Hey everyone! It's been a while but I'm back! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go to Maine with Nike to run the Beach to Beacon 10k and what an experience it was. I feel so lucky to have been able to attend. Here's a full recap of the trip.
Friday morning, I caught the 6:28 AM train into NYC. I arrive to New York Penn station at around 7:30 AM. From there, I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said fresh and it had a dice in the mirror... unfortunately, that last part isn't true. It was just a regular cab. I arrived in the Upper East Side NIke store around 8 AM. As I arrived, the first thing I noticed were two huge charter buses that said "Just do it." with the Nike swoop. "Wow, how is this real life?" I thought to myself. I'm greeted as I walk into the store. They let us know where to go to sign in and that there is also food. At check in, we're given information about the restaurants in Maine and a gift card to cover dinner expenses. Wow. Seriously impressed. At about 9:00 AM we're instructed to board the buses and told that we each get a Nike neck pillow. I used mine the entire time on the bus. It was a really sweet gesture for them to include such a practical and helpful item. The bus was so nice! It had hardwood (I'm not sure if it was real or just looked like it) floors. Definitely an upgrade from the usual charter buses. I had a row to myself, so I could spread out, which was so nice. There were also outlets in each row of seats. I was so happy to have an outlet so my phone didn't die. We arrive at the Westin in Portland Maine and directed to a conference room where we can check in and get our hotel room key. We're also provided maps for a 3 or 5 mile shakeout run. Check in was very well organized and went very smoothly. All of the staff with both NIke and the Westin were fantastic. After check in, I head up to my room and see that there is my race shirt, bib, Nike hat and Nike bag laid out on the bed. There is also a sweet note explaining the events. So impressed. From there, I get changed and head out for a shakeout run. We ended up getting lost (even with the help of the map haha) and just sort of explored Portland. We ended up down by the water on a super cute path along the water. There were old train cars along the route. It was adorable (and of course I had to stop get a picture). We also passed the art museum. They had free entry for the day that I wish I would have taken advantage of, but I did get to see a few sculptures outside. After the run, I showered and changed and headed out for dinner. We ended up choosing what felt like the only restaurant that served pasta in Portland. The food was AMAZING. I ended up having leftovers of my spaghetti and meatballs that made it all the way by to NYC with me but then I threw them out on the bus. I still regret that hahaha. From dinner, I came back to the hotel, laid out all of my gear for the AM, washed up and headed to bed. Alarms were set for 4 AM. I'm not a morning person, so I was worried about that. I ended up waking up before the alarm even went off. I usually wear sunglasses (yes, I still run in RayBan aviators but I will be "growing up" and getting real running sunglasses soon) and a hat if it's really sunny. I chose to leave both at the hotel. They would have been helpful on the race! I also did not take advantage of the amazing breakfast spread Nike had provided, which wasn't smart. If I could re-do the race (which I'd love to do again next year Nike!!) I'd make sure I fueled better. We all loaded on the Nike bus at 6:15 AM and headed over to Cape Elizabeth. The race was very well run! Fantastic organization. Brovo to race organizers. The course was hilly and it was hot and humid but beautiful. It was a huge test of mental strength. The first mile went by so quickly. I remember thinking to myself, I'm going to PR big time. Then shortly into mile 3 (there was a huge hill a the end of mile 2) I realized a PR wasn't going to happen. I picked up the pace a little in mile 4. Mile 6 was my slowest mile. I let myself get into my head. I was exhausted but I know I could have kept going with a better attitude. One thing that surprised me was there was no race medal. Now, I'm not complaining but I do love me some race medals haha. After the race, Nike staff were waiting for us with towels and cold water / Gatorade. The other runners got warm water, which may not seem like a big deal, but after running a hilly 10k in hot, humid weather, cold water was so needed. I was so thankful for Nike's generosity yet again. It felt so good to towel off and drink a nice cold water. From there, we all loaded onto the buses and headed back to the Westin to shower, change and check out. On the way home, we stopped an an amazing brewery called Rising Tide. We had a huge room to ourselves. They had lobster rolls (yum!!), Greek food, soups, salad and drinks. I stuffed myself with a lobster roll, corn salad and lobster bisque. It was simply amazing. At 2 PM, we all headed back to the bus for a group photo then off to NYC we went. We arrived back at around 8:30 PM. The train was every hour on the 11's so I had about 40 minutes to get from the Upper East Side to New York Penn. If I missed that train, I'd have to wait another hour and take the 10:11 train. One of the sweet runner actually offered to drive me! I was so touched with her kindness, but after traveling all day, I felt bad making them drive out of their way (if you're reading, you know who you are... and thank you again!). So, I called an Uber and headed on my way. My driver was amazing. I explained to him my situation and he said he'd do his best to get me there by 8:50 PM. Wouldn't you know it, he got me there 2 minutes earlier than I was hoping. I don't Uber often, so I wasn't sure if I could tip through the app and he goes "don't worry about that. I'm just worried about you getting your train". What an awesome guy (I was able to tip him through the app)! Wow, that ended up being a long one. Thanks for reading. And again, a huge thank you to Nike. I'm so thankful for this experience and hope to do it again! xoxo, Chelsea
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If you've been following along, you probably already know my goal was under 2 hours. My last half, my official time was 2:09:20 in 2015. My first half in 2014 was 2:13:14. I knew it was a lofty goal to cut off 9:21 from my 2015 half, but I'd worked my tail off training, so I knew I could do it. Did I do it?! Nope! My official time was 2:03:30. Officially, I missed my goal by 3 minutes and 31 seconds. I thought I'd be really angry at myself for not hitting my goal, but I'm not. If anything, I'm even more determined to keep my training up and get to that goal. Once I'm under two hours, my goals will be adjusted and I'll keep chipping away at my time.
The course came up as 13.4 (it did also for my two friends who ran with me). I also had to stop to use the bathroom (which wasn't on a flat surface and felt like it was going to tip... scariest moment of the race haha). Nike+ said my half time was 1:59:37. But none of that is official and the official is all that matters. The race was extremely well organized. It started exactly on time. They also did a fantastic job of explaining how everything was going to work. My corral, number 7, got to the start line and were off and running at about 7:37 AM. Man, I'll tell ya. You can't beat that feeling once the race official starts. A total rush of adrenaline. I swear I had a huge smile on my face the first few miles. I've got some photos to show it, but I haven't purchased any. Once I do, I'll update and post those here. I was hoping to write this great race recap where I could tell you how I felt at each mile, but I can't. The race was a blur for me. The miles seemed endless and all ran together. With the exception of when I stopped to use the port-a-potty around mile 5, and that crossing the bridge over the Schuylkill seemed like torture. The DJ pumping music at the end of the bridge turned my attitude around and re-energized my mind. The course felt really long. Running Broad Street, I remember seeing City Hall, which I knew was about mile 6 and thinking "holy cow, I'm almost done". I never got that during this race. The miles (especially once the course left the city and went around the Schuylkill) seemed never ending. I remember thinking at one point the race would never end. I tried to relax and enjoy the moment. Yes, the races feel like they'll never end but they always do and when they do, it seems to have gone too quickly. It is a weird feeling and in the moment, I tried to remind myself of that and to really soak in all the excitement from the race. The week leading up to the race I ran twice. Three miles on Monday and two miles on Friday. I thought I'd have super fresh legs. But I didn't. Me, R, K and J walked around Philly the night before. We got to see a lot of the sites and it really made the whole weekend a great experience, but after walking over 5 miles, my legs were drained on Sunday. If I had to choose to do it again, I would. Memories like that don't happen often, so I'd rather be 3+ minutes off my goal. I've included some pictures of our adventuring above. A lot of things wrong for this race. I went out too fast. I'm usually so conservative running, but my body felt good for the first 3ish miles (minus my stomach acting up), so I just went with it. I didn't make myself slow down. Hindsight, I should have forced myself to pull back. I didn't eat enough before the race. I also didn't eat a proper dinner the night before, so my nutrition was way off. It was also humid. But all of those are excuses, I'm proud of my time. I've managed to cut off over 10 minutes from my first half and almost 6 minutes from my second half in 2015. I'm also proud of myself for staying positive (for the most part!). Yes, there were some moments it crossed my mind that maybe I couldn't do it or I should just quit, but I was pretty good about pushing those negative thoughts aside. Overall, am I disappointed I didn't hit my goal? Yes. Am I disappointed in how I did? No. I trained hard and consistently for the past 12 weeks. There are definitely some changes I'll be making to how I train (namely training at faster paces) but next half when I actually OFFICIALLY hit under two hours, it'll be an amazing feeling. Until I find my next half, I'm going to incorporate lifting, BBG and yoga back into my training. If I want to get faster, I'll need to be stronger too. If you have anything more specific you'd like to know, please let me know. That's all for now! XOXO, Run Wilk |
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