Shore Run - 6.7 Miles - RunOther

The first three miles were flat and sunny. The rest of the race had some hills and a little bit of shade.

Mile 1: 5:48
Mile 2: 6:18
Mile 3: 6:36
Mile 4: 6:47
Mile 5: 7:16
Mile 6: 7:13
Final 0.7: 4:15

My goal was 6:15 per mile, which would have required a pretty good race. This is my 7th race in 6 weeks, and I was definitely fatigued. Still, I figured if things went south even 7:00 per mile would be a good solid workout.

My start was way too ambitious. The flatness of the road and the excitement of the race made me go too fast, although I think almost everyone did, because not many people passed me even late in the race when I was doing horribly.

My pace started to fall off right away with the second mile. Part of that was deliberate. My cardiovascular system didn't feel too taxed, but my legs were full of fatigue. I was doing the turns sharper than the other runners (who were following the curves instead of running point to point), because I knew I needed some trickiness like that to keep pace with those around me. In the third mile the pack of runners I was pulling strung out and I fell off the back end. A hill in the third mile gave runners ahead of me a good gap, because I was suffering. Runners began to slowly creep up on me and at that point I knew I was out of the race as far as finishing place goes.

After drinking water from an aid station at the beginning of the fourth mile, I got a bad side stitch on my left side. I spent the mile trying to work that out, and meanwhile the heat and fatigue were really getting to me. 3 or 4 runners behind me passed me during this mile, one at a time. I think I was in full-blown survival mode now, just trying to avoid having to stop.

The fifth and sixth miles felt brutal, because I had no more strength in my legs. There was a long hill that was the nail in the coffin for me and a dude pushing a stroller passed me. My one small victory from the race is that another guy came up from behind and was trying to pass me but I held him off until the end. He was right next to me with about a mile left in the race, but I started to feel less fatigue at that point (great timing, legs!) and built a gap of maybe 10 seconds before the end. It was nice to keep one person from cruising by me.

My final pace of 6:37/mile was much slower than my intended 6:15/mile, but I did happen to win my age group. That was nice. And once I recover from this race I'll be in better shape because of it.

I think I should have opted for a shorter race this weekend. A 5K would have been fine, but my legs weren't fresh enough for a 6.7-miler. I certainly should have started the first mile much slower, although it's hard to tell how fast you are going. The whole flow of people is very fast, so if you go with them you get swept along.

I jogged for 10 minutes and then stretched and then lied around in the grass. There was good food after the race, like pizza and bananas and fancy bread and various sports drinks. I drank tons, because I was sweating profusely.

I won a raffle for a bag of food from Trader Joe's, so I got some strength training in by lugging it home.


1) Accumulated fatigue from too frequent racing.
2) The heat.
3) Terrible pacing for the first mile.
4) Side stitch on the course.


They put on a good event, with plenty of port-a-potties, etc. before the race and good post-race entertainment. I don't remember their name, but there was a swing band playing music. The sponsors were very generous with the food after the race, and the results were posted right away at the finish.

The race gets 4 stars instead of 5 because there were not very many aid stations out there. The first one was after 3 miles, and then the next one was ill-placed at the bottom of a hill. Also this is a point-to-point race, so they used shuttles to get people back and forth. After the race, I unfortunately couldn't figure out how to get on one of them. I was chasing one bus all the way around the block, and it never stopped before going back to the start. They should improve that whole thing.