Running at the end of the world, part II

Preparing for lift off

I woke up right on schedule at 5 something, my watch alarm going off first and then I turned off the phone alarm before it went off two minutes later (yeah, total runner’s OCD here).  It was a perfect chilly and cloudy New England morning, a day ideal for racing.  My prep schedule came in handy as I mindlessly moved down the list in my half awakeness, half anxiousness:

Wow, could I fake it more for the camera?

We were so on time that we parked and were at the staging area with just over an hour to spare.  Getting to a race start early is actually something that has taken me a long time to learn.  It gives you time to properly warm up without stress, you can “settle” your stomach (and my stomach always needs “settling” right before a race start), you get the good parking spaces, and you just worry less.  We were able to grab coffee for Wifey and I was able to get a few warm up jogs around the town square with Benny--it was his first time running and it looked like this:

 

Er, it was less blurry in real life.  Here’s a better shot after the warm up:

A few stretches and kisses later, the race took off: