Sunday, October 5, 2025
Narragansett, RI
Not really a lot to say about this one, as 1) I've run this before (2024 in 38:28), and 2) it just wasn't an interesting race for me as I ran pretty much the entire race alone and never saw any other runners. But here goes:
My fifth final race of the 2025 RI Grand Prix. There are seven races total this year. I missed the initial race (Aquidneck 10K in March) and will miss the final (Colt State Park Half Marathon in November) as it's same date as NYC Marathon.
Last year, I was fortunate enough to be chauffeured to the start and dropped off by Jana, but this year I was relegated to taking a school bus like the vast majority. Here was the race day schedule that I had to pay attention to:
My assigned shuttle was 6:30am. The earlier you signed up, the later your shuttle assignment, as an incentive to sign up early. I didn't sign up until September 4, or 4.5 weeks before race day. After picking up my bib, I got on the bus, and one of the volunteers told us repeatedly make sure we show our race bibs to the bus driver. OK. I got on, showed the driver the bib, and she asked, "Why are all you runners showing me your bibs?" I told her because we were told to. So the bus drivers aren't actually checking bibs, don't know what bib number range corresponds to what boarding time in the race instructions, and thus you can actually board at any time that you want. Good to know for next time!
It took us about 15 minutes to get to the race start. I used the porta-jons before the lines increased, went out for a nice 2-mile warm-up, came back, chatted with both Adrian and Katie Garvin, and was ready to go.
Race time: The gun went off, a number of faster runners went past me, including Adrian right away and lastly Dan Hawkins about a 1/4 mile in. The rest of the race was not very exciting for me. The ocean scenery at various spots was certainly attractive, and interesting, but after Dan went by, I ran the rest of the race as an island. That is, I never saw any runners in front of me, and none were pushing me from behind.
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| Start of the 2025 Ocean Road 10K I'm the runner in blue singlet closest to the yellow median line Dan Hawkins on my right shoulder, and Katie Garvin on my left |
My first mile was my fastest at 5:59 pace. Not unreasonable given that just last month I ran the Bound for the Sound 10K (certified course) in a 36:51, for an average 5:55 pace.
After the first mile, my pace just dropped for significantly, as Miles 2, 3, 4 splits were 6:07, 6:14, 6:26. To be fair, mile 4 does have minor hills, but I still think I would have run faster if I had anyone at all running within sight of me at any point during the race.
Mile 5 is a slight downhill coming to South Pier Road and the seawall, and I ran that in 6:12. I picked it up for the final mile for a 6:02 pace (why couldn't I have done that earlier?), and for some reason was surprised and disappointed to see "38:xx" on the finish line clock as I approached.
Race results: 38:19, 16th out of 1,315 overall, 1st of 22 in age group. Full results here
What went well:
- I won my age group
- I ran nine seconds faster than last year
- Very scenic course
- Website is very clear, informative, and easy to navigate
- Detailed pre-race instructions
What could have gone better:
- Well, I could have run faster!
- For a race with over 1,000 runners, it seems kind of surprising that I could go the entire race without seeing any other runners! Just not very deep in competition for me, unlike the recent Bound for the Sound 10K.
- The organizers use EventBrite for registration. Ugh. It might be a good platform for social events, but it's certainly not a running platform! You can't search other registrants, there are no results posted, and no photos or other features like real running registration platforms such as RunSignup.
- It's not a certified course. This one actually seems to hit the distance, so I'm not really bothered by it, unlike certain other races by the same organizers where the distance seems to be short based on the majority of Strava posts. In a road race, the majority of runners should have GPS recordings exceeding the posted distance, not significantly less than. For the amount of runners they get and revenue they take in, just pay the amount to have your courses certified. Then it's good for ten years!
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| Nice looking mug for my age group award |
