February 21, 2009

Wintry Cape Cod

I’m on the Cape this weekend for a half marathon in Hyannis. I had signed up as part of group of friends that were going to ride together and stay in someone's vacation house. It was the perfect cheap winter vacation and a nice opportunity to get in an early season race. Plus I’ve never seen the Cape in the winter so I was excited for it.

But as many plans go, one by one people dropped out of the race or made other plans so the weekend had to change. I shared a rental car with a friend and found a rock-bottom cheap rate at an inn in Provincetown out on the tip of the Cape. Even though the race was in Hyannis, I figured it would be nice to spend a bit of time on the outer Cape as well.

Having been to Provincetown almost every year for the past decade, I’m fairly familiar with it. But in the dead of winter, it’s a very different place. It's pin drop quiet, many of the businesses are closed for the season and it takes on a different persona since most of the people in town are either locals or those who still come out every weekend despite the weather. But one thing is exactly the same. It remains one of the most strikingly beautiful places I've ever been to. There is just something special about this place.

My schedule called for an easy 15-minute run to keep the legs loose, which would be a pace of 10:08 per mile or slower. It took longer to dress and prepare for this run than it did to actually do it!

After the run I headed to Hyannis for the race expo and to meet up with a group of people I’ve met through BT. We went to a local place for drinks and dinner after picking up our race numbers. It’s always so nice to meet fellow triathletes, many of whom I’ve interacted with on BT but haven't had the chance to meet in person. It was a great pre-race gathering that made the loss of the group house seem not so bad after all.

The plan for the rest of the night is to stretch, hydrate, stretch and get some sleep. The race is just a training run for me but my plantar fascia has been acting up a bit so I just want to get through it unscathed while also enjoying the course. After all, I didn’t come all the way out to the Cape for nothing.

Running
Distance – 1.62 miles
Time – 15:59

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