Race 27 - Long Beach 10 Miler

This is my second of 3 races in a row this memorial day weekend and the longest drive of the three. What is making this run special is we are visiting with my wife's cousins afterwards whom we haven't seen in years. Dale is also running with me and doing a back to back races for the first time in a long time. Ro and Joanne (Ro's sister) will be walking 4 miles of the course as we run. The race starts at the community center in Long Beach, runs along the boardwalk for the first 5 miles, then hits the streets for the final 5.

My plan all along was to run hard at Saturday's Spring Lake race and go easier and push Dale a bit. That is exactly what I did although but we missed Dale's targeted time by about 60 seconds. It was still a great effort by him and I was hurting a bit towards the end. He finished in 1:23:02 and I ran 1:22:48.

This race started at 8am so we had a 4:45am wake up and a 90 minute drive to the start and since it was so early we encountered no traffic and made it with time to spare. We were a little rushed in the bathroom department since there was only one available for the runners.

Just as we were heading back to the car to prepare for the start I noticed Tara Costa from the hit cable show, The Biggest Loser. I have watched the show occasionally and was impressed with the amount of weight these people have lost. Tara was one of the four finalist and although she did not win, she lost 155 pounds, which is incredible. She was running late so I took a quick picture and let her get registered. I figured I would see her on the course and at the finish.

Since I was going at a slightly slower pace my heart rate was only pushing 130, I become very chatty during the run. All encouraging of course, and said hi to every cop and volunteer who was working the course as well as the residents cheering us on.

The post race party included water, Gatorade and Suzie Q's, hot dogs and bananas. Tara finished in 1:30:08 and afterwards I gave her a Bob's 50@50 t-shirt. She was impressed with my endeavor and said she should run a race for every pound she lost. Even I wouldn't do that! She was nice enough to take some photos and she was greeted by many of the runners offering words of praise for her efforts. She looked ecstatic as many runners do after running a race. I hope to see her at another race in the future.

I also was talking to a woman named Eve who was a member of the New Hyde Park Road Runners to find out if the race that they organize on June 7th was worth the trip. She said yes, so I guess I will make that my 2nd Long Island race of the year. I have couisins there so I will visit with them afterwards as well.

The Long Beach Runners Club put on a great event and I would definitely come back to run another one of their events.