Race Report: NERRC 25K Marathon Tune-Up

First off – let me just say that this was a great experience. The weather was perfect, the run was challengingly successful, the race directors/volunteers were friendly, and I met some great people.

That, my friends, is a good race.

This little tune-up* was put on by the Northeast Roadrunners Club in Philadelphia, which I had never encountered before, but they do a good race. Nothing spectacular – just great long-sleeved tee-shirts for participants, clock timed, and a few water stops. Good stuff.

Now, I’m just going to assume (and we all know where that gets us!) that this little club requires sub-8 minute miles or some Kenyan bloodline to belong. Because all the other runners…um, crazy fast. Or, at least, crazy fast for me!

Buuuut…even with only a Scottish bloodline and a squatty stature, I am very excited for my time!

15.5 miles in 2:43:25.

Not bad for someone who has that same pace as her 5K standard! (Now, of course, the training devil in me is saying, well, if you can run 15 miles at 10:30…then you can push more on the short distances…go, go, go!) Actually I have new friends and running buddies, Scott and Rick, to thank for this. Our paces just happened to jive and so we stuck together for the whole distance. And having Scott there to keep my pace not only up, but a little on the edge of pushing it, was excellent! I think we were both surprised at the results. Plus, he was really interesting to talk to and didn’t seem to mind all of my yammering. Sometimes I think I should wear a disclaimer that I talk a lot. Just to warn people. But Scott made the run shift from bearable to enjoyable. Hopefully we’ll run (ha!) into each other at the marathon next month. Thanks Scott!

And then there was Rick. Ah, Rick. Rick was our a silent companion for much of the morning, but we were later able to tap his knowledge of marathons (10 of them so far!) and distance running. He had such good advice to lend and was just great fun to have around, especially for that last few miles. Rick – if you ever get to read this – thanks so very much. I’m going to keep all of your encouragement in my back pocket during the marathon next month, pulling it out for those tough miles and reminding myself that if I can make it 15 miles like I did yesterday, then I can make it 26.2. You rock.

Sorry, guys, no pictures for this one. Mighty M was at home, sleeping in (which he hugely deserved), so I was sans sherpa. Which is a shame – it was really beautiful. The trees along Kelly and West River Drives were changing and the sun was bright. Just a wonderful crisp day. Anyone have suggestions for bringing along a camera, but not having it get all sweaty and messed up during a run?

Lastly, I did get a chance to thank one of the race directors for all of their hard work, but big kudos should go out to everyone involved in the NERRC. Thanks for coming out on such a cold morning so that we could get tuned-up and ready for next month!

Okay, I have a number of lessons learned on this one, so I’ll post them up later today. For now, I hope y’all had wonderful weekends!!

* Isn't it terribly fun to call a 25 K run at the crack of dawn on a Sunday a "little tune-up" -- so casual and relaxed like... ;)