Dictionary.com lists 23 separate definitions for the word "great" and I bet I could list 23 things about last Sunday's Great Island 5k that were great. [Actually, I came up with 19 pretty darn fast, but decided in the interests of time and readership tolerance to narrow it down to just the most great great things.]
The Location
Great Island truly is a great place to hold a road race: stunning views, beautiful homes, narrow roads, mostly flat, a wonderful park for the start/finish.
The Community
New Castle is an affluent island town with a wonderful sense of community. The race is a major fundraiser for various recreation programs both on and off the island, including the park where the race was held and the Portsmouth Track Team. Dozens of businesses donated goods and services for post-race doorprizes.
The People
1340 people registered for the event, with approximately 1200 finishers, including adults, teens, kids and babies in strollers. That's certainly greater than anything we've run so far! Plus, everyone--the event organizer, the locals cheering from their lawns, the many smiling participants--was incredibly nice (OK, except for the driver who flipped us off after Alan honked to warn him he was about to back into us). For such a populated course on small roads, it never felt uncomfortably crowded. Even the porta-potty line was organized, fast-moving and wound through a lovely little glen.
The Volunteers
Dozens of kind people covered registration, packet pick-up, the course, the sound system, parking, food, etc.
The Post-Race Food
Water, bananas, apples, bagels, cream cheese, donuts, pretzels, gogurt, more donuts...we're talking variety and volume. We stayed til the bitter end and there was still food left!
Our Times
Ok, so they wouldn't be great on a lot of other people's watches, but we both had 5k PRs and were really happy with our results. Alan's net time was 30:31. He was 801 out of 1145 finishers and 114/127 for his division. My net time was 34:46. I was 981/1145 and 153/189. When you calculate the actual length of the course (3.16 miles per GoogleEarth), I had exactly an 11 minute pace. It's still a big deal for me to run the whole distance, even in these short races, so that was a big achievement. Best of all: I had hardly any shingles pain! Finally!
The Door Prizes
I mentioned before the generosity of local businesses. Not only were there probably 150 good prizes to give away, but they were distributed efficiently and fairly to the people who hung around for the awards presentations. They just kept pulling numbers out of that fish tank and rattling 'em off over the loudspeaker until there was nothing left. [And, No, we didn't win anything. This is why I don't play the lottery, folks.]
The Weather
No, it wasn't great: it was utterly perfect. A classic New England fall day, cool but sunny with just a little breeze off the water and gorgeous foliage. This is why we chose Columbus Day weekend for our wedding. Little did we know we would eventually realize it's also perfect running weather.
The Nuns
Yes, there were Running Nuns! and they were rocking the running shoes with their habits! I was too shy to ask them to pose for a picture, but I snuck a few shots in the parking lot [which, due to technical difficulties, aren't loading here.] They were from the St. Charles Children's Home which hosts their own 5k annually. Cool.
The Occasion
We discovered this event when searching for a way to celebrate our anniversary. We specifically wanted something far enough away to justify a hotel and leaving the kids behind. We weren't running away from the kids, but we were running....away from the kids. Anyway, we had a nice time, albeit on a tight budget, in a pleasant new motel in York and enjoyed the scenic drives and a (yes, I'll say it again) great event. We even got a good laugh when we picked up our race t-shirts saturday night (on our actual 17th anniversary) and saw that they said "17th Annual Great Island 5k".
Plans for Next Year
Of course we have great plans for the future, that's what we do!
Next year, we plan to do up our anniversary big by 1) doing the Great Island 5k again, 2) spending two nights in a hotel, 3) indulging in a romantic carbohydrate-laden pre-race dinner, and 4) shopping at the Kittery outlet stores (for sports apparel of course) on the way home. And finally, since the race will be on the right date, we'll inform the race director that it's our anniversary, too, so maybe he'll steer some of those great door prizes our way!
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