RACE REVIEW:MURIDICKS RUN THE CHOP

For the past ten years or so my husband and I have run the Murdicks Run the Chop Challenge over on Martha's Vineyard.  It's one of the few races we do together and despite the fact that it's usually hot as blazes out and the course is pretty challenging, I always look forward to running it, if only because it has become a fun tradition for us.  Back in 2011, I was the first female across the line.  That was pretty exciting; both the win and the fact that I brought home a gift certificate for a pound of Murdicks fudge, which my kids and their cousins were thrilled about.  After that, the pressure has been on to go back each year and reclaim my title, not for the glory of the win, which no one cares about, but solely for the fudge prize which everyone seems to love.  I get it.  It's free chocolate.  What's not to love?  Fortunately for them, over the past few years I've been marathon training in the summer and while I always have to fight hard for the win or an age-group place, I've managed to keep myself in the game for a while now.

Tuesday night I laid out my race getup; obviously going for the red, white and blue theme, though my red attire is somewhat limited.  Fortunately, my mom had made a stop at the Dollar Store before she came up to MV and grabbed a bunch of goodies for the kids to wear on July 4th, so I snagged some beads and a pair of light-up glasses which I would not be racing in but figured I'd bring in case I wanted to throw them on afterwards.  Go big or go home, right?

When we woke up at 6:30 on Wednesday morning the temp was already in the low 80s and the humidity was at 91%.  Good, good times.  Side note, we were not allowed to bring Clover to MV this summer because the owner of our rental gave us a hard 'no' on the dog.  This was slightly devastating for us and totally devastating for Clover, who has major FOMO.  The point being I couldn't have my normal pre-race chill out session with her, a ritual I have come to love.  Instead, I sat on the porch with coffee and did my best to visualize, breath and relax despite not having my girl by my side to keep me calm.  Sufficiently caffeinated, Jeff and I took off around 7:30, got over to the start around 7:45, signed up, grabbed shirts and then I headed off for a warmup and Jeff went down to get an iced coffee.  Just two or three steps in to my run it was already hard to breathe.  The humidity was beyond brutal, like being surrounded by an invisible blanket of hot air.  As I shuffled along, I made the conscious decision not to use my watch for the race as pace was going to be irrelevant in these conditions.

After three very slow miles I was totally soaked through.  I remember thinking damn, this is going to be interesting and likely very, very ugly.  I found Jeff and we waited in the shade until just before we had to get over to the line.  At one point it got so hot that we decided we needed to take a walk, if only so we weren't thinking about it.  I mean, it's usually hot, but this year was something special.

THE RACE:

You have to love these smaller races.  The official start time was 9:00am and we were all lined up at 9:00am but alas, 9:00 came and went and we were not going anywhere.  At a couple minutes after 9:00, Mike, the race director and owner of Murdicks, let us know that runners were still in the process of signing up and that we'd have to hold tight for another ten minutes or so which resulted in both widespread laughter and groaning.  Not that there was anything we could do about it other than continue to sweat.  Finally, around ten after nine, Mike sent us off with a 'Ready, Set, Go'.  As I mentioned, I've done this race several times so I know the course really well.  The first mile is a gentle down and then flat.  The problem with this being that you feel like you should fly and many people do.  What I've learned, however, is that if it's 90 degrees and humid, it's wise to reign it in for the beginning so that you have a little to pull from at the end.  Almost every year I get passed by multiple people during this mile and I just let them go and wish them the best.  I wasn't looking at my watch but after the fact I checked my splits and learned that my first mile was a 6:37.  This is relatively slow given the downhill and the fact that it was mile 1 but I didn't know it at the time and didn't care as I was going by what felt right.  The second mile is flat and I was able to get into cruise control and zone out in preparation for mile 3 which has a couple hills in it.  My second mile was a 6:24.  Evidently, I felt good enough to pick it up a little without overdoing it.  Thankfully, they had water at every mile and I took a cup each time, first sipping and then pouring the rest down my back.  Mile 3 is the worst because it's totally exposed to the sun and, as I mentioned, pretty hilly, which is tough to deal with when you're fighting the weather, too.  I took my time, slowing it down a bit so I could get up and over without depleting all that I had left.  This was my slowest mile at 7:00pace.  Again, I didn't know and didn't care.  I did know that I had the lead and my one and only goal was to hold onto it if I could.  After mile 3, I knew I was in the clear as the final 2 miles were both in the shade and flat.  Having not gone out too fast, I had enough in the tank to pick up the pace for the rest of the race.  As I made the last turn to the finish I saw the clock was still at 32 minutes.  I gave it all I had to try and come in under 33, successfully rolling across the line in 32:52 (6:34 pace).  I was the first woman across the line so I could breathe easy as I was bringing home the fudge for yet another year.  I grabbed a photo with Mike, who I should give a shout out to here as he does a ton of work to support the Martha's Vineyard Boys and Girls Club and most of the proceeds of this race go toward benefitting the kids on the island who use the club.  

Then I grabbed a popsicle from the cooler and even though it was melted and in multiple pieces, it was just about the best thing I've ever tasted.  There were medics at the finish giving out cold towels, too.  Bless them.  After a few minutes, I made my way out for a cool down.  My coach had me doing 2-3 miles.  I did 1 and a half.  It was just so freaking hot I couldn't stand it anymore.  I needed iced coffee.  Stat.  I found Jeff at the finish and we walked into town to grab coffees.  My shoes were so filled with sweat that they were squeaking.  No joke.  We shuffled back to the car with our drinks, dried off a bit (yes, we brought towels), and then headed home.  First question when I walked into the house: DID YOU GET THE FUDGE??!!  Some things never change.  

I won't deny the fact that I love taking the win at this race, or at any race, for that matter.  For me, however, the real reward has been going back each year and seeing how I do compared to years past.  Fun fact, the first time I did this race I was 32, had just had my second daughter and was easing back into running.  That year I finished with a time of 37:26 (7:29 pace) which, at the time, I was ecstatic about.  Since then, I've ramped up my mileage and training tenfold and as a result I'm now running times that my 32 year old self wouldn't have dreamed about....at age 43.  To see all my work come to fruition year after year has been pretty cool and a constant reminder that age is just a number in the grand scheme of things.  The nice thing about this race, though, is that I don't have to take it too seriously since the whole scene is pretty mellow and really meant to be more fun than anything else.  And it's on July 4th, so once the excitement has worn off and the sweat has dried it's time for the parade, where the girls get even more candy and the race is quickly forgotten about, as it should be. 

Listen to this:

War Face - Lowell