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Fire Island 5k report (Read 1073 times)

btb1490


    The venue for this 5k run was Ocean Bay Park, which is on Fire Island, a barrier island off the south shore of Long Island, NY. It is only accessible by a 30 minute ferry ride, and there are no cars on the island. You walk, run, bike, skateboard, or whatever it takes to get where you need to go, as long as it doesn't have a motor on it. The local officials are allowed to get around in golf carts, but that's it. I've never been there before, and was wondering where we would be running. A map showed what appeared to be roads, but I wondered why they would have roads if no cars were allowed. Upon disembarking the ferry, you walked on sidewalks to get where you had to go. These grids of sidewalks were essentially their roads. Most were barely wide enough to handle 2-3 people across. Now I see why they limited this race to 300 people. This race was a benefit for brain tumor research. Two people I know are in the fight for their lives, battling brain tumors. One is a lifelong dear friend of the family, and the other is a sweet little 8 year old girl. So when I saw what this race was all about, I knew I had to do it. I saw from the registration list that a cousin of mine was doing the race, and sure enough we met up on the ferry ride over. After the number pickup, we both ran the course together for a warmup. I had purchased a 32oz bottle of Gatorade at a market there and carried it with me on the warmup run, and it was gone by the end of it. Things were cooking out there. We had no idea what to expect out on the course, given the fact that the town only consisted of sidewalks, but were pleasantly surprised at how neat this little community of beach homes was. Fire Island is at most about 1/3 of a mile across, so much of the course just zigzagged back and forth. The race was to start at 10:30. I would say it got started about 15 minutes late, mostly due to speaker after speaker thanking everyone, and rightly so. The only thing was, we were lined up in the direct sun, it is was cooking us. Rivers of water were streaming down my legs, just standing there. Finally I ventured off and found so shade till the race started. The coolest thing about the start was they called the woman in the hospital that the race was benefitting, and piped the phonecall over the PA system, and everyone at the start yelled "Get better soon" at the top of their lungs. The woman thanked everyone profusely. It was a teary moment. As for the race itself, it was around 82* at the start, but in direct sunlight and with little wind, it felt a lot hotter. Despite the narrow sidewalks to run on, the start really wasn't too bad. Things strung out quickly. The only really bad part was one out and back section where you had runners going in opposite directions. Things got a little close there. My splits were all within seconds of each other, although that last mile felt like I was running with cement blocks on my feet. Worked myself up from 8th place at mile 1 to 4th place by the end of the race, as people melted away in the heat. There were some shady parts on the course, I was thankful for that. The finish just about dumped you out onto the ocean beach. At the end of the finishers chute, you were walking in beach sand. Pretty darn cool! After finishing the race, I loaded up with a couple of fresh water bottles and went out and ran the course again with my camera. There was a great DJ and party afterwards, with lots of food, a bbq, beer and other goodies. The ocean water was refreshingly cool, which felt great! For a first time event, it went very well, and they raised a ton of money for a very worth cause. The family of the woman with the brain tumor were there and thanked everyone personally at the awards ceremony. On the way home, I was feeling very woozy, so I know the heat and sun was a bit much. But it was a great day, got 9+ miles in, and ran a lot better than I had expected to. Thank you all so much for reading. Heading out on the ferry. Approaching our destination. Race check in. The finish line. Some shots of the course. I was feeling pretty cooked at the end! Here's what greeted us at the end of the finish chute. Bbq and party after.
      Looks like an AWESOME race!!! Beautiful!! WTG on your finishing 1st in AG and 4th OA!!! Looks like a good time!!! Love your shirt Wink I just happen to be from Seattle! Those pictures make me want to run that race!!

      Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head." - Joe Henderson

        Great race report and love the pictures! Gratz on the AG and OA places!! The after party/ beach looked like a great way to spend time after a hot race Big grin
        2009: BQ?
          Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing!

          Vim

            Great race and report, Bob! Congrats on your nice finish!

            When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

            zoom-zoom


            rectumdamnnearkilledem

              What a neat race--such a good cause, too! That course looks beautiful, and just imagine how cheap it would be to organize a race with no need for traffic control! Wink Those shots of the beach at the end look so much like the beaches around here. The weather sounds pretty similar, too.

              Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

              remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                   ~ Sarah Kay

                Wow - great race - congrats on your finish. Loved the pics! Hey - looks like you finished 3rd OA!! Odd note - ages of #1 + #2 = your age Big grin very impressive finish !

                Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the number of moments that take our breath away...(unkown)




                Go With The Flow
                Thyroid Support Group


                Slow-smooth-fast

                  way to go, nice report, got me jealous as I sit here in the office in the UK, looking out to the left of me to see rain streaked windows Sad Out of interest what were your splits and time and the winners time?

                  "I've been following Eddy's improvement over the last two years on this site, and it's been pretty dang solid. Sure the weekly mileage has been up and down, but over the long haul he's getting out the door and has turned himself into quite a runner. He's only now just figuring out his potential. Consistency in running is measured in years, not weeks. And over the last couple of years, Eddy's made great strides" Jeff 14 Jan 2009

                  btb1490


                    Looks like an AWESOME race!!! Beautiful!! WTG on your finishing 1st in AG and 4th OA!!! Looks like a good time!!! Love your shirt Wink I just happen to be from Seattle! Those pictures make me want to run that race!!
                    Thanks Pam! If you are a beach and water lover, you would love this race. That's my lucky racing shirt, I was wondering if you'd notice it.
                    btb1490


                      Great race report and love the pictures! Gratz on the AG and OA places!! The after party/ beach looked like a great way to spend time after a hot race Big grin
                      Thank you Tricia! All the neat post race stuff they had, plus the beach, made this a pretty neat race. We lucked out having a nice day to take advantage of it all.
                      btb1490


                        Sounds like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing!
                        Thank you for reading! Smile
                        btb1490


                          Great race and report, Bob! Congrats on your nice finish!
                          Thank you Mike! All those training runs in the heat payed off.
                          btb1490


                            What a neat race--such a good cause, too! That course looks beautiful, and just imagine how cheap it would be to organize a race with no need for traffic control! Wink Those shots of the beach at the end look so much like the beaches around here. The weather sounds pretty similar, too.
                            You didn't have to worry about cars out there, which was nice, but you still had to watch out for people out walking or biking. But yeah, it definitely had to be easier to put on this race without having cars to deal with. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, I appreciate it!
                            btb1490


                              Wow - great race - congrats on your finish. Loved the pics! Hey - looks like you finished 3rd OA!! Odd note - ages of #1 + #2 = your age Big grin very impressive finish !
                              Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the report! Funny, I never even looked at the results until you just mentioned it. I know I was 4th across the line, some kid finished right ahead of me who isn't reflected in the results. Since the race was limited to 300 people, I think a lot of people just jumped in and ran unofficially, so I suspect he was one of them. Good observation about the ages of the people in front of me. All I knew is that they were young and fast!
                              btb1490


                                way to go, nice report, got me jealous as I sit here in the office in the UK, looking out to the left of me to see rain streaked windows Sad Out of interest what were your splits and time and the winners time?
                                Eddy, we get our fair share of rain here too! Along with the sun, we need rain too! We lucked out with the weather for the race. I was within a few second of 5:45/mile at each split, with my last mile being the fastest, even though it felt the worst. If you saw the results, there were a few guys breathing down my neck at the finish, so I guess that helped motivate me. Tongue The winner was in a class by himself, running a 15:01.
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