Beach to Beacon 10K

Saturday started early as the alarm went off at 4:30 am. Heather and I were in the car and on our way to Cape Elizabeth Maine by 5:00 am. I was pretty excited for this race. I have always wanted to run the Beach to Beacon 10k and now thanks to Heather surprising me with entry into the race I was going to experience my first Beach to Beacon. The picture to the left is of the Portland Head Light. This is where the race finishes. The goals for this race was to put in a good effort, try to be in the top 50, and get close to or under 33 minutes. Preview Article from B2b Website

We pulled into Cape Elizabeth right on time at about 6:45am and parked about a half mile away from the starting area. Heather and I walked down to the starting area to pick up our numbers and timing D-tags. It was pretty nice out, the temps were still cooler, but the air was still pretty humid. We pick up our numbers and the first thing I notice is that Heather has an elite number and I don't. I was not to happy about that, especially since I knew almost everyone who usually finishes around me had an elite number. So back to the car I headed to get in my warm up. I did a little over 2 miles and it was time to head off to the starting area. Heather and I made our way to the front as far as we could go with out an elite number. Once at the front I ran into and chatted with Tammie Robie and Melissa Donais two of the faster runners from the New England area. The start was delayed a little bit, and it was now starting to get hot, but after the National Anthem and a little talk by Joan Benoit Samuelson herself, we were off and running.


The fist part of this race was just craziness. People were all over the place, high schoolers were weaving in and out of people at 4:30 pace, and there was no where to move. I tried to stay calm and tried to slowly move my way through the crowd and get to the first mile at a reasonable pace. The first mile is slightly down hill to flat, I hit the first mile in 5:17 which was OK, but I thought I should have been a little quicker given the downhill to flat aspect of the course. After the mile I thought I was moving OK, I was passing people and getting myself into a position where I thought I was with the people I should be running with. The only problem was I hit the 2nd mile in 5:24. A little bit slower than I wanted. Just a lack of concentration and knowing what pace I was actually going. A that point I made a conscious effort to put in some work and pick it up a bit. During the third mile I had a small run in with a female elite runner who thought she owned the road. She had decided that it did not matter if I was next to her, she wanted the inside of the corner that we were going around and she took it.....by bumping into me repeatedly until I gave it up and let her have it. I was all set with that, so I surged a bit to get away from her. I hit the 3rd mile in 5:13 and after a short hill the 5k mark in 16:28. So I was on pace for just under 33 minutes which I would have been very happy with. Just after the 5k mark the race goes through downtown area which was packed with people cheering and yelling, it was really pretty cool to see that many people packed into a small area cheering for all the runners. Throughout the next couple of miles I passed a lot of people who had gone out way to fast. During this stretch I caught up with a small group of 3 guys and elite female Sally Meyeroff. This is the group I pretty much stayed with the rest of the way. We hit the 4 mile mark in 5:21. During the next mile our small group worked pretty well together taking turns at the front and pushing to catch a few more people along the way we hit the 5 mile mark in 5:24. The last mile was a tough one for me. The course really starts to roll and the hills, although small, were really starting to wear on me. I did my best and hung in there with the small group I had been working with. Soon we were turning into Fort Williams and heading for the finish. I hit the 6 mile mark in 5:30. The finish of this race is probably one of the coolest I have ever experienced outside a major marathon. You come into the finish on a small paved path surrounded by people. One section feels almost tunnel like with a very high wall on one side with people on top yelling and cheering down at you then you shoot out onto a short grass section surrounded by hundreds of people cheering and into the finish at then Portland Head light. A truly beautiful area. I managed to muster up a bit of a kick and finished the last 0.2 miles in 62 seconds. My total time was 33:12 for 44th place overall. Goals accomplished!


Photo of race winner Ed Muge of Kenya
Splits:

1. 5:17
2. 5:24
3. 5:13
4. 5:21
5. 5:24
6. 5:30
.2 62

Total 33:12


Race Article B2B Website

Results

Overall this was a great day and a great race. I would tell anyone to check this race out. The course is great, its well organized, and the towns people really come out in support of this great event. Just sign up right away. This years race sold out in 2 hours! Also wanted to say congratulations to Heather on her great race. Heather finished as the 30th overall female in 39:40. Nice race!