Rainy Marion Village 5K

We're visiting with Grandma and Grandpa in Marion, Massachusetts and Larsson, Nora and I ran the Marion Village 5K this morning! Since it's a Saturday it was, of course, raining. But the double jogger has a rain shield and we all had hats and we were not afraid of a little rain.

Here's a picture of us before the race started, with the scenic Sippican harbor as a backdrop:

(Larsson was trying to pull down the hood of the stroller since it had started to rain.)

Here's another one with the rain shield firmly in place:


Braman was our designated race photographer and took this action shot shortly before mile 1:


I didn't feel very fast but we were steady and, thankfully, Larsson was distracted by all the action and didn't talk too much so I was mostly able to conserve my breath. Before the race started I provided Larsson with a bag of goldfish which he snacked on and which he doled out sparingly to Nora throughout the race. This kept them busy and I only had to tell them to stop poking each other once.

The race course was pretty flat with one very small uphill and one barely noticeable downhill. I don't think the kids noticed but I enjoyed looking at all the well-kept shingled seaside houses with tidy, seaside-y landscaping. We ran through Tabor Academy (where Braman went to high school and where Grandpa works), part of the village of Marion, along the water and then back to Tabor. The race ended at Hoyt Hall which is where Braman and I had our wedding reception.

The sights that we ran past included the Marion Mallet Club (a member of the United States Croquet Association), the Sippican Tennis Club, and the Beverly Yacht Club. It was a fun run with beautiful scenery.

We finished the first mile in 10:58, the second in 11:16 and the third in 10:53 (I sped up for the third mile!). Right at mile 3, I unbuckled Larsson from the stroller and he hopped out and ran the last .1 mile with me.

Here we are coming down the homestretch:

(It was really raining here.)

Still running...


Almost to the finish line:


And all done!

(Nora was asleep in the stroller.)

Our final time was 34:52 (we started in the back of the pack and it took us about 13 seconds to reach the start line so the time on the finish line clock you see in the picture above wasn't accurate for us) which included stopping to take up the rain shield when it stopped raining, stopping to put it back on again when it began raining again, and stopping to take Larsson out of his seat so that he could run to the finish line. It wasn't my fastest time but it wasn't too bad. I was 246 out of 269 runners and 27 out of 32 in my age group (30-39). Larsson was 28 out of 36 in his age group (1-13).

As promised, I continued to run after the race. Instead of running the race course again, however, I ran back down along the water to Silver Shell Beach and then back up Front Street to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Braman told me this distance would be about the same. From the start of the race to the end of my run, I was gone for an hour and ten minutes which is probably about six miles.

The only problem with the day was that we stepped in a BIG puddle right before the finish line and my shoes were completely waterlogged so I squished for the first part of my post-race run. And I had to wring out my shorts which completely reached their water absorption capacity in the race downpour. Overall, a very fun time.