May 6th: 6am wakeup. Slept in running clothes to just do once less thing in the morning. Bowl of Kasahi Autumn Harvest for breakfast. Milk smelt kinda string. Oh well. Packed up a bag with some goodies and out the door at 6:20am. Stopped for gas in Bethel and to New Pond Farm before 7am. Kimber and her mom arrived soon after. Picked up her number and back to the car to get race ready. Warmed up to the starting and past it. Back to Farm to drop off clothes. Cow pies everywhere. People had poop on their shoes and some even on their legs. Eww.
8am start (8:13 actually because it was the 1st annual and the race director was talking off everybody's ear). Saw Kimber 2 minutes into the race and off to the 2 mile mark to see her next. Mapped out all the shortcuts to see her the most possible times without following her the whole course. Cut through to see her at about 3.5 or so. It was the turnoff for the 10k and the police officer there was not exactly being the most helpful to the runners. It basically ended in me directing people straight for the half and left for the 10k until Kimber passed through. Back through the shortcut and reversed the course to mile 7. Ran on the railroad tracks next to the course for a change (and to avoid running through the 10k course) and up to an intersection. I was dazed and confused at the intersection because the bridge I was planning on cross was under construction (aka not existent). Threw me off, but regained my bearings quickly. Off through the construction site and over to mile 7. Hill course to say the least. Uphill and downhill. Kimber was running great. I cheered her on and let her get some distance on me before I ran behind her to get back through the construction site to cut off about 3.5 miles to met her at mile 11. As she left, she said "I love you!" I reciprocated and the guy next to her mentioned that he loves me to Kimber. Kimber yelled back "This guy loves you too!" I reciprocated again. Off to mile 11 with 20 minutes to spare. Decided to just sit down on the sidelines and cheer people on/stretch. One guy passed by and asked if I was okay. I let him know I was spectating. Haha. Spotted Kimber and ran with her from 11 to about 12.9ish. Helped her a ton. She finished in sub 1:54. Tougher course than her 1st marathon and over 7 minutes faster. Ca-chang! One of the guys at the refreshment tent noticed I was everywhere during the race. He was astonished that I was able to make it all around the course. I showed him my secret with the shortcuts (not that secretive and somewhat common sense in my eyes) and he was still just amazed. It happened last time at Kimber's Seacoast Half Marathon in the fall. Classic!
Hung out for a bit after and back to my house for some breakfast and chatting. Sausage, egg and cheese. Orange slices. Uncle David and Mrs. Stannard bonded with their Project Adventure experiences. Kimber and her mom headed out around 1pm. Uncle Davey wanted to do some fishing so we walked down to the old dock. I had all intention to make a few casts. Instead, I took a 1+ hour nap on the dock. Face down. Passed out. Very refreshing. My dad joined us and caught a large mouth bass (small in size, but huge mouth). Back to the house to relax on the deck. Snacked and shot the s**t for a while. Packed up my things and relaxed some more with my parents on the deck. My mom insisted I bring up a mattress so we fit the twin perfectly in my car with the backseats down. No more futon or air mattress. Woohoo! Eventually left by 8:15pm to make the journey back to NY.
Car ride was smooth. No traffic, but was dozing off a bit in the middle. Stopped at Mickey D's for a vanilla shake. Helped for about 30 minutes before feeling tired again. Made it home safely by 11:20pm. No shower. No unpacking my car (mattress and other things). Bed by midnight. I know, gross! Plan is to grab my stuff Monday morning before work so I don't drive all of it to work. We will see about that.
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