South Kingstown, RI
Sunday, August 4, 2024
This would be my second race in my 60s. As with last week’s attempt at breaking the M60+ course record at the Blessing of the Fleet (successful by the way!), today I would be taking a stab at taking down the M60+ CR at Run 4 Kerri. This wasn’t of the same cachet for me, as 1) this was a race of a few hundred versus Blessing a race of a few thousand, and 2) this should be an easier attempt for me as the record is 23:57 (5:59 pace) and last year here I ran a 23:27.
Still, I certainly didn’t take breaking the record for granted. My approach would be very different from that which I employed at Blessing, and today it was just simply go out fast and hang on, as it’s “only” four miles.
Arrived my usual about an hour early to the race, and went to pick up my shirt. Even though I had picked up my bib yesterday, I completely forgot to pick up my shirt then, as I was busy running my mouth talking to Kerri’s brother and parents. (Her father Bill is a retired Amtrak police officer, and I rode the train for 13 years into Boston, see him very often on the train.) Truly such a nice family. I can’t imagine the tragedy they went through with their daughter (and sister) Kerri dying at such a young age.
I have to admit a tinge of jealousy for the athletes with elite bibs being able to use real bathrooms inside the school while I waited in line for the porta-jons outside. I know I run faster than some of them as well, but I just let it go, and after using the porta-jon, I went for a 2-mile warm-up run with Tom and Shara and was ready to go.
I was back at the car changing into my race shoes, when I noticed New England Runner owner Bob Fitzgerald parked next to me and looking through last year’s Run 4 Kerri results and course records. I struck up a conversation with him, and he said, “You’re Jeff Walker, subscriber!”. He told me breaking the M60+ course record today should be a “piece of cake” for me, and to remember to smile for the camera as I was finishing.
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| I would be going after the M60 ("Veterans") course record today |
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| Nice pic with Tommy and Shara, shortly after arriving (Pics by Jana) |
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| Pre-race, at the start line, with fellow Westerly-ite Keith, and friends Shara & Tommy |
Mile 1: After a short uphill from the fire station, the rest of the mile was basically a slight downhill. There are a number of curves on this section, and I did my best to run the tangents while also staying in a pack pretty much the whole first mile. Mile 1 split 5:32.
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| Start of the 2024 race. I'm just to the right shoulder of the guy in light blue singlet, two places to the left of Dave Principe. |
Mile 2: OK, that Mile 1 split was much too fast. Yes, I was in a pack and never checked my watch, and yes, it was a net downhill, but obviously not sustainable for me. We made the left hand turn onto Moonstone Beach Road, and a few in my pack went ahead of me. I hadn’t noticed until now, but one of the people I had been running with was Matt Bouthillette, former Lasalle HS star. At first I’m thinking I am way out of my league running with him until it dawned on me that he’s taking it easy today, which by the way is still too fast for me.
The turn onto Cards Pond Road comes up fast, and I’m feeling good as we go past the Theatre by the Sea and come up on end of Mile 2. There is a water stop but it’s on the right-hand side of the road, I’m on the left, and I just ignore it and keep trucking on. Mile 2 split 5:40.
Mile 3: In years past in this race, I remember baking in the sun in this section and wondering where the heck is that left turn off of this road. But one benefit of running this race so many times is I eventually learned a lot more familiarity of the details of the course, and I know after running past Roy Carpenter’s Beach that I still have several fields to run past before we get to the left turn-off. As we turn off of Cards Pond Road into the neighborhood, my friend Tommy 5K goes past me, and I offer him props. The mile ends as we start our hill climb. Mile 3 split 5:58.
Mile 4: Somewhere around the start of this mile something felt really wrong with my body. By the time I got to the top of the hill and was about to exit the neighborhood, I felt extremely weak and was breathing really hard. (Well, sure you say, I should be breathing hard running uphill in a race, but this was more like hyperventilating.)
I felt like I should just pull over and quit or at least walk a bit, but I'm stubborn and still going after the record. By the time we turn back onto Matunuck Schoolhouse Road for the final "sprint" to the finish, there is left than 1/2 mile so I tell myself to just hold on. In the driveway of the school with the finish in sight, I feel just awful and am actually having trouble staying upright. This is normally a fast mile for me, and I ran 5:54 last year, but I close in a really slow 6:13 mile split.
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| Looking like death |
Final result: 23:29, 15th overall of 456, 1st in M60-69 age group. Full results here.
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| Finished, but looks like I'm about to keel over and fall into the finishing line barrier |
I crossed the finish line, and was really out of it. Pretty much collapsed on the grass on the side, and was thankful to Jana, Tommy, and Shara for looking out for me. I was very dizzy as fire officials attended to me and put me into a chair until I recovered enough to get up on my own.
It was nice of Will Sanders and his wife Sybil to check up on me as well. Much later, Dan Hawkins would tell me that he passed me with about 1/2 mile to go (I don't even remember that) and since his finish time was 30 seconds ahead of mine, I must've really slowed down and had trouble that final mile. Yup!
Usually at this race I enjoy a cool down and catch up with folks I don't see that often. There would be no cool down for me today!
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| When I recovered enough, I spend a long time in the refreshing fire truck hose. So glad this made a come back! |
I still really don't know what to attribute my horrendous finish to. Sure I went out to fast in the first mile, but that could cause me to fade but not get weak and dizzy. Did I not eat enough before the race? Did I not hydrate enough in the humidity? Were the planets not aligned properly for my astrological sign? Not worth over-analyzing this one. I'm really happy that I got the age group win and age group course record. Moving on ...
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| Post-race with age group award of a custom race mug |
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| Post-awards with Shara & Tom |
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