Beyond The Rainbow 5K

Today was my third race in the Will Run For Beer Series, the Beyond The Rainbow 5k. The 5k was also simultaneously going on with the Great Bay Half Marathon which was interesting. I have been registered for this race for a little while and just recently found out that the 5k got it's name because it supports a program at Exeter Hospital called Beyond The Rainbow Fund. It helps support cancer patients and their faimlies while going through treatment with various things such as transportation, child care, etc. Not only was I thrilled that it is giving back to fellow cancer patients/survivors but one of my nurse practitioners just recently transfered to Exeter Hospital to work in their cancer center. It made me feel as though I was supporting her in a way as well!

So this morning I was hoping that it would be a little warmer than it was yesterday and hopefully less wind too.

As we were driving in I discovered that the parking was actually a good distance away from where the actual race was going to be. So we parked and took a shuttle to the start line. One thing I really liked is while waiting for the shuttle the race people had setup a table with tons of info on it that we really did need to know. It was awesome!

We then bored the bus and headed to the start, or so I thought! The shuttle bus pulled into a culdasac full of condos, stopped and opened the doors. There were several people on the bus that I heard comment how they thought we were picking someone up. Which is what I thought as well, it was a really odd place to be let out. As it turns out we were behind the high school we just needed to cut through a few places. As we were walking we came across the Community center which seemed really nice but my favorite thing was that they had a giant map of the United States painted in the parking lot.

After walking further we finally came to the high school, which again I thought was were the start was. I have to say I really like that all these races thus far in the series have had buildings for people to go into especially with this not being such a warm spring. We walked into the school, mom got in line for the bathroom I went in to get my bib number and t-shirt. I found it interesting that everyone got the same bib number but different t-shirts depending on if your were doing the 5k or the half marathon.

I came back out to find mom still waiting in line which was great because she pretty much held my spot. I have to be able to change cause I have found that I need to run in compression pants but there is no way I can put them on and then drive all that way while wearing them. So I changed and was all set to go. I honestly don't know what I would do if someone that wasn't running the race didn't come with me because they always end up holding my crap stuff, which in today's case happened to be my mother.

Now it was almost race time so I decided to start out towards the start line so that I wouldn't be in the same situation as last time where I get there just in time to start. I left mom so she could start to walk towards the finish which was in an entirely different spot. It was a good thing I started out "early" because the start was actually at the Elementary School down the street. This was the scene as I approached...

Made me nervous to see so many people, then I remembered it was both races together. I made my way towards the back of the pack and waited. Then there was the start gun and we were off. The first part of the race was fairly flat and a nice run or in my case half walk too. The volunteers were fantastic they made sure you knew where you were going and also gave you a nice compliment/motivation as you ran/walked by them. Everything was going great and then I turned the corner and there was the first hill. It ended up being the first of four hills, this was a hilly course. The ONLY thing that got me through was thinking and in some case saying out loud, "what goes up must eventually come down." Not being familiar with the course I just hoped the going down part came up shortly after starting the going up part. It was nice to get some extra speed going down the hills though.

My favorite part was when we got about halfway up the last hill and the volunteers standing at the top to direct us started yelling, "Come on you guys can do it, it's all down hill from here. The hard part is all over." Now hoping that you can trust them (cause sometimes you can't) it gives you that little extra push. I was thrilled to see they told the truth and it was all down hill. I took off and ran until I had crossed the finish line.

And for those of you who know me I always pick a mark of someone I want to finish before. This time I let them get too far ahead of me and he finished just a few seconds before me. I'll catch 'em next time! Although this was not a new PR for me I though I did fairly well with my finish time of 40:20 given the hills and sore hip from over doing the running this weekend.

I was thrilled to see that not only was my mom waiting for me at the finish but so was my cousin, her boyfriend and my aunt and uncle. They live in New Hampshire and decided to come down and cheer me on. It was great to see them. We stayed to watch the first few people finish the half marathon. the winner of the race and the mens finished in 1:12:26...beating the record he set last year. That is just amazing to me, I say congrats to my fellow 5ker's but also everyone who did the half marathon, you inspire me. Probably not enough to ever do a half marathon but still.

I heard rumors that there was an after race celebration which was being sponsored by Smuttynose Brewing Co. However I have no idea where it was cause it was not where we were. Oh well missing one isn't the end of the world.

This was a good race. I would definitely so this race again! Thank you to everyone involved in creating, directing and arranging everything. And special thanks to all the volunteers, you did a phenomenal job and were just all around pleasant and motivating, certainly can't do these races without you so keep up the good work!

Stayed tuned for the Stonyfield Earth Day 5K in a couple weeks!