One could say I got bitten by the race bug rather quickly after my first race - so much so, that I was eager to not only run another race, but run a longer race. Somehow, I landed upon the Southern Ocean County Hospital Great Causeway Challenge, a mere three weeks after my first race outing, 10 years ago today, April 22, 2006.
A decade hence, I have absolutely no idea what possessed me to drive 100 miles from Parsippany to Manahawkin by myself on a Friday night after work for a small 6.2-mile race early Saturday morning, with no plan whatsoever other than to run the race. I drove around the area late Friday night looking for a place to stay because I had not even bothered to set that up in advance, finally happening upon the Barnegat Motel after swinging by the high school where the race would start the next morning.
Because I did almost no research, I found out that the event also included a 30-mile bicycle race. There were about 60 people in the event, a third of which ran the 10K, with a third biking the 30 miles and the other third doing a biathlon.
I remember the start at the school and a turnaround point in the middle, but honestly, I do not have much of a recollection of the race itself. I recall enjoying the surroundings despite the lack of supporters, volunteers, or even other runners. I remember thinking that it was downright funny that I came in second place overall, simply due to lack of competition. But hey, I got my first medal as a result!
But most of all, I had accomplished a new feat. Sure, I was already doing eight-mile training runs, but increasing the race distance soon was a big deal. In the coming months, I would do some more 5Ks and up the distance yet again. And by the summer, I would also start writing a blog about it.
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