Monday: 7
Victory Day holiday! It's nice getting so many holidays off. Ran at DuVal with Matthew (Brady still recovering from Lyme; vet confirmed a positive result). Probably not the best choice of undulating hills after Matthew ran an 18-miler yesterday and I ran a 20-miler two days ago. Live and learn.
Tuesday: 8
Ninigret with Matthew. The pace was easy but for some reason I just felt terrible throughout. It happens.
Wednesday: 3
AM: Very short 1.5 mile shakeout at Avondale. Super hot; kept it slow just to stretch out the legs pre-Bottone.
PM: Bottone Mile. I was nervous from an RD perspective, especially as this was the first time that WTAC self-timed a race (the background is with SNERRO "scaling back" and no longer timing any races in RI, we lost our free timer and likely no company will ever give us that again). We borrowed a Seiko timing machine and while I thought I had it working perfectly in my living room the night before, and had replaced the thermal paper and reprogrammed the time successfully, at the event itself the printer was just not working. PANIC! What now? Long story short, the timing machine still retained times internally to be recalled, and another volunteer who is also a coach volunteered to time as a backup on an app she has used.
We got through that successfully but had a few other minor issues, mostly with bib tear-off collection and not having support to keep finishing runners in line in the same order they finished, but I'm determined to make this into a learning opportunity and continue to improve over time. Other than that, we received a number of unsolicited accolades, including that a number of runners liked the modified course better and appreciated the elimination of the final turn, that registration was very orderly, the event was well organized, it's just a great community event, etc.
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| The inimitable Nick Bottone giving some background points on the history of the race. |
Now on to my own very brief race report, and I'm happy to say that I am very pleased with the result:
While we've had worse weather, it was not favorable at 76° and 93% humidity. I tried to keep my remarks to a minimum, as did Nick Bottone himself. I lined up in the 3rd row behind all the fast guys and gals (this would be one of the most competitive fields in years).
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| And we're off! The fast guys and gals up front; I'm somewhere in the 3rd or 4th row. |
The race just "flew by" and I don't remember a lot of particulars writing this five days in arrears now, so I'll just bullet-point a few points I remember:
- The stacked field seemed to take off so fast off the starting line.
- A bunch of youngsters went past me in the first quarter mile.
- I dread the first two tight 90° turns, but they went by so quickly and were not an issue for me.
- Turning onto the "long" straightaway on Crandall Ave, I repassed several of the young runners that overtook me early on, including Brandon Tallardy and a few youngsters I don't know.
- I pass a few runners (not many) carrying a phone in their hand and having wires dangling from their ears to their phone. I am perplexed as to why they "need" them for a 1-mile race and remember thinking that this must be a performance detractor in such a short race, but whatever works I guess.
- The last two turns are much smoother as the roads are wide and deplete of any traffic.
- Rounding the final turn, I pass a few more runners, including Aaron Tallardy and Justin Madry (the latter of whom I just met at Kelley Half). Justin will retake me in the sprint to the finish; Aaron will not.
- I did not look at my watch the entire race, and am pleasantly surprised to see my finishing time!
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| Finishing up (in orange cap). The next runners look spread out behind me, but the reality each is just a second behind the one in front of them. |
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| After catching my breath, came back to assist with bib collection, and then see the rest of the field come in. |
Official results: 5:22. 17th out of 80. (78th percentile doesn't sound very good, but if I want to make my position sound better, I can pull the "age card" and just say 1st out of 7 in age group!) Full results here.
Thursday: 8
Yawgoog with Matthew, and Brady's return to running. I was very surprised when Matthew suggested Yawgoog, but sure, why not? It's one of my favorite running places. Ran from North Road up Narragansett Trail on west side of Yawgoog Pond, and then a trip around Green Falls Pond and back on Tippecansett. Felt very slow and I'm sure the heat and humidity added to that.
BTW, Brady fared fine and really responded well to the Doxycycline and whatever fever and inflammation medicine he was prescribed with. It was hot for sure, but there were plenty of ponds and streams for him to cool off in, and this summer has had plenty of rain, so the streams did not dry up as much as usual.
Friday: 12
Groton Fun Run at Bluff Point, plus a few miles before and after, some solo and some with Matthew. 87° even at 5pm, so I started on shaded trails and kept the pace really slow. Didn't dare bring Brady out in this kind of heat. Ran the Fun Run with a group of about 6, including the XC coach of Ledyard HS and some of his athletes. Remembered being surprised at how well I fared in the heat. Until I got home, that is. All of a sudden just felt very weak and like I had to throw up. Pretty sure it was heat related. After I drank some Gatorade and got some food, I was fine. Have to be careful in the heat; 12 miles probably was not smart for me.
Saturday: 10
WTAC August group run. 13 including Brady. Good time, and some new faces to the monthly group run. Out and back on the beach from Weekapaug Breachway to Watch Hill and back. Post-run swim in the ocean for most of us, including Brady. I really wanted to dive under the water too, but my time will come. About half the group got together immediately afterwards at the nearby Weekapaug Innlet for coffee and food. While I go for the run, I really enjoy the social get-together and catch-up with folks afterwards.
Sunday: 14
Richmond / Hopkinton road run with Matthew from Arcadia Y. Cut back the original planned 16-miler; just wasn't in the cards today. I do like these quiet roads and will probably incorporate at least one more run here into my marathon training.
Weekly mileage: 61
Weekly synopsis: Good running week. Hit my mileage goal and had a great mile race.
Weekly highlight: 5:22 in the Bottone Mile. Fastest for me in years.
Weekly lowlight: Didn't get in a long run. It happens.
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