Blessing of the Fleet

History with the Blessing

I tried it first in 2012, finishing around 1:18, and then again in 2013, about 10 minutes faster. I disliked it at the time, so I opted out of it in 2014. I returned to the event Friday night.

Pre-Race and Goal Times

I planned a goal and two backup goals for my return to the race.

	Time	Pace
A Goal	1:01:40	6:10
B Goal	1:03:20	6:20
C Goal	1:05:00	6:30

I figured I'd finish in between my A and B goal. I would be satisfied with running under 64 minutes.

The warm-up was just over a mile with 6 WTAC members. After bathroom visits and waiting, it was time to head over to the start. Dad, Jonny Eckel and I lined a few rows back and awaited the start when top 100 bib numbers were announced to moved the front spot. The new spot was much more comfortable and less crowded.

The Race

I had watch errors during the race and not every split is accurate.



The First Four: It went out fast and crowded. I saw a few high school runners I knew, around me or in front of me. I hung near Dad and Jonny Eckel the first quarter mile. After half a mile went by very quickly, it wasn't extremely crowded anymore and you could get into a spot you wanted. Now, Dad was 5 seconds ahead and I was right near Jonny Eckel. I saw my pace was about 5:40, and I didn't want to go too fast that early in the race, so I backed off a little bit. Jonny went ahead of me. At the end of mile 1, I could see Dad maybe 10 seconds ahead of me and I was a few seconds behind Jonny.
 Mile 1 was 5:49, a little fast. By mile 2 it's spread out enough that it's easy to pass people but also easy to see most runners ahead. I spot a group of La Salle runners and a few other high school runners up ahead. Most of them were taking it easy and could race much faster if they wanted to. At the end of mile 2, I'm right behind that pack and catch back up to Jonny. I pass Jonny as one of his teammates catches back up to him. Mile 2 is 6:01. I've finished one fifth of the race and I feel really good. Mile 3 and 4 fly by. Not much happens. I take my first water somewhere in mile 4, pass a few people, one of them being Norm Bouthillier, a cross country and track coach. The first four miles are around 24 minutes total, and I felt great. Mile 3 is 5:56 and Mile 4 is 6:10.

The Highway Miles (5 and 6): I was feeling great at the end of mile four, but soon we turned onto the highway. I heard the stories about how awful the highway was, and even though I had running Blessing before I couldn't remember the experience. I still feel fine at the end of mile 5, which is when I realize that my watch is having errors. This is only mile split I remember looking at during the race, and it was 5:33. Of course, that wasn't right, especially on the highway. I'm guessing it was around 6:15, and I think the first four were around 6 to 6:05. I was at about 30:30 at the mile 5 clock. Mile 6 was awful. It was probably my slowest mile and I kept waiting for it to be over. I can definitely say now that I hated the highway miles. Mile 6 went by slowly, but it did go by. Mile 6 split was 6:25. At the end of mile 6, it started to rain.

The Next Three (Trees, Passing the School, and a Rare Downhill): I still felt strong after turning off the highway, but the next three miles became tough. Turning into the trees, seeing lightning flashes and cooling off with the raining was cool, but I was too eager to finish my race. I was on pace for my A goal, and I had to hang in there to make it happen. Mile 7 and 8 went by quickly. I remember being passed by one of the top girls, seeing La Salle runner Dan Paiva waiting for the bathroom and passing a few runners in those two miles. (The problem with waiting to blog about a race is you don't remember the details.) The walkers weren't much of a problem, but there were a few times they got in the way.  Mile 7 was 6:14 and Mile 8 was 6:08. Mile 9 started around the starting area, and we were repassing the school. Since mile 4, I didn't really know the people I was running close to. At this point in the race I was tired and completely soaked. Towards the end of mile 9, I was passed by a La Salle runner, DJ Principe. I was so shocked by it, because he started out with the La Salle pack which I had lost sight of early on, and I didn't remember passing him. I figured it out, and he must have been the person Dan Paiva was waiting for in the bathroom line. Mile 9 ended with a downhill. 6:10 for mile 9.

The Last Mile: I was definitely tired after mile 5, but Mile 10 was the most brutal. My legs were hurting and I could feel how tired I was. When I had about half a mile to go, I picked up the pace, and with a quarter mile, I was nearly sprinting. I passed Abdullah Kaba, a Cumberland runner who had started out with the pack but must have dropped off, with about 0.1 to go. Finishing felt great. I remember seeing that I was in 1:01:40 to 1:01:50 range, so I had pretty much made my A goal. I ate lots of fruit immediately after. Mile 10 was 6:02.

Passing Abdullah Kaba before finishing

Checking the results later, I found my official time and place. 53rd overall and a finish time of 1:01:42, which pretty much made my A goal. I was 12th in my age group, which proves what a stacked field it is.

See Results Here

I was sore and felt funny walking afterwards, and wasn't excited about the triathlon I had the next day. Overall, I think I had a great race and was disappointed about my watch errors. (That's why it's labeled as a walk on strava: Garmin connect read that mile 5 was 5:33 and I ran 10.2 miles at 6:02 pace, but on Strava mile 5 was 2:35, and I ran 10.7 miles at 5:44.) My new blessing PR means I can probably PR by several minutes in a half. (Current PR at 6:35 pace). I

Upcoming Races:
Block Island Triathlon (August 1)
Run 4 Kerri (August 2)
Bobby Doyle (August 9)