Race Registration

It is the day before the race and we are both ready.  The weather has changed again, and as predicted yesterday's rain and wind disappeared overnight to be replaced by brilliant blue skies.  The wind speed increased to 25 mph with gusts higher than that, and a gale warning was in effect.  I went out to do my Tai Chi and the wind was so strong that at one point it threw me off balance.  And it was coming straight out of the west:  the ocean looked like a river, hurrying due east, like the Niagara River roaring in its unwavering course towards the Falls.

We drove over to the Bask Hotel after lunch, where race registration was being held, and signed up for the race, that big step from which there is no turning back.  One of the women at the registration table remembered us from last year.  "How long are you staying?" she asked Martha.  "Two months," was the reply, and we explained.  The shirts are nice, and it was a typical low-key registration process.  A paper on the table gave a website which is supposed to give instant results after the race, but when I tried it after we returned to the condo it proved to be not yet operational.

 
I have thought hard about it and decided to run the 10-K, which I believe I can finish in a respectable time with my knee brace strapped in place.  Of course I am disappointed because mentally I am prepared for the half marathon that I trained for.  But it would be truly foolish to attempt a 13.1-mile race on an injury (although I awoke twice last night and actually thought about it).  Martha, on the other hand, will run the half marathon, twice across that bridge, and is primed to run a good race.  My race actually also goes across the bridge twice, so at least I will feel that I am facing the same obstacles that she will face except for the distance.

Then we spent some time afterward driving back and forth on the streets near the Bask Hotel, the first part and the last part of the course, which loops back and forth in different ways for the 5-K, the 10-K, and the half, and I think we have it straight now.  Three races on the same course is a little confusing on the course maps.  I remember that last year there were people at all the intersections, though, so I hope I don't run an extra mile or (worse) miss a mile.

After that, we made another important stop:  to a thrift store in Beaufort where Martha bought two lovely flannel shirts in our size (which as I write have been washed and are in the dryer).  It's going to be 43 degrees in the morning at starting time and the wind will be from the NNW at 23 mph, so these throw-away shirts will be welcome while standing at the starting line; they will be quickly discarded, collected, and probably donated back to the same thrift store again by race volunteers.  I was wearing a shirt like this in a marathon many years ago and I think I actually kept it on for three or four miles!

So now we are resting up, preparing to have the traditional pre-race dinner of pasta and marinara sauce, the same pre-race dinner we have had before our long runs in the past couple of weeks.  It is satisfying to go through these familiar rituals again, these small last-minute preparations that put the cap on the long-term preparations:  laying out our running clothes for the morning, pinning that number on the shirt, tucking energy gel into little pockets, and bringing plenty of warm clothes to change into after the race, when it will feel really cold!