Middlebury Maple Run

My first May race was yesterday morning, and I have to say, it was my favorite race of this year thus far!

A few months ago a good friend of mine, Andrew, who I hadn't seen in nearly a year (I met him after college because he was dating a good friend of mine and he and I became close, but they broke up last summer and we had only communicated via texting since then...) decided that we wanted to run a race together. He was an XC runner in high school and currently coaches track and XC at the school he teaches at. We chose the Middlebury Maple Run because it was in between where we both live (we live about and hour and a half from each other...).

As a team, we split the half marathon. Andrew was running late the morning of the race, so we made a game time decision that I would run the first half (which was slightly more than half at 7 miles) and he would run the second (the final 6.1 miles). I was fine with running the 7 miles, but was concerned that I would slow us down and embarrass Andrew - but he was super supportive and we just had an absolutely incredible time!

My leg had a good number of hills but I felt strong and well prepared. I was well fueled (I ate a bagel with tofu cream cheese an hour and a half before I started to run) and well hydrated (I drank a ton of water and an Odwalla Superfood juice). At no point did I feel that I needed to stop, I never lost motivation and I just felt darn good the whole time. The weather was amazing (sunny and about 65) but the course had a good amount of shade and I wasn't hot at all.

My right knee started bothering at about mile 4 (a sharp feeling pain on the outside bottom part of my knee), but not enough for me to stop or think of anything that might make it feel better. The final .5ish was a bit of a challenge because it was REALLY uphill, but I just took it slow and keep trucking. I met Andrew at the relay exchange, handed him the bracelet and off he went! I grabbed our stuff (his phone, our race shirts and a water bottle we were sharing) and headed out.

As I walked off my run I was feeling good. I drank a ton of water and walked to a bathroom (the 3 steps down to the bathroom caused a sharp pain in my knee) but felt great other than that. My watch recorded a 1:18 for my part of the race which was about where I expected to be. I walked towards the finish line (probably a quarter mile or so) found a good perch to watch the runners before the rounded the final corner and stretched until Andrew came. He looked great as he whizzed by and gave me a little fist pump as I cheered for him. I hopped up as soon as he passed and we walked off his run together, enjoyed some of the post race party and then headed for our cars.

It was great to see a good friend, run my longest distance in a race thus far and take part in a really great event. I've been icing my knee since the race and it's feeling much, much better. I would totally do it again next year, and Andrew and I are thinking of trying the whole thing together!

me and Andrew with our maple syrup bling!