I ran the Falmouth Road Race last summer and somehow was seeded way back in the pack around 6000. I spent the whole race bobbing and weaving through heavy traffic. Not my best time but it was kind of fun to spend a whole race passing people. Sadly; injuries prevented me from running this year so I didn't get to take advantage of a start up near the front.
Falmouth in the Fall is billed as "Same great race- Better people." It's actualy quite nice. The weather is always cooler than August and a lot less congestion with a cap of 500 people compared to 10,000. The other nice thing about the race is I get off the ferry from the island and the race is about 300 yards from the dock.
Race conditions were pretty good. A little cool with starting temp around 45 degrees. The wind was in our faces for the most part- as this is a point to point race along the shore overlooking Vineyard Sound. Usually the wind is from the opposite direction and pushes you to a faster time. It would have been nice to have a little aid but with my conditioning, or lack there of, I wasn't too worried about my time.
I found myself up near the front of the pack for the start with a lot of fast looking people. Everybody seems to look fast to me befor a race. I tried to throttle back the adrenaline through the first mile so as not to crash and burn. My lack of high milage had me concerned with a race of this distance. Came through right at 6:39; acording to my Garmin. Mile 2 has you running up the biggest hill on the course. The road winds around and climbs to a lighthouse with a beautiful overlook of the Sound. I've run this road a couple of times and it's one of the most scenic spots I've ever run on. Of course when I'm racing I don't realy have much of a chance to enjoy the view. I just tried to stay relaxed and hold my concentration. Mile 2 was 6:33. I'm going a little quicker than I wanted at this point but felt pretty comfortable so decided to go with the flow. Mile three was a consistent 6:38 running right into the wind. The rest of the race is pretty much the same conditions, flat and exposed until the final mile. Mile 4 found me falling asleep a little, as I ran a 7:00 flat. To make up for it I decided that I would try to overtake the runner in front of me who had 100 yards on me. through in a 6:10 5th mile and realed in 2 people. It was here that I started to struggle. I probably shouldn't have run quite so fast that last mile and now I was struggling. According to the Garmin I ran a 6: 35 but it sure felt slower. Now I'm just trying to hold form. I know there's only a mile to go so I work on lift and drive. My wife said I looked strong and relaxed as I came down the home stretch but I was definetly not feeling that way. As I saw the clock I broke into a final sprint to get under 47:30. That ended up being my final time.
This was my first race of more than 5k since my half-marathon in March. I was hoping to come close to my best on this course; 48:13, and was pleasantly surprised to beat that by 45 seconds or so. I know that I have a lot of room for improvement so there's motivation. | 