Happy Friday!
It’s time for another edition of Fit Five Friday! My schedule was cray, cray last week and I missed posting in the linkup, so I’m happy to be back this week. And, I’m back with a race recap from a live race! Last Sunday, I ran the Narragansett Summer Running Festival 10K with my brother – my first in-person race since February 2020!
Narragansett Summer Running Festival 10K Recap
This was my 3rd time participating in the Festival. My son and I ran it in 2013 as my son’s first-ever 5K and I ran the 10K with my husband and brother in 2019. The Festival is usually a 2-day event held on the Stonehill College campus, with the 5K and 10K on Saturday and the half marathon on Sunday. This year, thanks I’m sure to the uncertainties of Covid, the race was condensed to a 1-day event and the 5K was eliminated. I had registered long before the state gave the green light to in-person races, knowing that the race organizers had committed to giving everyone a refund vs. switching to a virtual option if the race wasn’t allowed to go forward.
Pre-Race
My brother and I planned to meet at the race around 6:30 am. At that early hour, Stonehill is a quick 20 min drive from my house, and there was ample parking designated for the runners. Bib and t-shirt pick-up was quick and easy, a short walk down the hill from the parking area. It felt so good to see so many runners! We had a lot of time until the 10K’s 8:00 am start (half marathoners started at 7:30) so we headed back to the cars to drop off our shirts, grab more water, and try to stay cool. While it was relatively cool (upper 60s) you could feel the humidity creeping up fast. We hung out chatted with some of the other runners and eventually decided to make our way down to hit the porta-potties and get to the start line.
Pre-race and ready to go
As we headed to the start line, it was nice to see that this year they had added pace markers to encourage people to self-seed. I think everyone had the same thought as we did of taking slow and easy because it seemed like most of the runners were hanging in the back. So much so that the race announcer was actually trying to encourage people to move to the front. The humidity was rising and my brother and I both knew once we stepped out of the shade of the start that it was going to get uncomfortable really fast.
The Race
The 10K course is two 5K loops through the campus with a mix of paved paths, gravel, grass, and two wooden bridges. It’s mostly flat with a couple of moderate inclines at the end of each loop. While I had worried about how my hip would deal with running across the gravel in the first mile, it seemed to take the uneven terrain just fine. In fact, my hip proved not to be a factor throughout the whole race. The humidity, on the other hand, proved to be the real challenge!
I’ve been running with 5:1 intervals and my brother was fine with that so we ran together through the first 4 miles. By the time we headed down the hill to start the second loop I was really starting to struggle with the humidity. My brother was holding up pretty well so I urged him to go ahead while I continued my humidity shuffle. While there were not a lot of spectators, those that were out there were really enthusiastic – I would have never guessed how much I missed the sound of a cowbell! The volunteers were also super upbeat and encouraging. At the 5 mile marker, I started targeting runners to pass, and soon I could hear the music at the finish line. One final push and I was done!
No medals for the 10K, but I appreciate the gender-specific cut
Post-Race
My brother was waiting at the finish line having come across just a few minutes before me. We were handed a couple of bottles of water and then headed down the green to the beer garden. Each runner received 2 beer tickets and there was a range of ice-cold Narragansett beers to choose from.
Everyone spread out on the grass and enjoyed the live music. There were several vendors, but we were content to hang out on the lawn for a bit before packing up and heading home for breakfast.
Post-race glow!
Overall this is a really fun race with a great atmosphere! I think I will always have a love-hate relationship with this race because it offers so many pluses, but summer running, especially the humidity is my nemesis. But I’m almost certain that I’ll run this again next year. 🙂
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