Another busy end to the year meant that it’s been four months since I’ve had a chance to run a race. Niantic is not technically a town, so the race was officially in East Lyme, and it was the biggest I’ve run in many years, with more than 800 entrants on this chilly, breezy day on the water. I’m a big fan of the “register online until minutes before and we’ll assign you a random bib when you’re actually there” approach, which this race took. I was feeling pretty out of shape, and am hoping that this race will kickstart the spring/summer running season. I parked across from the downtown location of the Book Barn, and walked past the sad Niantic Cinema, with Chaplin looking dolefully down at us.

With more than 800 runners, there was a constant stream of people, so it wasn’t one of those races where you mark someone and try to pass them, or run with a group—it was more a constant flow of people the entire time. The course was mostly flat, pretty windy, but I felt like I pushed it about as well as I could the whole race, and came in in under 25:00, which I was happy to take.

O’Niantic | 5K | 3/18/23 | 24:49 | 107/169