This weekend, we took a break from the monotony of our Cape Cod routine and ventured up to Portland, Maine. We usually go once a summer and this time it coincided with the Peaks Island Road Race.
I hadn’t planned to run until about a week before which means I did not train for this race. The nice thing about staying active for me is that I don’t have to train for a race like a 5-miler or 5K. Many people do and I’m not trying to shame them but I used to run marathon and can be quoted as saying “I went for an easy 8-miler.”
Those days are gone.
I have not run a race since the Pittsburgh Half. I also proclaimed that I no longer think you should run for weight loss.
I run 3.5 miles down the Cape a couple times a week, not for weight loss but for me time. I enjoy running short distances. I like running intervals that are over within 30 minutes. Therefore, I’m able to run a 5K or 5 miler at a moment’s notice.
I waited to sign up because I knew we were going out Friday night and wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to be too hung over! Here is what we did…
Drove up during nap time and got into Portland around 3:30 pm. I grabbed a smoothie at Blake Orchard, a juice and smoothie bowl cafe in Old Port. Highly recommend but maybe call ahead because they take awhile. I got the red velvet and it was made with strawberries, beets, spinach, vanilla, cacao, dates and nut milk. It was so good.
We dropped off Tommy with Grandma before heading out for the night. We ventured to the Salty Pig, a fun spot for good beer. Then we headed over to grab dinner at Honey Paw, a Nick + Sarah favorite. The wait is always reasonable and the food is outstanding. With a short wait, we grabbed another beer at Tomaso’s.
At Honey Paw, we split the scallion pancakes and charred broccoli. I got the grilled Tuna on a bed of coconut sticky rice with a fun salad. Sorry for my pics being taken in landscape mode for Stories. I also had a tequila beverage, a very strong one!
Afterwards, it was over to the Port Hole for a lively crowd with live music where you drank on the pier with water under toes. I had one more beer here before calling it a night.
I woke up with a super headache. Tommy slept in until about 7 am luckily. Nick’s mom offered to watch Tommy for a bit so I could go back to sleep to which I of course took advantage of. When I finally got up, I was determined to run the race as our friends had stayed up later than me and were committed. I had a slice of peanut butter toast and runny egg with all the vitamins and nutrients in the yolk.
By the start at 10:30 am (yes a late race), I felt pretty good but definitely not 100%. With over 500 people running, it was a small race but I totally expected a much smaller crowd. It was the perfect amount. Enough for motivation but not too many that it was claustrophobic or chaos.
I started at the back of the pack since I was running a little late. I don’t mind where I start when there are chips in your bib. I had to pee like always at the start too even thought I had just gone. I felt nervous! Why!? Why was I nervous. I didn’t care what my time was, right? At least I said I didn’t…
But then the gun went off and I found myself springing forward a little faster with each step. I never crossed any type of mat that would usually record my chip time at the start which made me a little annoyed. All I could think of was how are they timing people considering there were prizes for the top 3 in each category. I obviously didn’t think I’d win anything but still was curious and it sort of motivated me to pick up the pace.
By mile marker #1, I was shocked it had only been one measly mile. I left my GPS watch in Cape Cod and wasn’t using my phone so I had no idea what my pacing was for each mile. My legs felt good so I kept plugging away stopping for water at mile 2. I walked the water station and felt like throwing up but I didn’t – thank god! How embarrassing.
The competitive Aries that I am continued to try and catch up with random runners even though I felt awful. Come mile 3 I couldn’t believe I had 2 more to go but by mile 4 I was cruising. The race goes around Peaks Island but does a weird zig zag thing near the end that puts you running straight up a steep hill. I knew this and chose to walk half of it.
I finished according to the race clock around 41 minutes. I wondered what my actual chip time was but as I guessed, it wasn’t recorded. Womp womp. Most people wouldn’t care but I am competitive and I just ran my first race in over a year and want to know my splits! Oh well. Lesson learned, wear a watch if you care. With 500 runners, I surely didn’t start more than 30-60 seconds after the gun went off.
The rest of the day/weekend was low key. We stayed on the island, had dinner at Nick’s house, grabbed ice cream and went to be early. Sunday was my rest day and it coincided with our drive back home.
We were in Boston around 3 pm and had an early Dinner at Picco outside with Tommy. Picco is one of my favorite restaurants in the South End and every time we go I insist we have to go more often.
I hope you all had an awesome weekend! Here’s to a good week ahead.
