39th Falmouth Road Race

My third Falmouth Road race has come and gone.  Sunday marked the 39th running of the race and it did not disappoint.  The new headlining sponsor in New Balance (therefore they call it the New Balance Falmouth Road Race now).  Mrs and I went to the expo at Falmouth High School on Saturday where they also had the bib number pick up.  I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of road race gear they had available and we were referred to the Internet to order shirts, etc if we wanted.  Obviously they had not planned for all that they would sell during the two and a half day expo.

I took Saturday night off so I could be rested and ready to roll on Sunday morning.  Mrs was my one-person support crew again, and made my day so much easier.

I didn't sleep as well as I had hoped with a dream about work that was a borderline nightmare.  Then Maggie decided that her normal favorite place to sleep - between my legs - would be a perfectly good spot to take a bath.  I kept poking her as her licking became louder and louder.  And the moon was blazing making our very white room even brighter.  And on and on.  But, I did manage some good sleep and was up in plenty of time for coffee and a shower to wake up even more.

We were a bit later than we probably should have been to get me to the buses staging at Lawrence School, but no problem getting a bus as there are always plenty....  But not this year.  Apparently with the new sponsorship came some reorganization that lead to the cutting of available buses to the start in Woods Hole from 70 to 40.  Almost half.  Buses are loaded, driven to Woods Hole, emptied and rush back to Lawrence for more passengers.  This in combination with a LOT of runners coming on the later side caused an epic line that I could not believe was going on so long.  In fact, it was so long that Mrs could have driven me to the end of the line which went from the front of Lawrence school, through the parking lot and driveway, out the back onto Dillingham Ave, out to Haddon Ave and as I understand it it continued to grow onto Katherine Lee Bates Road.  Obviously this does not mean much to those not from around here, but it was an amazingly long line several people wide.

 Thousands in front of me on Haddon Ave.

Many hundreds more behind me...  Note the participants still walking towards the end.  As the line progressed back to the school and towards the bus pickup area, I people watched as runners were searching for the end of the line and heard the obligatory "Oh my God" being uttered as they realized the end could not actually be seen.

I finally made it to the bus pick up area in front of the school and the volunteers were announcing that the buses were far fewer than previous years.  Indeed, there were moments when there were no buses at all in the lot.  Eventually I was on a bus and headed to Woods Hole and nibbled on an English muffin that I had brought along.

Once in Woods Hole it was a long, slow walk to the corrals (runners are separated by bib color).  Mrs sent me a text message that the radio stations were announcing that due to traffic, the race would be delayed by 10 minutes which would push my start back to 10:25 am.  This actually worked out well because I found a line - another epic line - for one of the groupings of porta-potties.  I was in this line almost until the start.  In fact, I got in to use one at nearly the perfect time and was soon lining up with our massive green group soon after.  I was bummed to be stuck back in this grouping and I knew before the start that my goal of finishing in under 60 minutes was gone.  In a mass of people like this group, there is no way to get through the first two miles in under 20 minutes.

The corral on the main road that I was supposed to be on is up at those balloons.  In fact, I could not move through the crowd to get to it, so this is where I grabbed my spot in line for the port-potty.

 We finally made it out to Water Street in our massive 'green' corral.

 Inching closer still to the starting line.
The really good news was the weather.  Overcast, low 70s although a tad humid, it was quite tolerable.

I was correct.  The first two miles took almost exactly 20 minutes.  I took this warped looking shot on the way to Nobska Point.  Mile one is up the hill, just below the light house.

Once through Nobska the crowds sometimes thin out a bit, but I did not have as much luck with that this year.  I spent a lot of time weaving around and in between other runners.  Somehow I managed to make up a good bit of time and finished the 7 miles in 1:01:57.  Still better than previous years by a few minutes.  The crowds along the sidelines were great and the roads were jammed with spectators.  Really great to see and hear.

Some photos by Mrs waiting and watching just before the 10k line.

 First cruiser clearing the roadway

 One of the wheelchair division.  Look at the arms on that guy!

 One of the female wheelchair racers.

 Cyclists clearing the road with the press truck and first of the elites close behind.

 First and second place finishers Lucas Rotich (31:37) of Kenya and Micah Kogo (31:41) of Kenya.

 The first female finisher Magdalina Lewy-Boulet of USA at 36:58!

Team Hoyt!

 Crazy lobster guy.  Yes, he ran the entire route.

Yep.  Finally getting there and feeling fine.

Falmouth heights after the run.  In truth I tweaked my right ankle slightly early on getting around someone and wanted to get off of it.  No lasting issue with it thankfully.

All in all a good Falmouth Road Race.  Hoping New Balance loosens the purse strings a bit and increses the buses and maybe a few more goodies in the goodies bag.

Next up.... a half marathon coming this fall.