Back in August (I know it's October, sorry!), I went up North to visit my friend, R, in Boston, Mass. She is a runner too, so she found us a little half marathon to run in the middle of nowhere, southern Maine, during that time.
Before this trip, I had never been that far north in the continental US. The first thing I noticed after I got off the plane in Boston, was the weather. It was awesome! It was still AUGUST and I was not melting. That may seem like a strange observation to some, but I live in Florida. August is meant for misery here--getting up all summer at 0400 to try and squeeze in a run before the sun comes up and it's absolutely too hot to think (or run safely, for that matter) is the norm here.
Anyway, I spent the night with R and her husband P and the next morning, R and I got up to head to Maine. We stopped for gas once we got into Maine and I HAD TO PUT ON A JACKET. Again, Floridian--I don't even like to LOOK at a jacket until November; even the idea of putting one on makes me hot. We went to a beautiful Bed and Breakfast and checked in, then we headed off to go kayaking.
The kayaking was a lot of fun, though the water was stupid cold, lol! I stepped in it to get into the kayak and it actually took my breath away...but the area was so pretty. Our tour guide was a little odd...to say the least...but the views were completely worth it. We had a two hour guided tour and then decided to call it.
The next morning, we got up to do the half marathon. The race was very small--only 200 participants--so there was no packet pick-up, no expo, no bibs, no stress. The race started at 0730...or earlier, if we wanted. The run was held by Blueberry Cove Camp (I think it's a 4H camp) and the director's announcement that morning was that this was an easy-going type of run. He mentioned that if someone was running to win, they were probably at the wrong race...it was set up for people to complete and that was it. No official timing and runners could head out as early as 0630, though there was no guarantee the water stations would be set up that early. We ran through a coastal farming town (the same area we had kayaked in the day before) and the locals were out, en force. They were all very nice and cheered us on. The scenery was simply amazing. Coastal Maine is mind blowing in the summertime, it really reminded me of the time I've spent in Germany in the summer.
I had an epiphany while running--this is why people actually like the summertime. It's not miserable everywhere, in some places summer is quite lovely. And suddenly I also understood the Snow Birds. Snow Birds are older people that live in the north during the summer and come south to Florida for the winter...yup, it all makes sense now. Why not move to Florida? Summer sucks. Why not stay up north? Winter sucks. But the combination of areas and seasons...? Oh yes. I get it.
The run itself was a good one. Finished in just under three hours; there were a few hills that were worth walking up, so we just took it easy and enjoyed. I had not seen my friend R in over 10 years, so we really just took the opportunity to chat and have a good time. She had not been running in a while and was worried about finishing, but I like to think I'm pretty easy to run with (so long as you don't mind going slowly) and we finished in good time. The medal (which was porcelain, not metal) was actually really cool...no T-shirt for that run, which I admit to being disappointed about. It was just such a cool little run and I would've worn that shirt...but, oh well. I have the medal and the pictures and a great memory of a beautiful run with a good friend. I guess if the lack of a t-shirt is my biggest complaint, it really was an awesome run.
No comments:
Post a Comment