Runner's World Classic Recap: Not Dead Yet

This year was the inaugural Runner's World Classic in Andover, MA. The weekend featured a 5K, 10K, and a half marathon. At first, I was only signed up for the half. However, when my husband mentioned that he wanted to do a few 5Ks with me, I signed him up for the 5K and signed myself up for the hat trick (all of the races!). It was a total of 22.4 miles: 9.3 on Saturday and 13.1 on Sunday. Despite having to get up at 4am both days, this was a great weekend. I cannot recommend these races enough. They were really well organized and there was plenty of food after the race (and a beer if you wanted one). The only downside was that the 10K started an hour after we finished the 5K (and we were pretty slow). Considering the very last person in the 5K finished in an hour, it would've been nice to start the 10K pretty soon after. Especially since there were loads of people doing both.

I'm also realizing that I should maybe not sign up for summer races? Saturday was AWFUL. I mean, nothing they could have done, it was just about 80 degrees. Kevin's not used to running yet, so the heat really did him in and we went a bit slower and took more walk breaks during the 5K. I started off pretty strong during the 10K, but the heat really got to me and I ended up having to take frequent breaks due to feeling unusually weak. Same with the half, even though it was a lot cooler. Sunday was fairly overcast, but it was still really humid and pretty hot for about half the race. There were some hills that I felt like I couldn't make it up.

So how'd I actually do? We finished the 5K in 35:21 and I'm really proud of Kevin for pushing through to the finish. I finished the 10K in 1:03, 222 out of 463 women. The half was 10 sec/mile slower and I finished in 2:15, 166 out of 299 women. My total hat trick time was 3:54:03 and I finished 171 out of 241 participants. Considering how hot it was and the total mileage for the weekend, I'm pretty proud that I finished.