Hyannis Marathon Relay: Full Race (and Hotel) Report

Now that the Rocky music in my head has been turned down, I can report more coherently about the race, hopefully keeping the superlatives to a minimum (I'll try). The whole experience can be broken into three categories: Henry's First Sleepover; The Inauspicious Hotel; and Vital Race Stats. Now you can skip over the categories that don't interest you and read the ones that might.

Henry's First Sleepover
The kid could have cared less that we were leaving him for a night with a good friend of ours. He was giddy with excitement beforehand and barely greeted us when we showed up to get him more than 24 hours later. I hope this means he's secure and not totally apathetic toward his parents. He had such exhausting fun that in the car on the way home, he said little aside from, "We're all very tired."

The Inauspicious Hotel
Saturday night was spent at the hosting hotel, which was under renovation. Our hallway consisted of bare sub-floor and exposed wires and pipes, and we needed a member of the staff to open our door for us anytime we needed to get in. They--with straight faces--advised us to pound downward on the door handle and hurl ourselves into the door if we wanted to get in on our own. Once inside the room, we were treated to a toilet that would run like Niagara every 8-12 minutes and a heater with all of its interior exposed and two modes of temperature control: Arctic and Burning Inferno. After a night of pushing the on-off button every 90 minutes or so, the hotel made it up to us by charging us $2.50 for 6 oz. of crappy coffee. When we complained about the conditions, which by then included paint fumes, and declared we wouldn't stay there next year, they sweetly replied, "But the renovations will be done by next year!" I bit my tongue, but my expression was clear as to what she could do with their renovations. The one perk of the hotel was that we were treated to the most hysterical TV commercial for treatment for erectile dysfunction--the one with the--oops!--prematurely spraying kitchen faucet.

Vital Race Stats

The night before...
Meatballs consumed by Brian at the pasta dinner: at least 10
Children whose parents placed them at our otherwise vacant table while they sat elsewhere: 5
Minutes before Brian and I switched tables on our first night away from parenting: 2

Race Start...
Runners we didn't know who knocked on our room door to use our bathroom: 2
Temperature on race morning: 30 degrees Fahrenheit (approx.)
Runners at the start: 3,000
Relay teams for the marathon: 75
Number of men in kilts: 1!!! (not Brian, though)
Number of runners on the vast majority of relay teams: 4
Number of runners on our relay team: 2
Timing chips given to our team: 1

Kristina's Half-Marathon...
Mile at which Linn subtly pointed out Kristina's overzealous start by saying, "Are you trying for a negative split because you're going kind of fast?": 4
Miles it took to catch up to the Hoyts: 5
Seconds spent running uphill next to the Hoyts in total awe and admiration: 5
Number of Springsteen songs that serendipitously showed up on Shuffle: 5
Mile at which I realized I could beat my PR: 10
Overall pace: 8:09
Pace for miles 10-13.1: 7:45

The Baton Hand-Off...
Minutes consumed to get the chip off my shoe and onto Brian's at the half: 3
Words shared between members of Team Henry: 6
Kisses shared between members of Team Henry: 1
Mile at which Brian realized he should slow down and pace himself because he isn't the rockstar his wife is: 6 (sorry, honey, I couldn't resist)

The Finish Line..
Brian's overall pace: 8:35
Team Henry marathon time: 3:35ish
Medals given to our team: 4
Donuts consumed by Kristina at the finish line: 1
Donuts consumed by Brian at the finish line: 0 because "The non-runners ate them all," according to the Dunkin Donuts kid.
Hot showers Kristina had afterwards: 0
Cold showers Kristina had afterwards: 1 (and not intentionally)

Another great race at Hyannis, and I'm still glowing from that PR. I'll go back next year, since it seems to be my best race, though we won't stay at that hotel and we'll definitely be due for foul weather after two years of perfect conditions.