Bobby Doyle Summer Classic

Narragansett, RI
Sunday, August 13, 2017

This was the 10th anniversary of this race, and my 3rd consecutive year running it.  In 2015, I ran a 5-mile PR of 29:26 in cool and cloudy weather conditions.   Last year, this was just one of a series of miserable sufferfests of the summer, and I slumped through the finish line in 31:46.

This year the weather was not as hot, but it was sunny and plenty humid.  The course changed this year and eliminated the loop out-and-back headed north towards Stop&Shop, and replaced the distance with a run on Windemere heading out to Mile 6 on the Blessing course.

New course for 2017; much of it covers the Blessing of the Fleet course



Fast field at the start of the 2017 race.
Matthew in green WTAC singlet, behind shirtless guy and the guy
who looks like he's about to fall over.

First half:  Unlike last year where I wasted so much warm-up time in long bathroom lines (last year this was a USATF-NE championship run), this time I had plenty of time for a leisurely warm-up.  Lined up a few rows back at the start, surrounded by fast runners.  I went out hard, but as usual saw Matthew only for the first 1/4 mile or so and then he was gone.  The first mile is the same as the Blessing, with a net downhill from Narragansett Middle School out to Ocean Road and I took it out pretty hard in a 5:36.  Was still feeling pretty good as we made the right turn off Ocean onto Windemere right about on pace with CMS runner Jim Pawlicki, who was just ahead of me at Exeter Trail Race and had beaten me handily at Beavers.  Right after the turn is where the trouble started.  I don't want to complain about hills after running Loon Mountain and Pioneer Ridge Vertical Mile this summer, but between the slight uphill all of 45 feet, open sunny spots, and now drenched from the humidity, my pace really slowed here.  Mile 2 split was 6:00, and as I finally turned off Windemere towards the end of Mile 3, I saw 6:17 average pace on my watch.  Ugh.



Thoughts at the half-way mark:  This is going to be another 31 or 32 minute finish.  Why do I keep signing up for these summer road races?

Second half:  Now on a flat to slight downhill, I finished Mile 3 with a 6:10 split.  Mildly better, but clearly not what I was looking for.  There were a few runners passing me here, including Kaela O'Neill.  Fortunately, getting into the shaded section of Kinney Ave gave me a little bit of a second wind, and my Mile 4 split improved to 6:01.  At the left turn onto South Pier Road, I could have really used the crowd support that is at this corner at the Blessing, but it wasn't to be today.  Somehow I still managed to pick it up, pass Kaela and a couple others back, and finish Mile 5 in a 5:51 split.

Finishing up

Final results:  29:43, 5:57 average pace.  61st out of 357 runners.  2nd in age group (out of 29).    Full results here

50s podium:  left to right:
Dave Principe (1st), Martin Tighe (3rd), me (2nd)
Pics by Jana

My favorite part of the race!  The post-race cold water soak.

Of course, this aspect of the race wasn't too bad either.

Thoughts having finished the race:  Ecstatic to be able to turn this around for a sub-30 finish.  Sign me up for next year!