Race Report for 18th Annual McCourt Road Race

Well, my week of fun in the sun came to an end on Saturday. Going off-Cape on a Saturday is always a hassle because of all the departing renters, so we chose to extend our time on-Cape for a few hours by doing a local road race in the morning and then some shopping and eating in Falmouth. Justin (aka Mangorunner) and I signed up for the 18th Annual McCourt Road Race in Harwichport. It’s a fundraiser put on by the McCourt Foundation to raise money for Alzheimer’s and MS research, and as it turns out, this year is the last year that the race will be run on the Cape. The race director said after the race that there will be a change of venue, presumably somewhere closer to the Boston area.

We could not have hoped for a better day. The race kicked off at 9:30 and even by then it was in the mid-70s without a cloud in the sky. Justin and I sized up the competition at the starting line and we correctly guess which of the guys would be finishing in the top 3. Before the race we were both feeling a little groggy. My week of late nights and too much beer had finally caught up with me I thought. Also, I had abandoned anything remotely close to a 10% rule this week and had increased my mileage by about 50%. It was just too nice not to run.

When the air horn sounded I went out with the lead pack and I kept them in my sights for the first mile. I ran my first mile in 6:26 (fast for me). By the end of the first mile the course changed to short rolling hills around a country club and through a residential neighborhood. I felt better than expected and just focused on my foot turnover. I’ve been working on my stride a lot lately and I’ve been having success with a shorter stride and a more rapid turnover, making every effort to land mid-foot/fore-foot.

The last mile of the race had a frequent turns and I could hear the announcer’s voice booming over the speakers through the houses, but I couldn’t really discern where the finish was. When I rounded the last turn, I was shocked to see how close the finish chute was. I had plenty of energy left for the sprint and that’s what I did.

I turned in a new PR (23:10), beating my previous by a full 42 seconds. My pace worked out to a 7:28 min/mile and I finished 55th out of 455 runners. I know I should be happy with that, but after I was done I was mad at myself for not speeding up further from the finish. I finished with lots of reserve left in the tank and I should have picked it up a notch for the entire last mile. I should have beat my old best by more than a minute.

Justin of course kicked ass. He finished in 18:04 and took first place for his division. Funny as it sounds he too was kind of disappointed with his time. I mocked him for it, but the truth is that even though we are at different levels, we both demand and expect better from ourselves. So, for today we’ll say it was a good day. However, I know that both of us will feel frustrated if our next races aren’t a little better than today’s.

The race was well organized. It attracted a fairly large field (455 runners) and the MC (some local TV personality) was great. He had lots of energy and genuinely seemed enthuiastic about the runners. He motivated everyone in the final 1/10th of a mile and he was genuinely impressed with a woman who ran the race while 8 1/2 months pregnant (we all were). There was a DJ, and the organizers brought in face painters and balloon animal people for the kids. All racers who placed were given a free pair New Balance running shoes (whichever model they wanted). I would love to run this race again next year, but for me half of the charm was the location.

Here’s some pics from today’s race: