Destination Race Recap

For the past few years the Rhode Runner Running Club puts together a team trip to run a destination race. We’ve been to Philly, we’ve been to Maine and this year we went up to Portsmouth New Hampshire for a cold, windy, fun, great, incredible race called the Seacoast Half Marathon. It was a blast and in this blog post we recap all the fun!

Christine and I drove up Saturday afternoon and arrived at the packet pickup around 230pm. It was held at Runners Alley which was an awesome little shop that reminded me a lot of our old Rhode Runner store on South Main St. In other words it was small, small but cozy and pretty cool. There I realized it was going to be round 30 degrees at the start and I forgot gloves, I did not buy any…more on that later.

Dinner

We planned a team dinner at Cornerstone Artisanal Pizza and after we checked into our hotel Christine, Heather, Ray and I headed over to the spot. It was in an old mill building that was very cool. We sat there and Maria, Casey and Wendy showed up, but the rest of our crew was nowhere to be found. Cell service was terrible so when I got a phone call from Brian I got up to go outside and there he and Joe and Fernando and Tim sitting across the restaurant. They sat half our party in one spot and half in another. Crazy. However, we did manage to score some free appetizers so small price to pay 😉. The dinner otherwise was awesome, we chatted about running, life and so much more we ate delicious food and drank delicious beers and Maria’s Moonlit Sangria sounded tasty! We were well fed and after a little 1. 2. 3. RHODE RUNNER! we were off to the hotel to catch some z’s before the big race.

Race

Speaking of the big race. It was a pretty fun little event. The race took place at the local High School which was awesome because they had the facilities opened up for the racers. Given that it was below freezing this was awesome! It was a great way to stay warm…before well…warming up! We met before to get a pre-race photo and then a quick warmup before race time! For me the race did not play out as I imagined but hey ya roll with the punches! The course was beautiful for sure, with sweeping ocean views and gorgeous fall foliage it was awesome. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder however, I’m sure some folks would say Eric, it was super hilly, freezing cold and like 20 mile an hour winds…beautiful? More like horrible. Different strokes for different folks.

Anyway, while I had an Ok race I was super impressed with all of our teammates, it was a really tough race and a few of em managed to put together a personal best! Unbelievable. I’m super proud of each and every one of them, I know how tough it was and how many times I thought…maybe that volunteer could give me a lift back to the finish…but they put their heads down and demolished this course.

I really enjoyed the way this event was set up with the High School right there, they held the awards there and supplied runners with pizza, soup and other delicious treats.

Lunch

After the race we all headed back to our hotel to shower up and get ready for a little lunch. We went out to the British Beer Company and made sure to get a booth in front of a TV with the Patriots playing. We squeezed into a booth and again ate some delicious food and drink while watching the Pats lose pretty badly to the Titans. We talked about the race, how windy and cold it was, why so many fast dudes decided to show up, how hilly it was, how they should really have closed down the traffic and also gave each other props for dominating such a difficult run. The lunch was awesome and the band was incredible too I was a little disappointed Maria couldn’t hop in cause she didn’t have her fiddle with her…next time!

Conclusion

The destination race usually brings the season to a close and while it does for a lot of folks, we’ll still be sending out track workouts as there will be a bunch of folks running the Turkey Trot, Christmas 10k and Downtown Jingle 5k! This weekend was a fantastic time and again I’m so proud of our Rhode Runner Running Club members and glad I got to spend this weekend with y’all. Next year we’re thinking Florida for our destination trip…what do you say?