Last weekend I ran my 12th marathon - the Amica Newport Marathon in Newport, Rhode Island. I deferred my entry to this race in 2018 so Newport has been a long time coming and I'm glad I finally got the chance to take on this course. It's been a while that I haven't had to travel for a full marathon so it was a great change of pace to not have to coordinate flights and accommodations the weekend of a marathon. It was an extremely chill race weekend compared to my most recent marathons!
Friday night Brett and I decided to order Chinese food and watch our favorite show,
The Challenge. My fortune cookie had a piece of advice for me that I thought was extremely appropriate for my pre-race nerves:
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes of the goal. No matter how many times you run 26.2, it's always scary. Your mind is racing with all the things that would possibly go wrong as you're running that distance, and it's easy to fill your head with doubt. You have to keep your eye on your goal of the finish line in order to get through! I thought about this quote a lot while I was running on Sunday and the moments leading up to the race.
Saturday morning I had some time to kill before heading down to the expo to pick up my bib, so I watched the live stream of Eliud Kipchoge attempt the sub-2 marathon. I loved the fact that he was running this exhibition the day before the marathon as I knew it would be so inspiring and
it was. As he was coming down the home stretch to the finish line I was tearing up alone in my bedroom. 😂 So inspiring and motivational.
When you try to share your excitement with your non-runner boyfriend 😂
I headed down to the expo a few hours later. I was pretty surprised at how small the expo was! I was imagining I would be spending a bit of time wandering through booths but it was one small-ish ballroom with tables for bibs, 2-3 vendors, and a table where they were giving away past race shirts and pint glasses (which of course, I snagged a few). I picked up my bib (lucky #13), bought a few gels, and went on my merry way. I'd say I was there for a total of maybe 10-15 minutes. For the size of the race field I was definitely expecting more from the expo, but it got the job done.
I spent the rest of the day Saturday popping by Brett's cousin's wedding reception, packing snacks and a cooler for race day, and just trying my best to get mentally prepared for the next day. Nerves are always so high for me before a marathon, so I did my best to try and relax and stay off my feet. It was so nice to be able to be at home the night before a marathon for a change. That probably won't be able to happen again for a very long time, so I tried to enjoy that perk as much as I could! Before I knew it, it was time to set my race day alarm of 3AM and lay out my flat runner - the traditional pre-marathon ritual!
Newport was my first marathon as an official Marathon Maniac and I was super excited to finally run in my yellow singlet! 💛
Brett and I were up bright and early to make the trek down to Newport. There is no parking at the start/finish line, so you're required to park a couple of miles away and take a shuttle to the start. Every single communication about parking we received said to GET THERE EARLY and BE ON A SHUTTLE BY 6AM AT THE LATEST. Me, being a chronically early human and avid rule follower, was more than willing to oblige. We arrived to the parking lot around 5:15 or so where I finished getting myself ready before we hopped on a shuttle at 6. I got my first "YEAH MANIAC" ever on this bus and I was already buzzing with excitement!
We got to the start area in time to watch the gorgeous sunrise with everyone else. It was beautiful to feel the excitement of all the runners around me and to watch the sun come up as a massive group. We also got there in time for me to be a part of the Maniacs/Fanatics team photo! It was great meeting a couple of folks before the race. 3 of them had run Hartford the day before (superheroes), and the one second from the right actually went on to be in the top 10 overall (we waved at each other as he was closing in on mile 26 and I was almost at 14 haha)! It was super great to have my first experience meeting everyone and bonding a bit before the big race.
Go team!
Brett helped me warm up and stretch before heading over to the starting line. It was great to be able to have him there to keep me calm and crack jokes with me before heading out. He's a trooper for getting up so early on his day off to come spend time at a marathon! Before we walked over to the start we had to take a couple of "before" photos on the beach. It was too beautiful not to!
Then it was time to get running! There was a waved start to this race but I did not have to wait long after the 7:30AM start time to cross the starting line myself. According to my watch I crossed the start at 7:36 so they were great at letting folks get started as soon as possible. It did feel a bit crowded through the first two miles and I did have to do some weaving around walkers and such, but I'm always appreciative when a race can just let people get started. Nothing worse than having to wait in a corral!
The first half of the course is the half marathon course, so there are a lot of folks that you're running with for the first 13.1. Through this first half you run through downtown Newport, past some extremely beautiful mansions, and along the coast. If there's anything this course is, it's
breathtakingly gorgeous. Something I didn't expect, though was how freaking
hilly the course was! For some reason I always think running by the ocean means running on a flat course, but I always forget that when you're in New England, that's really not the case. 😂
My favorite part of the course was miles 5-7. We ran along the coastline of Newport and it was incredible. There's an entire stretch of the course where the waves are crashing up against the seawall and if you run too close to the side of the road you're for sure going to get splashed. It was amazing to experience that! I tried to capture some photos as it was happening but they do not do the experience justice at all.
Shortly after mile 7 you start running past some serious mansions. You're definitely reminded where you are miles 7-12! The water stops through this stretch were also great. Many of the folks took time to have a theme to their aid stations. I saw a 50's theme and a couple of Patriots themes, and everyone had some really great energy!
Unfortunately around mile 5 I started to feel really nauseous. I was hoping that over time that the nausea would eventually subside but it hung around for 20. Freaking. Miles. All I could honestly do was do my best to enjoy the scenery and the race experience to the best of my ability. There was a couple spectators and fellow runners who were cheering for all of the Maniacs throughout the entire course and every time I came across one it gave me an extra boost. I also distracted myself to see how far along in my marathon I was at the exact time Eliud Kipchoge would have been finishing his marathon. Spoiler alert: it was nowhere near 26.2 miles 😂
One of my least favorite parts of this course (and any course that does this) was that it run right by the finish line where the half marathoners were ALSO finishing their race. I always hate when races do this because it's just so cruel seeing other runners getting to STOP RUNNING and you still have 13.1 more miles to go. 😂 Also, when I was coming into this section of the race, the MC said something to the effect of "Welcome back half marathon runners! Lucky for you, you ran the EASIER half of the course. The second half of the marathon course is WAY HARDER." Which, you know, is exactly what you wanna hear as you're about to embark on the WAY HARDER section of the race... Read the room, MC! 😬
I saw this sign and instantly died laughing because it reminded me so much of this Family Guy clip 😂
As promised, the back half of the course was far more difficult. After the half marathoners broke off the crowds reduced SIGNIFICANTLY and the course turned in to much bigger hills with little to no tree-coverage, so I basically melted in the sun for 13 miles. Luckily I got a boost of energy when I saw Brett at mile 15.5. I really needed the encouragement at that point because I was 10 miles into feeling sick with no end in sight, and so much more of the course left to go. It's always so amazing how much a familiar face can push you to keep going!
The sun really got to me on the back half. I always really struggle when there is no shade on a really sunny day, and add in hills, nausea, and a lonely, spectator-free course, it got really tough to keep going! Brett, my parents, and Cassie kept me motivated over text. Apparently Cassie and Hanna showed up about 10 minutes after I saw Brett at 15.5 (just missed them!) and hung around until I crossed the finish line - such great friends! 💗 The hills mile 18-24 were absolutely brutal but as soon as I conquered the final hill at Surfer's End, my nausea *finally* subsided and the motivation to keep running and getting myself to the finish completely took over. Brett, Cassie, and Hanna sent me the below selfie to keep me motivated and let me know that I had people waiting to cheer me in to the finish line!
Finally, after 6:01:50, I crossed the finish line of the Newport Marathon, got my 12th marathon medal, and crossed Rhode Island off of my 50 states challenge! ✅
Immediately took my shoes off and threw my flip flops on after finishing.
This will forever be my #1 marathon race day tip. 😂
It was so good to finally be done with this race. This was definitely up there in my most challenging marathon experiences (comparable to Youngstown in June 2018) and it taught me a lot of things. I've come to realize that I don't want to be out on a marathon course that long ever again if I can help it, and that I need to dedicate so much more to my training than I have in the past. I want to hit my goal of a sub-5 marathon. I want to set a new PR. I want to be such a better runner than I have been proving to be in my last few marathons and I know that I can. Even though this race was SO difficult, I left Newport feeling so motivated to do better. My next marathon is in February so I have a lot of time to prepare and I plan to take advantage of it.
After a bit of time soaking up the finish and chatting with Cassie and Hanna, we hit the road back home while jamming out to Third Eye Blind, which we've officially dubbed as 90's emo. We spent the rest of the day lounging on the couch, watching Red Zone, and eating Chinese food again. We started the weekend with it, why not end the weekend with it as well? 😂
Overall this race was difficult, beautiful, and so well run. Even though I'm a back of the pack runner, I felt supported by the race organizers from the moment I picked up my bib to the moment I came across the finish line. The views on this course are unlike any other I've experienced to date. My experience on the Newport course was not an easy one but I know it's a race that I'm never going to forget. I totally recommend folks give the Newport Marathon a try for their Rhode Island race! Just make sure you prepare better than I did. 😉
A close up of my finisher's medal!
