ZOOMA Cape Cod 2014 Race Recap

ZOOMA Cape Cod 2014 was so much fun from beginning to end (well, maybe not all the hills in the second half!). I headed up Friday evening to pick up my number from the expo and an Another Mother Runner shirt from Michelle, who was working their booth. I have the “I Run Things” shirt, but I had been coveting this one for a long time!

After getting my number and swag bag, I headed up to meet Jessica before attending the Honest Tea Mocktail Hour. Once again, we had a GORGEOUS sunset to look at while sipping on Honest Tea and chowing down on apps. We took our annual ambassador photo and then Jessica, Nancy, Dani, Amy (and her super AWESOME husband Chris), and I headed to dinner at Red’s. It was so nice to catch up with these inspiring running bloggers in real life–I wish we could do it more often! William was a good sport and stayed out until 9 p.m. He loved flirting with all of the ladies. 🙂

Race morning came before I knew it, and I headed up to meet the girls in Amy’s room before the start. It was SO nice to have a place to hang out before the start of the race–it was chilly! Shortly before the start time, we made our way over to the line for one last photo op before we were off! Nancy, Dani and I had planned to run together ahead of time. It was nice to change it up and run with a group for this race. Since I was doing it as a training run, I wanted to make sure that I didn’t go too fast that I couldn’t have a conversation along the way!

The start of the race was beautiful as we ran through West Falmouth, out to Chappy beach and then back along some of the bike path. The second half was full of hills, and my quads are still feeling them! The hills definitely made us slow down, since they kept coming one after another, and the temperature was starting to heat up. It was in the upper 50s at the start, but it hit the mid to upper 60s by the time we finished.

We encountered the best group of spectators that had traveled to different spots along the route to cheer on their runner (and everyone else)–whoever you guys were, you were the BEST! We owe you one! The race went by without any hiccups, except for the woman in the Beach to Beacon shirt who decided to elbow me to push me out of the way. She literally elbowed me.

[Tweet “Racing Rule #1: Never cross check a fellow runner out of the way. #droppedheronemilelater #karma”]

I think I was speechless for a second while I realized what had just happened. Thankfully Nancy and Dani had my back! 🙂 Race etiquette rule No. 1– NEVER elbow and push another runner out of the way (especially since we weren’t in the lead pack and you were clearly not going to win the race). Nothing made my happier than dropping this runner about a mile later! 😉 Karma’s a bitch!

We finished the race in 1:54:!6 (8:43 average), and I was happy with that as a training run. The hills were brutal! We got our beautiful finisher’s medals and then hit the beach for some snacks and Barefoot wine. We had to leave shortly thereafter to hit the wedding I mentioned yesterday!

Thanks so much to the wonderful ZOOMA ambassadors, to Nancy and Dani for being great running companions, and to everyone who volunteered for the race! I also want to thank my hubby for strategically placing himself right before the finish (along with my oldest son) to give me a last-minute push! I had such a great experience at the race, and I can’t wait for next year!

Did you run ZOOMA Cape Cod? If so, how was your race?