Finish at the 50 - 10k at Gillette Stadium

I was pretty excited for this race!

A bunch of my Reach The Beach crew
were signed up for this.
It was my first night race
It was not only at Gillette Stadium
but ending at the 50 yard line
AND it was the night before a week long vacation for me
So I was ready to rock!

Until.. we knew how hot and humid
it was going to be for this race

Then... I had no desire for this run

I also started thinking
about how I had a long drive in the morning
(for vaca!!)
and at that point

I knew I wasn't going to give it my all
I was going to have fun with it,
not push myself,
& just have a good run

Lisa is usually around my pace
Then I realized that another friend
who is more of a Tri guy
was about my pace also
(the back of the pack!)
So off Chris, Lisa and I go..
First two miles..
Chris entertained us
with his laughter and jokes
at the random costumes
and interesting people all around us

Then...the heat hit
And my asthma decided to act up

(The neighbors along the road
who sprayed us with their hose
were awesome though!)

My hope for a fun race
turned into a....
I just want to be DONE
(and have a beer)
kind of a race

The discussion of trying to finish in 65 minutes came up
but then half way in
I looked at my Garmin
and knew there was no way that was happening

We had the up and down ramps inside the stadium ahead of us
and I just started to realize that was going to be pretty brutal

Mile 4 came and I knew we were getting close to the stadium
And at least,
even if brutal,
it would be neat
to be running a race
inside Gillette Stadium.

And then........
(it seemed like forever;
didn't know we were running
all the way around
before we actually got inside!)
We were inside!

And UP the ramps we went
Holy........
It was tough!

As we rounded the top of the stadium,
headed towards the down ramps,
Chris suggested that we sprint the 50 yards to the finish
I tend to sprint at the end of races
so why not!?

We made it to the down ramps
Chris got sick..into his water bottle
Our Garmin's weren't working
My shins were killing me
Holy shit.  I'm SO over this run!

Finally.. at the bottom
and around we go again
outside..
then...
we see the entrance to the field

I say let's go, THERE
We start sprinting earlier than discussed
off he went..
My shins were killing
Thought I'd collapse
but didn't want to stop..
Don't remember anything else, all a blur
But finally finished.
[Results are below]

Definitely no PR
Definitely a brutal run.. but
Definitely a fun run and night with friends

Results: 1:10:41  11:23 Chelsea Pells