Falmouth Road Race Recap

I ran Falmouth on Sunday, August 15, 2010. Given my utter lack of preparation for this race I was happy with my performance, just squeaking in under the 60 minute mark at 59:22. This time, while not my fastest, was also not my worst and was only about 11 seconds slower/mile than last year. If there were races for beer drinking etc. I'd be starting with the elites, but there aren't so I was one of the pack on Sunday.

This race was special for a couple of reasons. I ran in support of the Falmouth Military Support Group -- a local charity that offers support to Falmouth-area troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their families. I got a shirt from them and wore it during the race. It's the first time I've ever run in a tank-top and it was really cool to have a team logo on my chest. I think that I represented it well and it definitely helped me power through -- I wanted to make a good showing to all of the spectators and the folks who supported me and the group with their donations. You all ran with me.

I'm also happy with this race because it was a race in which I really felt like a runner -- I relied on my experience as a runner, my knowledge of my body and the course to just find a comfortable pace and run a decent race. I dropped all pretense of ego and just ran. I stayed relaxed, I smiled, I high-fived the little kids along the course and generally enjoyed the experience and the comfortable weather -- usually Falmouth RR is a brutally hot and sunny affair and this year was a bit overcast and very comfortable.

Based on last year's time is was in the flight right behind the elites which was a bit intimidating but also motivating. I think that I acquitted myself reasonably well. Race bibs are color coded and mine was purple this year. I arrived at the start thinking that I'd been bumped way back (purple was the masses, 12 minute/mile crowd last year) because I was wearing a charity number. Nope.

I didn't eat much before this race, but did drink on the course which helped. I relaxed through the rolling first half, and felt good coming onto the beach. Again, the sun was behind clouds so it wasn't brutal as it usually is there, and I said so to a couple of women. The breeze was a bit stiff, and slightly ahead of us coming from the right -- it did wear on me a bit toward the end of the beach.

Coming off the beach you make a big left hand turn. A bunch of 20-something guys were there, drinking and goofing off. One of them, as a joke, held out his Corona. I grabbed it as I went by and, looking over my shoulder, toasted them and took a swig. They were howling with laughter. I spit out the warm beer and tossed the bottle. Unfortunately it bounced back onto the road and some guy was like "woah!" but it didn't break.

Between 5 and 6 I saw Charlie Gibbs (I think) in a Chicago Cubs hat and a guy around 6 with a HC football t-shirt on. I gave him a big high-five. My legs blew up just bast 10K. I walked for about 15 paces and then hammered it up the final big hill and finished with a nice kick. Good race, good day in support of a good cause. It's inspired me to get back on the road and train better, but I'm not going to race again (after this weekend's tri -- which is all about fun and for which I feel good given my attituede and result this past weekend) until The Hingham Turkey Trot.