This past weekend, I found out that Rhode Island is not flat. The typical east coast seaside marathon is pancake flat with a bit of up and down.
As I was driving into the state, the roads were endless rolling hills. The highest elevation in the state is only 811 feet. Organizers described the racecourse for Sunday as rolling hills. I wasn’t expecting the entire state to do the same roll.
The described rolling hills turned out to be constant gradual ups and downs. I noticed the ups were too long to walk the entire length as I would lose too much time.
I came to run the Newport Marathon on Aquidneck Island at the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The race started on Easton Beach. The first half ran to the west through Newport, and the remaining 13 miles went to the east around Middletown.
Founded in 1639, Newport has many large estates and an old town area. Currently, it is a boating-based beach community with an economy driven by seasonal tourism.
Middletown was spun off from Newport in 1743 because of unjust taxes. It was primarily a residential community until 1990, when there was an extensive commercial build-up. We ran through the residential and beach parks areas of Middletown.
Most of the hotels on the island were quaint and expensive. I stayed in Warwick about 30 miles away and still had a nightly rate above $200.
The race started at 7:30 am. There was no parking near the start/finish. So, organizers needed to shuttle up to 3000 registered runners from lots about 2 miles away. In their race instructions, they asked for us to arrive by 5 am.
Knowing that I could walk the 2 miles in less than 30 minutes, I decided to arrive at the parking lot by 5:30 am. That meant I needed to get up at 3:30.
When I arrived at 5:30 am, there were no traffic backups, 50 cars in the lot, and eight school buses waiting to transport runners. I remained until 6:15 when there were another 250 parked cars, plenty of buses, and no queue to board a shuttle bus.
At 7:30 am, the temperature was 59 degrees with a 56-degree dew point, overcast, and winds out of the east at ten mph. The forecast called for a 69-degree temperature by noon and continuing easterly 10 to 15 mph winds.
I wore my current typical wardrobe, shorts over compression shorts, a white hat, my white FARC singlet, and Saucony Endorphin Speed 2. I didn’t know the potential impact of the wind. So, I started in a long sleeve undershirt that came off at mile 2 and tied around my waist. Also, I tucked gloves and a neck gaiter in my shorts.
They organized the start into three waves, under 3:30 hours, under 5 hours, and everybody else. I was expecting to run between 4:45 and 5 hours. So, I lined up behind the pacer’s sign for 4:15 and ahead of the 5-hour pacer sign. I expected that was in the back of the second wave.
After the first two waves started, I realized I was in the third wave and pushed as far forward as possible to eliminate roadblocks.
My initial plan was to walk for 2 minutes at every mile. After I saw the course elevation graph, it changed to walk the ups and run everything else. In the couple of flat miles, walk for 2 minutes each mile.
There was no written or verbal instruction to stay to the right of the center. There were cones spread along the centerline, and most participants remained to the right of the center. Knowing the course was certified, I used the entire road width where I would have measured. After the race, I looked at the certification map, which listed the restrictions. OOPS. Maybe, I didn’t run an entire 26.2 miles.
At mile 5, we turned into headwinds that lasted until mile 17. The wind was strong enough that I needed to turn my hat around to keep it on my head. I knew I was running into the wind. However, I didn’t feel the effects I would have if I were running faster. My mile split times were a little slower through this section.
Through Newport, we passed some fantastic estates and views of the ocean. Parts of the course were on a cement road with large houses on each side. I completed the first half in 2:22:19.
The half-marathon, which also started a 7:30 am, used the Newport portion for their course. I called their section the warm-up hills. The field thinned as marathoners continued into Middletown.
The highest point on the island is 290 feet, and we only got up to 105 feet. But we had 975 feet of climb, of which 700 feet of climbing was in the last half. I think the organizers tried to find every hill in Middletown.
Miles 16 and 17 were flat and ran along the beach. I ran each of those miles in 10:53 to include the 2-minute walks.
But the next two miles included the most climbing that added a minute to my average pace.
I never bonked and was able to run the last 3 miles, all under 11 minutes per mile and the last 376 yards in 2:05. I felt good with my 2:29:30 second half and 4:51:49 finish.
Before the race, I looked at the results from 2015 to 2019 for men 65 to 69. In all those years, a 4:50 would place in the top 3. This research was an excellent motivator to keep pushing. With Chicago and the little marathon up the road the next day, I might be able to win a marathon age group award.
My time would have been first in 2015, second in 2016 and 2019, and third in 2017 and 2018. This year it was fifth, 1 second behind fourth in the Men’s 65 to 69-year-old age group. I passed fourth place just before mile 26. I guess my kick was not good enough to make up the time he had started behind me.
This race was my 72nd marathon and 37th state. I have finished a marathon in all states east of the Mississippi except Illinois and Kentucky.
Getting to races is half the fun. I drove into Pennsylvania on Friday and the remaining 4 hours on Saturday morning. After the race, I made the 9-hour drive home, arriving by 11 pm. The new Corolla got 46 miles per gallon for the 465 mile trip.
The organizers did an excellent job on the race. The aid stations were plentiful, and volunteers were friendly.
The races did reach their 3000 participant cap with 890 in the full and 2140 in the half. If you like hills, it’s a good fall marathon.