Race Report - Blessing of the Fleet (Read 466 times)

The Blessing of the Fleet in Narragansett, RI is an unusual race; A 10 miler run at 6:00pm on a Friday night. Two years ago it was my first "long" race and I had a lousy run of it. This was my chance at a rematch. My goal was to finish in 75 minutes, a 7:30 pace. Mile 1 was pretty slow. There are a lot of runners pouring onto narrow road. Any disappointment at crawling along so slowly for the first mile was mitigated by the huge number of onlookers out cheering enthusiastically. The narrow start opens up into a much wider road along the shore. At the one mile mark there is a sign in someone's front lawn reading "Only 9 more miles, suckers!" Wow, there were a lot of water stops on this course. It was hot out and I was regretting not taking water at the 2.5 mile station. Fortunately there was another one at the 3 mile mark. In addition to the official stops, lots of people had very good ones set up in front of their houses... the support in this race is amazing. At mile 4 I was cruising at around the 7:30 pace I was hoping for. There were people handing out baggies of ice. The woman running in front of me had sweat a "Mr. Bill" face into the back of her shirt. I enjoyed watching it grow in the ensuing miles. Miles 4-6 are along a hot, dull stretch of road with a slight incline the whole way. Around mile 5 I started psyching myself out. This is where I started having problems the first time I ran. I put everything into perspective... my legs felt strong, I wasn't breathing hard and I've done way longer races on less preparation. At mile 6 the course went back onto nicer roads with plenty of shade. I started encountering the walkers who had started an hour early. They were cheering everyone on as we ran by. When mile 9 came around I was feeling really good. I knew that I had to make up for the slow start so I picked up the pace, averaging a little under a 7 minute mile. The crowd which had been good for the whole course was even larger as I neared the finish. I gave a good kick and crossed the finish line in 1:15:11... close enough that I consider my goal met. A free beer in the beer tent was a nice finish to the event.

Nice job. That slow start was probably a good thing considering the heat.

If only it were... It was a Michelob Ultra though. I don't quite get why a low carb beer gets involved with so many races. We want the carbs!

Seems like a natural for sponsorship, gotta win the locals over before you can take over the world. There's one for the race director's suggestion box...