I'd pretty much forgotten what it feels like it write up a race report because it has been so long. But last Sunday, I ran my first race since my hip injury -- a five miler while I was on vacation with my family in Rehoboth Beach.



(Also this race report is super delayed because I had put a personal ban on using the Internet while I was on vacation).

Anyway, the Seashore Striders five miler is a race I do pretty much every year while I'm on my family vacation. I've only skipped it twice -- once because of my broken foot and then just last summer because of my hip.

But for the last several months, my hip has been doing pretty OK. I've been introducing running more and more and a few months ago I decided to attempt to "train" for this five miler.

I didn't follow any sort of specific training plan, my goal was just to run three times per week. Two of the runs usually were around three miles, and then one run I gradually increased the distance from three to five miles over the course of several weeks.

Some weeks of training were better than others, but when the morning of the race arrived, I actually felt pretty confident that I would do OK. I wasn't expecting to set any records, but I felt fairly certain I'd finish and not feel terrible. And that was really my only goal.



I got especially lucky this year with pretty temperate weather. There was a nice breeze and the temperature and humidity weren't too terrible. (Some years this race has had awful weather). I was glad for the more mild morning, since I'd forgotten to pack my running water bottle.

We lined up at the start, and I situated myself in the back of the pack, since I didn't want to feel pressured to maintain a certain pace.

I wore my Garmin for the first time since the injury too, but that was more to keep track of my distance on the course and less to worry about speed.

When the starting gun went off, I held a comfortable pace. I was mainly trying to settle in and see how things felt.

The course this year was new to me. Instead of being the old loop-style course, this year was an out-and-back through one of the state parks. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about that, but I actually loved running through the marshy park on the trail. Plus, running through the park meant we got to be in a bit more shade than we otherwise would have.

I was feeling really good early on and was able to hold a steady pace for the first 2.5 miles. When I hit the turn around point, I took a short walk break at the water stop.

The sun definitely felt like it was coming out more in the later miles, so I took one or two more short walk breaks leading up to the last water stop just before mile four.

After that, I held a steady running pace for the last mile+ of the race.

I crossed the finish line feeling really great. My official time was 48:20 and I honestly couldn't have been more happy with that.

I didn't know what to expect from this race, but I was really happy that I had fun and felt good.

And of course, I celebrate with some delicious watermelon and mango water ice at the finish line.