Notes
It's been about 10 years since I last ran this race, and now I remember why! It's a tough race, both in terms of the course, and usually the weather. But oh what a beauty it is, held in the idyllic setting of Shelter Island, a small island situated between the two forks of Long Island. To avoid the car lines, I took my bicycle on the ferry, and biked the 2 miles or so to the start line. Time has forgotten about this place, it is pretty much the same as it's been ever since I was a kid. The scenery is stunning, passing by many spectacular water views, and the race wouldn't be complete without the many spectator parties along the route, most of which consist of people in evening attire, sipping champagne in the front yards of their mansions. The race itself attracts a nice elite field, usually with the top 10-15 men finishing under 31 minutes. Today's winning time was 28:40, just unbelievable on this undulating course in this heat. It was warm and windy, but the humidity wasn't too bad thank goodness. The course is pretty much either up or down the entire time. The first 3 miles overall has a slight negative drop. Mile 4 overall drops a fair amount, but miles 5 and 6 are just relentlessly uphill, making for a very tough finish. To make matters worse this year, those miles were into the wind. My goal was to run the race as a training run at my goal half marathon pace for next weekends half. That meant averaging 6:25, or right around 40 minutes. I went through 5k in 19:50, (6:15, 6:18, 6:30) feeling pretty comfortable, right around where I wanted to be, but also knowing how tough the 2nd half of the course was. Mile 4, with the net downhill, came in at 6:18. But now the fun began. Mile 5 is a grinder, uphill the entire way. I really had to start working now to maintain my goal pace, and slipped a bit, coming in at 6:26. Mile 6, while still uphill, eased off a bit, but the headwind more than offset the difference. This last mile was pretty much all I had, coming in at 6:20. The final time of 39:36 was a slight negative split, but in a race where almost everyone positive splits by at least a minute or more, I was pretty happy with that. That time netted me 3rd in the 45-49 age group, which I'm pleased with given the competition. Come awards time, I ended up getting 2nd because the winner of my age group was in the top 3 masters, so he got bumped from the AG award.
The real highlight of the race for me took place when I picked up my race number. I was sitting on the gymnasium floor, looking down at my shoe, attaching the d-tag timing thing. Someone came up to me and said "Children's Hospital. Excellent place! I used to work right next door to them". I was wearing my Boston Children's Hospital singlet. So I look up, and there is Bill Rodgers. Boston Billy. We briefly chatted, and then he said he wanted to go warm up and check out the finish area. I asked if he knew how to get there, and he said no, so I offered to run over there with him, which he gladly accepted. Another running celebrity in attendance was Joan Benoit Samuelson. To show you how tough the competition was, she finished 2nd in the masters division.
So overall, this was a fantastic experience, with a good solid tempo run thrown in there.