Oceans Run Half Marathon – Run for Me, Cocktail for Amy

The Oceans Run Half Marathon in Westerly, Rhode Island is an iconic beach run including a full dose of east coast humidity.  The race itself is not particularly memorable however the journey to get to the race was amazing.  Its the journey not the destination right?

Ferry Good Time

Our journey from East Hampton to Rhode Island included three trips on a ferry.  There were two short hops, one long one and I loved every minute of it.  First, we started in East Hampton, jumped on the ferry from New Haven, crossed the Peconic River to Shelter Island.  Second, we took a short drive across the tiny island and boarded our second ferry to Greenport.  Finally, we made one last short drive and boarded a much larger ferry (the Orient Point Ferry) that took a couple hours to sail from New York to New London, Connecticut.  I would make this trip again simply for the ferry rides.  So fun!

Getting Lost & Poor Planning

Occasionally, its fun to get lost.  Shortly after we landed in New London, CT we decided to turn the GPS off for a little bit and just drive through Rhode Island.  The Northeast is a particularly gorgeous part of the country.  There is green foliage everywhere.  I lost count of the number of little bridges we crossed out in the countryside.  Since we were both getting tired, we turned the Garmin Nuvi GPS back on so we could get to the packet pickup area and then the hotel.  What a trip!

Its not often I plan poorly but this was one of those trips.  For starters, I packed one running outfit for back to back half marathons.  Dumb.  Second, I completely forgot about the high humidity along the east coast in the late summer months.  Finally, my clothes must have weighed in at 20 pounds.  Time to hang things up and hope and pray.  My suspicion is that I’m not going to smell all that great tomorrow.  Note to self, pack two outfits dummy!

Race for Me, Cocktail for Amy

My wife Amy is not a big drinker.  In fact, Amy rarely drinks at all.  I found it particularly fun that while I was off running 13.1 miles for the second consecutive day my wife tracked down a beach bar called Ocean Mist and proceeded to have a Bloody Mary with a shrimp in it and buy a commemorative hat.  Nice work!

Meanwhile, I was muscle’in through my second consecutive half marathon.  Needless to say, my legs were tender, tight and sore.  As a result, I didn’t have quite the same time as the previous day.  Additionally, the humidity which was high in East Hampton was off the charts in Rhode Island.  This was not a personal record time wise but it was a personal record in the total sweat category.  Take a look at my shirt as I crossed the finish line.  Holy moly I was drenched!  Cool race but this one was about the journey, NOT the destination.

With the second race in the books, time to make our way back to where we started this adventure.  JFK airport and a flight home.  No upgrade this time though.  A trip of a lifetime!