We got there Saturday and had time to relax by the beach and the pool. Our hotel was right on the beach! It was warm, but still the off-season, so we had the beach and the pool mostly to ourselves. It was so peaceful.
For dinner, we went to Goombays, which I highly recommend if you're in the Outer Banks! I got the jazzy chicken, which came with a pineapple coconut sauce, fresh salsa, roasted vegetables, and rice, and everything was amazing!
One thing that was nice about the Outer Banks was that it seemed like everyone catered to the runners. At both lunch and dinner, the servers asked us if we were running the next day. And our hotel opened their breakfast bar up early (at like 4am) for the runners, which is the first time I can ever remember that happening at a hotel!
It had rained overnight, and was still damp and drizzling the morning of the race. Luckily Allison was with us and dropped us off at the start with 10 minutes to spare, so we didn't have to wait around in the rain. It completely stopped raining after the first mile, but remained overcast for the rest of the race, which was nice because it was already getting humid.
The race was a smaller one. We ran along the Sound and behind quite neighborhoods. There weren't a lot of crowds, but Allison was waiting for us at several points along the course to cheer us on! Tristan and I probably started out a little too fast and we were already getting tired by mile 4 or 5.
At mile 8 or 9, we ran past the Wright Brother Memorial, which was probably the most memorable sight of the course. At mile 10, the course turned into a packed dirt and/or gravel trail through the woods, with quite a few ups and downs. They were small hills, but at that point in the course they seemed hard!
Tristan and I were still pushing the pace, because we were so close to 2 hours! But with the hills and dirt trails on the final miles of the course, we just weren't able to make it under two. At least we finished strong, feeling like we gave it everything we had! I felt like I was pushing myself hard the entire race, and I honestly don't know where I would have been able to run 37 seconds faster!
So even though we missed a sub-2 again (by what feels like the hundredth time!) we're proud of our effort on what turned out to be a tougher course than we thought!
Official Time: 2:00:37
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