very cute and quaint and I loved seeing the lighthouses and all the houses along the beach that all look exactly the same except for they all name their houses out there.  I flew to Boston (about 5-6 hours with 1 stop) then got on a bus to Hayanis (sp) another couple of hours, then a ferry to the island another hour then of  course the wait times in between each of those.  On the way out there I did it all in one day so I was up at 5 am to catch a 7 am flight and ended up in the B&B sometime after 8pm.  It was my first trip away from my son and I missed him terribly!!!  Everyone kept saying "it's good for  you!"  How is it good for me?  Not that it's good or bad but really it's good for me?  I missed him and worried about him and wished he was there with me the whole time.  He probably didn't even notice I was gone.  But I'm thinking for a girls weekend get away I'll go somewhere closer and look forward to family vacations that include him.  Really what is good for me is when I am in town to get an hour or two to myself to go get a haircut or a facial, I need a haircut so BAD!  But when we're at home we don't make time for ourselves.  It's like I binged on alone time and used it all up for the year.  I would prefer to spread it out through out the year.

Ok so I know none of you wanted to read my lame intro but there it was.  Hopefully some pretty pictures will make up for it.

Half Marathon, good!  Bed and Breakfast, great!  (so cute and loved the breakfast) Friends, awesome!  Lighthouse, way too far to ride a bike after doing a half (the guys said 5-6 miles more like 10-12 each way) but made for some nice photos.  Island cute, time of year could have been better.  Fall colors are only on mainland so we missed that.  Food I don't know if it was because of the time of year but a lot of places didn't have all of their selections which makes it very hard for a vegetarian to find something and a lot of what we found seemed like just ordinary bad for you "bar food".  Met some really friendly people of course mostly tourist.  If you like pale ales that's what seemed to be popular on the island.  We didn't make it to the brewery which would have been cool and maybe I could have found a brown or porter that I liked but I opted to see the lighthouse instead and think I made the right choice.


The course was sandy and wet the first half and I couldn't wait to get on the pavement after twisting ankles and avoiding huge puddles.  My friend said I was running somewhere between 8-9 minute miles the first half (I didn't wear a garmin on purpose just wanted to run without pressure) my lungs felt great since I was at sea level but my legs got so tired from the sand and uneven terrain and little hills that the second half was way slower and my last few mile were more like 11-12 min/miles.  All said and done I ran it in 2:09 and I can say I left it all out there!  My friend said I pulled her along the first half and I told her the only reason I didn't walk parts of the 2nd half was because of her.  We actually finished this one together!! That never happens!

I came home to a son with a bruised finger, bump and scratch on the forehead, but he seemed happy and he cuddled with me for half an hour which never happens!!!  I also went to pour myself some cereal the next morning only to cover it with soured milk, I think hubs got a new appreciation for what I do and he has been helping a lot more around the house since I've been back.  So even if I was exhausted and home sick I think it might have been good for "us".  I think I even successfully fought off a cold.  Luckily the Ebola scare in the Boston airport was a false alarm!  My BFF was the rock through all of this and I'm glad she convinces me to do these crazy trips with her because I learn something new about myself every time.



2 comments:

Christy @ My Dirt Road Anthem: A Runner's Blog said...

It is hard to get time for yourself and when I do I sometimes feel guilty about it. I remember the first time I was away from my kids for more than overnight... I missed them so bad. I still do when I am away for a couple days, which seems to happen about once a year. Great job on your half marathon. Sand is so hard to run on!

Carolina John said...

Soon enough you will cherish the weekends away by yourself. Might not seem like it now, while he is so young, but separation does make the heart grow fonder.

Great job in the half! It's fun to just go do something like that without having to track all of the data. my last race was on a much softer surface than I'm used to as well, and it totally shredded my legs. I can't believe you had a hard time finding vegetarian fare on the island? so strange.