The Rehoboth Half Marathon was my planned comeback race from injury. After hobbling through several pre-registered races in October, I withdrew from Stone Mill 50 and took the month of November off to fully recover from my calf strain. Towards the end of the month, I slowly started inching my way back into running with the HCS Weekly races and MCRRC's Turkey Burnoff. Although the calf feels completely healed, I have been running cautiously, especially because of shin splints, something I've battled on-and-off ever since I started running. Even though I've been cross-training with swimming and the elliptical, I felt extremely out of running-shape (running in cold air probably made it worse) and struggled to hold 9:00 min paces at these low-key races. Since the Army 10 Miler was my last double-digit mile run and my weekly mileage for the last 2 months was anywhere between 0-14.2 miles, I expected to barely make it in under 2 hours, if even that.
I was extremely excited about going to Rehoboth Beach in December because I have always wanted to go to the beach in the wintertime. Being the beach lover that I am, I've always been curious to see what the beach town looks like in the offseason. To my delight, the boardwalk and Rehoboth Ave. were strewn in beach-themed Christmas lights. The town was completely dead, save for the runners there to race that weekend. I ran onto the sand and jumped up and down yelling "I'm on the beach in December!" and would've run out to touch the water if I thought that I could ever get the sand out of my furry shoes. Practically all the stores were closed, but at least the one chocolate shop with the most amazing hot chocolate I've ever had was open.
Our hotel room was super nice with the most amazingly supersoft sheets I've ever slept on, a cozy little fireplace, and a jacuzzi tub. The deluxe club suites were on a private floor with a special lounge full of free snacks and refreshments! Even better, the hotel was pretty conscious of the fact that the only reason you'd be there this weekend was for the race and prepared a special early 5:30 AM breakfast for runners consisting of bagels and fruit and yogurt.
The start and finish area was a very short walk from our hotel, which was so convenient to not have to worry about driving and parking, especially since we were planning to partake in the free beer after the race. I started out the race at a conservative 8:50-9:00 pace, fearing that I might crash and burn by mile 10, since I hadn't run anything longer than a 10K in over 6 weeks. The first few miles took us through the Henlopen area, which made me reminisce about the annual camping trips my cousins and I used to take there. The course was so pancake flat that I was able to effortlessly pick it up to 8:30-8:40 pace for miles 5 through 6. As I was nearing the halfway point, I felt energized and confident that I could run another 6.5 miles at an even faster pace and picked it up to 8:10-8:20s. As I zoomed past runners, I felt so excited to be running again and running fast too! I was so surprised at how effortless it felt and was even thinking to myself, "I'm running at BQ pace!" I guess I didn't completely lose all that I had worked for in the my month hiatus from running. Chris was cheering me on a few hundred feet away from the finish line and I got the adrenaline boost to chase down a lady in front of me and even caught another guy while I was sprinting.
I finished in 1:51:46, which is a new PR for me. I wish I had started out a little less conservatively because I could've easily been under 1:50 with the pace I was running for the second half. When I realized I had to keep under 7:30's for the last 2.1 miles to make it under 1:50, I mentally pulled the chute. I still wanted to stay under 1:52 to make it a true PR, since that was my half split for a marathon and probably backed off a little too much because I had to haul ass at the very end to make sure I beat that time.
One of my favorite parts of the day was being able to walk back to our hotel and clean up before partaking in post-race festivities, which was a major plus considering the post-race party was worth sticking around for. It was so nice not to feel sticky and smelly or shiver with cold sweat-soaked clothes. And since our marathon friends wouldn't be coming in for another couple hours, we took our time and even turned on the jacuzzi tub to pamper ourselves. Chris had done this race last year as part of his 50 half marathon quest and kept raving about how great the post-race party was and they definitely didn't fail to impress this year. The food was amazing! None of the standard cold bagels and bananas. There was endless helpings of BBQ pulled pork, mac n cheese, sausage patties, veggie burgers, salad, pancakes with tons of fruit toppings, and all-you-can-drink beer. The mac n cheese was to die for and I love pulled pork sandwiches and this is only the second race I've seen offer them (Pike's Peek is the other). I probably ate more calories than I had just burned. And all of this was in a nice enclosed heated tent (that was too hot that they had to turn some heaters off) and non-runners could pay $15 to get into for free food and beer.
Another highlight of this trip was not having to hit the road and head back home right away since we stayed an extra night. Chris and I partied all morning long, got drunk before noon, passed out, and then I even got to subject him to tax-free outlet shopping that evening! =)
