UnitedHealthCare Triple Crown - Jamestown RI 1/2 Marathon

Jamestown, RI was the second stop in the UnitedHealthCare Triple Crown.  The race was scheduled to start at 6:30 am which meant I needed to get up at 4 am to get there in time.  They were busing us onto the island from the Newport Grand parking lot in you guessed it Newport.  The expo was almost non-existent.  Picture a white tent for bib & t-shirt pickup and two guys selling shoes and running clothing outside in a parking lot.  That's it you just saw the expo.  No picture required, but I wish I had thought to take one.  The other thing that I wish is that the race crew had just said "you know what...don't worry about picking up your packets a day early...just get them that morning."  Luckily me coworker / fellow racer was going and was willing to pick mine up as well.  But really folks it was not necessary.  They should have just helped the runners out and told us to get them in the morning.  There were only 630 or so runners preregistered and I think I saw #690 or so out there.  So it was not like there were tons of people.

Anyway...I left the house at 4:30 and was in the lot by 5:10.  Kristin showed up about 10 minutes later followed by Samantha & her boyfriend.  Then it was just a matter of getting on the bus and heading across the bridge to the start line.  Don't worry runners there are potties over there (is what they were saying at that point).

Happy coworkers waiting to get their race on.  This was the first race that Kristin & I have met up at despite running plenty of races in the 3 or so years we have worked together.  It was so much fun!

Right as we were getting ready to board the bus Amy Mullen came over to thank me for  posting  my pre-run report.
Yes runners there are really hills on this course!

Since the potties did not arrive until 15 min before the start of the race everyone was using 1 construction potty at the State building and 1 parking lot potty up the hill (& of course the bushes).  

 They offered to start the race 5 min late to allow more runners to use the potties, but they were also reminding everyone that the race was chip timed.  So even though they were starting the race, people could take whatever time they needed and just start late.  Crazy!  They is like a runners nightmare.  I know people who did it though!  And the reality was that I did not see a potty on the course until the 8 mile mark!  Talk about needing to hold it!

I lined up with the 8 min mile folks.

 Anyway the race went well for me.  There was a light drizzle for the first 5-6 miles.  The sun never came out...thankfully!  I was totally soaked, but happy.  There was so much grumbling about the hills.  Truly they would have killed me had I not pre-run the course 3 weeks prior.  That being said there were even more hills than I remembered.  This is an island in the middle of Narragansett Bay and it did survive being scrapped by the glaciers!

Happy finisher with her inspirational skirt and headband on.
That is actually the headband my daughter wore for the Tangled 5k Princess weekend.
We had such a fantastic time running that race together!
It made me so happy to wear it and I got a ton of complements
(they did not even know how special it was!)

We met Laura Nottie standing in line for the 1 potty.  She is also a local runner and was great to talk with.  I  gave her a high five after she crossed the line and took this photo!  Great job Laura!

Here comes Kristin!  She is after that perfect photo.
I thought I had it...maybe I do...but she also made the race video with her medal grab move!

I loved that someone wore a tutu in our race although I wonder if it got heavy when it got wet.  It had plenty of spring when it crossed the line through.

I finally got to meet @runcupcake a fellow run blogger from RI. She looked positively splendid in her purple.   She is also on FB as Running and Cupcakes.

This race had its logistically issues: the potties & the unnecessary day prior packet pickup, but otherwise it was pretty fantastic.  I feel that most of the field would have benefited from knowing about all the hills on the course.  I don't know if the race team was trying not to scare people away.  I went into this realistically knowing that there was no way I could PR on this course.  It just was not possible with all the hills and it is the middle of July!  So I was trilled with my time just under 2:00.

Here is the elevation chart for the race.  Is that hilly enough for you?

The first leg of the Triple Crown was back in May when I ran my first full marathon at the Cox's Rhode Race in Providence.  

The third leg will be in Newport in mid-October.  It will be my second full marathon.  I wonder what the weather will be for us that day?