Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Race Report: Falmouth in the Fall

On Sunday I ran Falmouth in the Fall for the first time since 2012 and had a blast! 

I also ran a 7 mile PR, placed 2nd and won $50!

If you are not familiar with the race, it is the same 7 mile course as the Falmouth Road Race.  Instead of the middle of August at 9am, Falmouth in the Fall is always the first Sunday in November with a 1pm start time.  Instead of 10,000 runners, the 2017 Falmouth in the Fall results showed 469 finishers.  The race is super laid back—for a $20 entry fee and a self-addressed stamped envelope, the race mails you your bib.  I was also sent a $40 Hanlons gift card as a random raffle winner.  Pretty sweet.


I picked up my dad race morning and we headed to the finish line.  There we met up with some run club friends (Stacey, Kyle, Jason and Jon) then caught the bus to the start line.  One of the highlights of the day was waiting in line for the buses where we got to live stream Shalane Flanagan winning the New York Marathon.  It definitely pumped me up and provided some extra race day motivation.

  
Lately I’ve only been running for fun—not worrying about time or stressing over mileage so I had no idea what to expect when the gun went off.  My goal was to stay relaxed but run “comfortably hard.” I did want to push myself to see where I was at.  I knew I could run 7:15-7:30 pace and on a good day I was hoping to be closer to 7:00 pace. 

Mile 1- 7:06
Mile 2- 6:52
Mile 3- 6:45
I felt really good during the first 3 miles of rolling hills.  By the mile and a half mark, I was cruising alone in 2nd place.  At that point I could see the first female ahead of me—and she stayed about the same distance away from me for the rest of the race.

Mile 4- 6:48
When we came out of the woods and turned onto Surf Drive, OH MY GOD THE WIND.  Total headwind.  It felt like I was putting in way too much effort with very little progress but I tucked in my head and kept pushing forward. 

Mile 5- 6:59
Mile 6- 6:47
Mile 7- 6:39
The rest of the race but I was definitely working.  I’m not quite sure I could have ran any faster so I was happy with my effort.  I did not purposely slow down at any point or talk myself out of racing which I have become so good at in recent years. 

  
7 miles – 48:15

Average pace – 6:54

My dad had a pretty good race even though he wasn’t feeling great.


I love Falmouth in the Fall!

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