What an amazing trip back east.  I have not posted before because we didn't get back yesterday until 2 am.  Our plane from Atlanta was delayed a couple of hours.  I am going to post several reports from the east coast but I want to start with the Falmouth Road Race.  This was race number 32 for the year.  The race starts at 10am in Woods Hole near the drawbridge on Water Street.  It is a point to point course and finishes at Falmouth Heights Beach.  Tommy Leonard started this race 40 years ago.  We ran articles in Runner's World right from the beginning.  I have always wanted to run th is race.  That is what I like about doing this 50 race Challenge.  I am running races I have always wanted to run but never did. 

Above Photo: Finishing in 49:18.  Placed second for 60 plus.  61-year-old Mark Uliasz finished ahead of me running 46:33.  I was one minute behind me at three miles and he blasted me the last four miles. 

Mike and I was at the starting line when we met Sharon Vos.  One of the top 55 plus runners in the country.  Her sisters Honor and Shelley live out my way but since Sharon lives on the east coast we had never met.  They are the fastest triples on the Planet.  The rain had just stopped and as I told Mike, "it does not rain on our parade."   And it didn't.  But the humidity hit 94%.  It was not that hot but...

I hit the first mile in 6:46 even with a couple of hills.  Sharon was just ahead and I tried to keep her in sight but I didn't.  She ran about a minute faster than me with 48:07.  The first three miles have a lot of rolling hills.  Not the type of course even without humidity that works for me.  However, it was so beautiful and then it leveled out until a couple of hills in the last mile.   And there are people all along the route the last three miles.  Some places they are four to eight rows deep. 

I wanted to run under 49 minutes and I got 49:18.  I know I lost at least one minute because of the humidity which it is not normal for Falmouth.  Super runner Joan Samuelson at age 55 ran 43:44.  What an amazing performance.  This is 97.13% age-graded.  Joan was the winner of the first Olympic Marathon for women in Los Angeles in 1984.  She was so focused at the start...

76-year-old William Riley won his division by almost nine minutes.  He ran 51:54.  He started running forty years ago and that is when he first started reading Runner's World.  Good story...

The overall winner was Stanley Biwott from Kenya.  He posted 31:59.  This is 4:34 per mile.  Just not sure how these guys can run so fast in this kind of humidity and with the hills.  However, he was 51 seconds off the course record.   So maybe when I am thinking I was a minute slower than what I thought I could do is not that far off...

The last time I saw Rod Dixon was thirty years ago in Palo Alto during National Running Week, an event I put together when I was publishing Runner's World.  Rod was such a great guy then and just as nice today.  He had won the bronze medal at the 1972 Olympic Games in the 1500m.  He is from New Zealand but now lives in Los Angeles.  The year after I saw him in Palo Alto he won the New York City Marathon in a time of  2:08:59.   He had run a New Zealand national record for the half marathon with 1:02:12 in 1981.  He is now 62-year-old and he ran 53:45 yesterday in Falmouth.   I beat three super star runners in my age-group yesterday...Rod, Bill Rodgers and Frank Shorter.  I think their 100 plus mile weeks in the past might have caught up to them...BUT it is great to see them still running. 

We set down with Bill Rodgers after doing a training run and spoke for more than an hour on Saturday.  Bill ran 54:06 the next day.  Bill and Rod loves running just as much as ever.  Frank and I had did not have a chance to speak but it appears he likes to at least jog.  He finished in 1:08:36 but at least he is still involved in running.  Frank was the official starter.  I wonder what you have to pay Frank to start a race these days? 

The gang along with Catherine Cross who took all the photos.  It was great working with my brother and Ujena Fit Club Coach Barry Anderson.  Mike ran the entire course with the Go Pro on his head.  He got some amazing footage.  He started off early and I met up with him (after he got footage of the runners ahead of me) just past the three mile mark.  He ran sub 7 minutes for a mile with me. 

This was one of my toughest races of the year.  I was still able to get under 7 minutes per mile but for sure the humidity cost me a minute or more.   I felt sluggish the whole way and if this had been a half marathon...it would not have been pretty.  I am 14:40 minutes ahead of pace after racing 215 miles.  I have 135 miles to go.  I am really concerned about the half marathon in Kauai coming up September 3rd.  There are hills the first seven miles and the humidity could be...Next race is this weekend in San Diego.  Half Marathon.  Some good downhills the first few miles but a tough hill in the last mile or so.  Photos by Catherine Cross

Falmouth is indeed a great race. The humidity was really dreadful this year. There have been other years with humidity as well, but I've never had this much rain beforehand as well. Was the wettest I've ever been, my feet as well!! Bob, I was also a minute slower than I wanted and that I ran 2 years ago. It's definitely the humidity!! It was indeed a pleasure meeting you in person and I'm glad I happen to glance over and recognize you!
Sharon Vos 8/15/12 7:58 am

I am so glad we met too. It is amazing the effects on high humidity. I am thinking about running Boston in 2013 but there is no way I could have run 26.2 miles last Sunday. If you ever get out west, lets do a training run...all four of us!
Bob Anderson 8/15/12 9:57 am

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Even through my hamstring has been bothering me, I wanted to get over 13 miles.  Since I don't have a race this weekend and because I have some though races coming up, I wanted to go long.  Mike came over and we started out running our 501 Rattlesnake Loop.  That would have been 11 miles.  But we decided to add another loop.  When we got to Foothill college we ahead up Moody run to the twisters.  In the end we ran 15.5 miles...501 Rattlesnake BIG loop.

Mike, my son and director of "A Long Run," and I just have not had a lot of opportunities to run together.  Most weekends I am racing and we are both so busy during the week, it has been tough to get together for a training run.  I love running with Mike and for sure I would not have gone more than 10 miles without him today.  Even with all the filming, Mike has been getting in at least 30 miles a week...the magic number!

We really could have used some more water along the route.  There was a water fountain at the six mile mark but that was it.  One of the issues in doing long training runs is getting water.  I do not like to carry water.  Luckily it was not too hot.

Catherine was there when we got back home two and a half hours later.  I was hoping my hamstring would hold up.

I ran with a Hot patch as I call it on my hamstring.  I wore it during the SF half marathon on Sunday too.  I am not sure if I could have gone 15 miles without it.  It seems to keep everything together.  I have that feeling that my hamstring could pull up at any time. 

Catherine picks these up for me at CVS pharmacy.  They are like one dollar a patch and I cut it in half.  It is like using one of the sport tapes and beyond.  This patch has Capsicum on it which heats up the area bringing more blood flow to the hamstring.  I have had many hamstring issues over the years and this seems to be working for me.  In addition, later in the day, I also got an hour and a half massage from Asaka.  My body is so tight and I am trying to loosen it up.  I had gone in on Tuesday too.

Next up: we leave for Boston next Thursday.  We are going to do some filming in Boston on Friday morning and then head to Falmouth which is about an hour and half away in Cape Cod.  On Saturday we are meeting up with Bill Rodgers and I am exciting to be doing a training run and interview with him.  Then on Sunday I will be running the Falmouth Road Race.   A 7.1 mile race August 12.   I have heard so much about this race.  They are celebrating 40 years.  Bill Rodgers has run this race many times and have won.