Blessing of the Fleet Race & Recap Link Up {16}

Blessing of the Fleet 10 Miler – Narragansett, RI

Back on July 24th, I ran in a local night race. It fit in perfectly with my training and it’s always a fun time. The houses that line the course are very interactive. Most are throwing parties and offering booze to passing runners (in a fun way, not an obnoxious way!)

I made plans to drive down to the race with one of my MRTT mom’s (S). We live right by each other and the race is about 35 minutes away. We also decided to try and run together. We made the attempt to do a normal run together once, but with kids , you never know what to expect.

This race is held at night, with a start time of 6 PM. With 3 kids who wake up with the sun, I’m ready to put them to bed and kick my feet up with a glass of wine at this point! And I hate having my workout hang over my head all day. I’m definitely a morning runner. Anyway, this race is fun and it’s worth it. It’s a point to point run with parking at the start and finish and shuttles back and forth.

The weather was hot and humid with potential thunderstorms in the area.

Surprisingly enough, I was able to see my friend J and his dad to wish them luck! The start was pretty crowded, close to 4,000 runners. The course starts off running towards the water – lots of pretty views on this course.  S and I found a comfortable pace from the start. My training goal was 11:33/mi  (finish time of ~1:55:00).

The course has water stops every mile or so. Most of them staffed by locals – just wanting to help out.

Around mile 3, the fun began! We started hearing thunder in the distance. S let me know that she was going to take a break after mile 4 and walk a little. I was feeling good and wanted to keep my pace going so we made plans on where to meet at the finish. Then the rain came!! It was pouring – thunder and lightening too – I told S to stay safe and that I was going to keep running so I could finish faster and get the heck out of dodge.

There was nowhere to take shelter, which made me nervous but I prayed for the best and kept running (along with everyone else).

The miles ticked by, the rain stopped around mile 7, and the course stayed pretty full. NOTE* They also have a walker start at 5pm, so at this point, I was running into some of the walkers.

Mile 8.5ish, I bumped into Nicole. A girl on the sidelines said “Hey I like your skirt” and we both said “thanks”, laughed and started chatting. We soon discovered that we both followed each other’s blogs. It was nice to meet her and run with her. We were both very stylish in our SkirtSports!

As I was coming towards the finish line, I picked up the pace a little. I always like to finish strong. I remember from the past that the first banner you see, is NOT the finish line… It’s about 200m down the road. The finish line is always jam packed with a carnival happening right there. I crossed at 1:49:10!! Faster than my training -oops- but I felt good! Not a PR for me but 11 minutes off my time from when I previously ran this race two years ago!

I grabbed a hot dog, a water and some grapes and went back towards the finish to wait for S. I ran into two other other friends who had run and finished and changed by the time I saw them, LOL! This is a popular race around here and a lot of my running friends enjoy running it. I wish I could have seen them all but it is so crowded, it’s hard to find anyone.

Overall, despite the weather, the race was great. My only complaint is that there is only 1 spot, around mile 7, with port-a-potties.. So of course there was a line…  Other than that, it is a great race, very well organized, with great crowd support! If you’re ever in the area around the end of July, check it out.

And now for the 16th Race Recap Link-Up!!

I love reading recaps from other bloggers. Its a great way to learn about different races, support other runners, and gain motivation.

A recap is the final leg of the race. It’s your chance to relive your race and allow others some insight. The training miles, the race day jitters, the glory of crossing the finish line.

the good – the bad – the ugly

We want to hear it all….

Meet the hosts…

Jessica at The Silvah Lining: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | Bloglovin’

Wendy at Taking the Long Way Home | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

Lara at Uptite Mamas | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

We’d love it if you’d follow us on all social media & let us know you’ve shared a post.

Check out the Ironman Lake Placid recap over at TriathalonMami

About this link up…

It is active every Tuesday – Friday.

Link up your most recent recaps, or throwback to an old favorite. *If your post is unrelated to the theme, it will be deleted.

One recap will be featured on the next link up!

Read at least 3 other posts and leave them some love.

The more the merrier… share on your social media so others can link-up. #TuesdayTales

Grab the code to the link-up image below on your post or somewhere on your blog.

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Thank you for linking up this week – be sure to come back next week.

GOTR SoleMate