St. Patty's Weekend Means the New Bedford 1/2 Marathon

While DFMC had an 18mi training run this weekend, I skipped it as I was running the New Bedford 1/2. I still had a DFMC event though as it was the Patient Partner Poster Party!  I won't say too much since I don't have a picture of the posted, but essentially, all the Patients in the program make a poster that is hung in the hallway leading into the pasta party the day before the Boston Marathon.  I met RJ, his sister and Dad and we had a nice few hours finding our inner arts and craft skills.  A good time and I would have to say a really nice poster.

As for the NB 1/2, like previous years, I ran this race with a core group that I ran my 1st 1/2 marathon with, which was also NB, in 2008!  Last year at this race I set my personal record at ~1hr 57min and was originally hoping to best that this year given the marathon training.  Unfortunately, after the last few weeks I wasn't sure how my leg would respond to a 13.1mi run at a faster pace.  The DFMC coaches suggested a 2:02-2:06 finishing time would be ok.

Our group before the 1/2 starts

The day started much nicer than previous years and was a gorgeous day overall, dare I say almost a little too warm for the run.  Being NB though, there was a strong headwind for a loop along the water.  I met Christine and Sharon at South Station as per routine and we had a nice drive down talking about their DFMC experience from years past and me trying to soak in as much advice as possible (like pace myself the first 15mi of Boston since it is downhill!).  At NB we met with Shuhao and our group of 4 former co-workers, a subset of the 2008 group, was complete.  Shuaho also continues to wear the always popular "Half mer-a-thon shirt" from our aptamer days (if you don't get it, don't worry, we're science geeks).  We also met up with Mike, a current co-worker of Sharon's and another Boston marathoner.  We chatted about our training briefly and then it was time to hit the starting chute...


The race started and immediately I knew that my quad and hamstring were tight and I just hoped they would loosen up.  They look about 1mi to do so but after that, I felt really good for the majority of the race.  In the end, I didn't use my watch that much and just let my body dictate a nice comfortable pace.  Granted "nice comfortable pace" during the hills was a lot different than the downhill section, but overall, I held a consistent 9-ish min pace after warming up, which made me very happy.  I also noticed that the hills seemed easier in years past.  Clearly, the DFMC training runs and the hill work has helped and I'm feel much better about Boston and the hills to come.  That said, I'm not over confident since I've heard too many stories about going too fast early in Boston and then falling apart in Newton and the early parts of Brookline.  Anyway, while I wasn't trying to run a "fast" race, I did finish in 2hr 23sec, which was a great time all things considered, though I was tired at the end.

Post-race heading to the food!

For the first time, we also hit up the free spread after the race instead of hitting a restaurant pub.  NB is right on the water and as such they had fish sandwiches and clam chowder (NE variety of course).  It was tasty, though no beer but we all have to sacrifice!  It was a great day and a great race for all of us!

This weekend is a 20mi training run and then the tapering to Boston starts.  4 weeks from now, I'll be having a beer and recovering from the marathon, or, given the time (~11pm now) I'll probably be asleep! :)