Preppy Runner – Theodora Blanchfield

Friends…I’m…back?!

As I mentioned last week, I did the Newport 10K this weekend. After a late night out on a date, my 6 AM alarm came WAYYYY too soon. I woke up wondering why the hell my alarm was going off so early. OH, because I was running a race. Right. There is nothing like a race to get me to bolt out of bed immediately, no matter how early it is.

I took the 7:12 PATH over (it’s either that or 7:47, cutting it too close for an 8:30 start) so I could pick up my bib and meet up with friends.

Dori, this weirdo, Danielle and Amelia

It was not nearly as warm as it looked, but all bags, etc, had been checked. We finally found a warmer patch in the sunshine, like cats, and stayed there until it was time to line up.

We all wanted to go somewhere between 9:00 and 10:00, and we took off and running! A few small complaints: the “8:30” race start was somewhere closer to 8:37, which is frustrating that early in the morning. Also, the road is so rough and full of potholes in the early miles of the race. By some miracle, I am still standing.

I get dehydrated more easily on my current cocktail of meds, so I was grateful that even though this was a short race, there were still several water stops.

As we started off, the pace felt a bit challenging to my current level of fitness, but still doable. By around mile 3, my stomach started really bothering me, feeling super sloshy. I tried to convince myself I’d be OK until the end… but I needed a Port-a-Potty stop, and I told the girls to go on without me.

I was bummed I needed to stop, but I did feel better afterwards… I’d had no more than 3-4 sips of iced coffee before the race, but that was still about 3-4 sips too many for this sensitive stomach.

Once I emerged from the Port-a-Potty, I felt GOOD. I didn’t want to run too fast, so I just went with running “strong,” and that worked. I wasn’t jogging, but I wasn’t racing either.

The view coming down the street to the water is nothing short of amazing. One of my fave things in life is a turn that brings the water into view, and this is no different.

UGH the views are awful.

I swear it felt like there were more piers than usual, but my friends have informed me I’m crazy.

My time: 1:02:19  — not my best showing by far, but my best showing I had in me that day. Another race to start filling my confidence tank back up again.

What fills up your confidence tank?