Kelly's blog: Trinidad to clam beach run

A year ago I set a goal for myself after watching my mother-in-law Joni and brother-in-law Matt finish the Trinidad to Clam beach run that I was going to run it in 2012. So, a few months ago I signed myself up and the anticipation of the big race built up. I was nervous, excited and unsure of how the race would go but I knew I wanted to accomplish the goal I set for myself - and over the weekend I did!

The day of the race I was so nervous about running the whole thing. The course I ran was 5.75 miles which is the most I had ever run (previously 5.4 miles). On top of that the course was VERY hilly, and in the middle of it there was a river crossing followed by 2+ miles barefoot on the beach with no knowledge of when the end was near. The first mile started off good...I paced myself knowing I had *many* hills to follow over the next several miles. The scenery was beautiful running several hundred feet above the ocean looking out on the beautiful and sunny day. As I got in to the middle of mile two and the hills got worse, my body kept saying "just walk the next hill and then run when you get to the top" but I told myself NO...I'm not here to walk this. I jogged my way up all the hills and felt proud of myself as I saw many people stop to walk...that kept my confidence going :) Eventually hit the river crossing where I took off my shoes, jumped in the cold river (it was very refreshing) that was about two feet deep and crossed to the beach and took off running. The first mile on the beach I felt awesome! The breeze cooled me off and even though I was nervous running barefoot it felt great. I had so much energy and was ready to go. It got harder when I couldn't see the end but eventually I saw the finish line in the distance and picked up my pace a bit. The family was all there cheering me on as I crossed the finish and I was in shock that I had ACTUALLY ran the whole thing and under my time goal. Tears came to my eyes because I had accomplished such a big race.

I ended up finishing in one hour, five minutes and nine seconds. This made me 282nd out of 475 racing that day! I couldn't believe it watching all the other people finish after me. It's amazing how much our bodies are capable of when we set our mind to something :) It was a perfect day and it was wonderful to finish it with a bbq with family that evening. I am so proud of accomplishing such a major goal - now I can't wait to accomplish the next one!

Here are a few pictures from race day: