Jamestown

Who needs Twin Reservoirs and their 9am start when there's a Jamestown, Rhode Island half marathon the week before with a...6:30 start?!  Oh yeah!  I found the Jamestown Half on the Running In The USA site this afternoon.  Jamestown, Rhode Island is a seaside island village.  We had brunch a couple of years ago at one of their cafés on the way home from Newport.  We stood on a very long line of about 20 other patrons, ordered muffins and bacon with the same names (ie, "Apple Maple Muffin" and "Apple Maple Bacon"), paid too much for them, and then tried to seat our large family at one of their two tiny café tables, all the while ignoring glares from disapproving people who, apparently, have never seen children before.  At least my children didn't eat them (That's the other Jamestown*).  Even though my recollection of the area might sound less than favorable, I am looking forward to this race.  It's a quaint New England vacation spot that I'm excited to explore on foot.  The race pretty much runs up and down the length of the island, which is supposed to be scenic and a little hilly.

 My brother-in-law lives in Newport, Jamestown's more well-known neighboring island.  We try to visit his family at least once a year.  They have a cute home walking distance to pretty much everything.  The house is too small to accommodate our brood, though.  The hotels in Newport are ridiculously expensive during the summer.  We usually like to stay on the naval base when we visit, but those rooms fill up pretty quickly during peak season.   We will either set up our tent in brother-in-law's backyard and make a mini camping trip out of it (as I'm typing this, it's actually sounding pretty ridiculous) or my sister-in-law presented a possible alternative.option of staying in her neighbor's beautiful and air conditioned home, if available.  The neighbors live elsewhere and allow their kids and friends to stay at the house when vacationing.  Obviously,  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the house option.  As much as I like camping with the kiddos, sleeping in a hot tent with most of my children and a snoring husband may not be ideal the night before a big race.  The only plus being the outdoor din usually drowns out the grunts and snorts coming from spouse's nose/throat.

I ran an easy 4 miles yesterday at 6:30am.  8 miles on this damp morning at 6:45, 4 of which were at a 7:55 pace.

*Note:  Historic Jamestown, Rhode Island should not be confused with the other historic Jamestown of Virginia, known for the unsettling settlers who gave the term "desperate times call for desperate measures" new meaning.