HAPPY FIRST DAY OF SUMMER!!!
This weekend was pretty great. The weather was perfect and I got to spend a lot of time out in it. I also had a fun first paddleboard race and ran a decent 5K.
Saturday, I got up at 6 a.m. for a short easy run. It was downright chilly outside, so much so I had to put on a short-sleeved shirt. I ran the 3-mile out-and-back.
We got the paddleboard loaded up on the Jeep and drove to Byrd Park in Snow Hill for the Return to Goat Island stand-up paddleboard races. The 3-mile recreational race I’d signed up for didn’t start until 11 a.m., but the schedule said everyone should be checked in by 8:30.
Instead of giving us race bibs to pin to our clothing, they drew our race numbers on our left arms and calves in permanent marker. We also got a nice shirt and a bag with some stickers and coupons.
I watched the start of the 6-mile race a little after 9 a.m. The course was pretty simple. Goat Island is in the middle of the Pocomoke River. One lap around the island was a mile.
For the next couple of hours, we watched the 6-mile racers paddling around the island, and I took some pictures.
The course on the Pocomoke River at Byrd Park.
Clark and Pepper.
A pen full of baby goats!
Pepper looking like a goat drinking from my water bottle haha.
I put my board in the water about 20 minutes before my race was to start. I couldn’t get the adjustable handle on my paddle to move. This was the first time I’d used it all year, and I guess it still had salt water dried in it from last year. I made my way over to where Clark and Pepper were waiting on shore so Clark could try to un-stick it. It took a little while, but he got it.
I paddled on down to the dock that served as the start line. There were about 50 people, mostly on paddleboards, with a few kayaks mixed in. Since it was so congested, they told us to start on our knees or butts, and then when we got the horn, we were supposed to paddle up to five strokes, to spread out just a hair, before standing up.
I started near the back of the pack. I’d noticed most of the boards looked a lot different than mine. Most people had “touring” boards, which are lighter and have a pointy nose. Mine is a big, heavy board I bought in the off-season from a rental place, which had loaned it out to people who’d never been on one before. I was pretty sure I was about to get blown out of the water haha.
We got the horn and took off. I wasn’t last, but I wasn’t far from it, and that did not change throughout my three laps around the island! I was paddling as hard as I could, but I just couldn’t keep up with those touring boards.
At least I wasn’t the guy who fell off his board right in the middle of the pack three seconds after the race started haha.
Anyway, I made my way around the island three times. The water was nice and smooth. There was a bit of a headwind on the back side, but not bad.
I got lapped by the two lead kayaks and the lead paddleboard not far from the end of my second lap. They finished around 36 minutes; I finished, in 40th place, in 57 minutes.
I definitely understood how Clark felt about his bike compared to others in his triathlon the weekend before! In running, more expensive shoes on the same person don’t make much of a difference. That is not true in cycling or standup paddleboard racing!
The thing is though, those expensive touring boards aren’t really meant to go in the ocean, while mine can. I like being able to take mine out in the ocean, and I don’t want multiple boards. So I’ll probably stick with mine, and just be OK with never being very fast in these races.
In spite of not being very competitive, I really had a good time in the race. It was the same reason why I like running races. I’m usually alone while running or paddleboarding, so it’s fun to be around a large group of other people with the same hobby every now and then. There’s one at Fager’s Island in August I’d like to do if we’re not busy.
I got my board out of the water and found Clark and Pepper. They’d run 3 miles together through Snow Hill while I was paddling.
My race registration included a ticket for a free lunch. I was absolutely starving by that time. I got a chicken salad sandwich and a cup of sliced cucumbers in vinegar, and a Tall Tales Brewing Red-Headed Step Child.
And I got another goat picture:
I’m not sure, but I think the shirts were to protect them from sunburn.
There was a little piggy in this pen too!
The winners of the 17-mile race the next day would get to name one of the baby goats, which would then be placed on Goat Island to live with other goats. If I got to name one, I’d call it Pepper Jr., because that stupid dog would not stop grazing on grass all day. (He does that all the time.) Pepper was also mistaken for a goat once haha.
We got home that afternoon. I got cleaned up and met my friends to go to dinner at Red Hot and Blue, a barbecue place on the other side of the bridge, to celebrate Meredith’s, my and Julie’s birthdays. It takes so long to get all five of us together in one place! Oh well. It’s always a good time when we do finally make it.
I got home around 9:45 p.m. Clark had ridden his bike down to the beach (40 miles, if you’re wondering) and I was supposed to get Pepper and drive the Jeep to the beach. I packed a bag real quick with some running clothes for my 5K in the morning and Pepper and I drove to Fenwick.
It was after 11 p.m. when I got there. I was beat, so we went straight to bed. I set an alarm for 6 a.m. and expected to fall asleep immediately.
Not so much! First, as soon as I laid down, my stomach started to hurt. It’d been hours since dinner and I’d felt fine up until that moment, so I had no idea what the problem was. I tried lying on my stomach to see if that would make it feel better. It did, but then something even weirder happened.
I don’t have allergies, at least none that I know of, but as soon as I put my face close to the pillow, I felt the back of my tongue get itchy and it felt like my throat was constricting. If I took a deep breath, it made a wheezing sound. WTF is this nonsense?!
I had no idea what to do so I just sat up, coughed a lot, drank some water and waited for it to go away. I guess it did eventually, because I slept enough to have some weird-ass dreams in between waking up over and over. I could only remember one when I woke up for good just before my alarm. In it, everyone who’d registered for the same 5K was posting on Facebook that they too were having some kind of unexplained allergic reaction. I was so confused when I woke up that I immediately pulled up Facebook on my phone and started scrolling down to see if I’d dreamed it. Which I had, of course.
I did not feel at all refreshed or well-rested when I got up, and the last thing I wanted to do was go run a stupid race. But I’d already paid for it, so I got dressed.
Clark and his dad were probably going to go surfing that morning, so I left the Jeep and got to drive my mother-in-law’s super sweet 2005 Prius haha. She has a brand new Lexus hybrid but kept the Prius and still drives it 97 percent of the time.
I was parked in Rehoboth around 6:50 a.m. and had my race bib and event T-shirt two minutes later.
The race photographer got a shot of the back of the shirt I got at Moon River Brewing in Savannah earlier this year.
TK arrived right about then. I said hi to her and then went off to do a warm up. I ran an easy mile and hit the bathroom for one last pee.
I found TK over near the start. It was a pretty big crowd, as usual. This race always attracts between 350 and 400 runners. And then I felt a tap on my shoulder — Allison was there to run her first race since St. Michaels last year!
The crowd moved to the start line. It was another nice morning for a run, even still at 7:30. Not too hot or humid, but sunny. We got the commands and took off.
I always start too far back in these things. Once again, I was a little boxed in as we took off down Wilmington Avenue. It didn’t take too long for everyone to start to sort themselves out by pace though.
It looked like I was in about 9,000th place as we made the first couple of turns on the course. I was steadily picking off people though. We hit the first mile marker and I checked my Garmin — 7:05. Not bad! Now let’s see if I can hold onto that.
The second mile was mostly just a loop through a neighborhood. I didn’t feel like I was maintaining my pace but I kept passing people. I seriously considered stopping for water at the aid station just before the end of that mile, but passed.
We hit the second mile marker just after we exited that little neighborhood. My Garmin said 7:17. I’d fallen off, but not too much. Just one more mile!
We made a U-turn not far past that and then headed back toward the start line. I felt like death and checked my Garmin — mile 2.2. Less than a mile to go, but it felt like so far to run!
I was running in a pack of about six runners. I felt like I was moving sooooo slooooooowwww. Like they were all going to go blowing by me, and I didn’t care. But they weren’t. Weird.
By the time we made it to the last half-mile of the course, I was in front of that little pack, except for a 13-year-old boy. I hung onto him as we made the last couple of turns. He put some distance on me as we made our way down the last straightaway to the finish line though. I never stood a chance haha.
I heard my Garmin beep the third mile but didn’t look down. (I later saw I’d actually managed to pick it up a few seconds, and ran 7:14.)
Yup, looks like mile 3 of a 5K alright.
I crossed the line in 22:28, a 7:13/mile pace. That’s 25 seconds faster than a week ago and 1:07 faster than this same race last year. I’m not back to where I used to be, but I’m getting closer!
I would’ve run at least another easy mile to cool down, but as soon as I crossed the line, I ran into Terri, a woman I worked with in the Air Force! She was in town on vacation. She ran this race last year, but neither of us realized the other one was there until she saw my name in the results. She didn’t race this year, but she’d gone for a run on her own along the boardwalk and met me at the finish. It was so cool to catch up with her!
Allison finished and was pretty happy with her first race back. TK finished a bit later, but she had to leave almost immediately because she was going to breakfast with her dad for Father’s Day.
Allison and I went to the post-race party at Zogg’s. They had free beers for the runners, but our choices were Coors Light or Miller Lite. Sigh. I went with Coors.
When they handed out the awards, I was first of 15 in my age group. This week, they’d done delightfully cheesy trophies for all the overall and age group winners. It’s so tacky and I love it!
I was also eighth of 181 female runners, and 57th of 375 total runners.
I got an iced coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts and drove the Prius back to Fenwick. Apparently I arrived not long after Clark and his dad left to go surfing. I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon with Clark’s mom and Pepper.
I took Pepper for a kayak ride. He was tolerating it until I intentionally went straight through the wake of a speedboat out in the bay, and the kayak was skipping across the little waves. He was over it after that haha. So we went back.
When Clark and his dad got back, we got some beers and hung out some more. It was a perfect afternoon for that on the screened in porch.
We left a little before 5 p.m. I took a quick shower at home and then we went over to my parents’ house to see my dad for Father’s Day.
And today is the first day of summer! I have an easy run and some strength training planned.
A Simple Running Log 