4 down, 46 to go

The short version? I did it.

It was a very warm day in Portsmouth, NH, today. The high temperatures got to around 80°F, and running on pavement, some of which was new enough still to be pretty dark, got pretty steamy.

But before there was running, there was a really nice community hanging out in the parking lot of Martin's Point Healthcare in the Pease Tradeport area of Portsmouth. On this sunny Sunday afternoon, it was quiet in the largely industrial area, except for all the organizers, volunteers, families and runners who were making the event happen. Under a bright, blue sky, with just a few fluffy clouds floating through the sky, it was hard to focus on the clothesline of t-shirts drying in the breeze which displayed slogans in support of childhood sexual assault survivors and their families: a sobering reminder of the reason for the event, which was a fundraiser for SASS (Sexual Assault Support Services).

Vendors and sponsors from around Portsmouth and beyond had chipped in to provide breakfast, lunch, trash removal (there were composting bins for my banana peel!) and funding for the sound system, race timing, etc.

It's not cool to post photos of other people's small children, so I won't, but trust me, the children's "fun run" was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Some of the entrants can't have been much more than 2 years old, and churned their chubby little legs across the lawn hand-in-hand with parents and older siblings to the cheers of all. The bigger kids were faster, and ran twice as far, but the little ones were the real stars.

And then it was time for us ...

As I said earlier, it was hot. And I hadn't really trained for this one. I think I'd gone running about three times in the previous few weeks, which were my first actual runs since November. I'd run 5 km each time, comfortably and in reasonable time, so I hadn't worried about it too much. Given the hot weather, though, I found myself wishing I'd done some more preparation and especially some more hydration.

Still, I made it to the finish line, and finished near the middle of the pack: 90th out of 163, 31:15.27.

There was free lunch being provided by a local restaurant, but as a gluten-free vegetarian (more about that at my other blog), there wasn't much there I could eat. Instead, my cheering section (aka my parents) and I headed downtown to Flatbread Company for some well-earned pizza and a little spiked lemonade ...

All in all, a satisfactory day! Many thanks to my generous parents for the company, transportation, photography (all photos by Helen Young, aka Mom) and lunch.

See you next month for the 5K River Run in New London, CT. (And perhaps some training commentary sooner.)