R and J in the USA

June 29, 2024

If 80% of success is showing up, then we had only 20% remaining to our goal by the time we got to the starting line of the Race for Open Space on Nantucket Island, as showing up proved to be the toughest part of the event.

We brought our bikes with us on the ferry from Hyannis to Nantucket, planning to ride what we believed to be the mile and a half from the ferry dock to the race location. But sometimes reality has a thing or two to say about belief, and it told us that our mile and a half fantasy was a mythical being reimbursing us for losing our baby teeth, while the truth was our parents digging through their loose change while waiting for us to fall asleep. The race turned out to be six miles away, and we only had a half hour and our bikes to cover that distance, sign in, and toe the starting line.

Nantucket is small, but fortunately it is large enough to have a few taxis, and we managed to snag one of them to take us to the race. The ride wasn’t cheap, but it was faster and less energy sapping than biking six miles before a race.

In addition to saving time and energy, the ride allowed us to take in the scenery. Driving away from the shoreline beaches, bluffs, and rocks toward the interior of the island gave us a taste of what we would be running through – rolling fields of tall, dry grass punctuated by clusters of lush, billowing trees.

The trail run looped around the outskirts of Milestone Cranberry Bog under a wispy blue and white sky filled with fresh ocean air. This serenity did not lull the front-runners, though. The winner finished in under 17 minutes with a 5:26 per mile pace. The next five runners finished in under 18:00 minutes with sub-6:00 per mile paces, including the top two women, who came in 2^nd place and 6^th place overall. Julie finished 3^rd out of 23 in her age group and 54^th out of 251 overall. Ryan was 8^th out of 21 in his age group 85^th overall. (Yes. Julie wins again.)

The race was put on by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. Proceeds from the race benefit the Foundation’s Land Fund, which helps preserve and protect the Island’s open spaces. Founded in 1963, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation strives to permanently protect many important and beautiful areas of the Island for the enjoyment and education of residents, visitors, and future generations. The Foundation owns, protects, and stewards over 9,000 acres of land and coastal shoreline, conserves Nantucket’s natural resources, and engages in ecological research.

The Foundation made a party of it, with a food spread of pastries, fruit, and smoothies, a massage therapist, and a DJ playing 70s and 80s deep cuts, including Andy Gibb’s “Shadow Dancing.” Julie enjoyed a free massage while Ryan and the DJ bonded over their Solid Gold memories.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

Julie and Ryan, having both partied to some fantastic and unexpected 90’s rock the night before at the Cape Cod Brewery, hit the pillow a little later than usual, got up to the alarm at the ungodly hour of “sometime before 5AM” and having rushed to get from the ferry dock to bib pickup with only 10 minutes to spare before go time, were both in surprisingly good energy at the start of the race. The trail was a slightly winding dirt path that made passing a little tricky during the first .5 mile.

Julie started off her race with a comfortable 8:26 pace. Not trying to be a hero, but thinking she might be able to push the pace down towards 8 minute miles as it carried on. The signs of overtraining, however, that Julie was fairly confident her overzealous training schedule was starting to seed started to make themselves known amidst the beautiful open spaces of Nantucket Island. While she managed to pick up the pace for mile 2, bringing it down to an 8:12, reality caught up with her pretty harshly in mile 3. Her heart rate was at an unsustainable level so she slowed the pace down to somewhere in the 8:50’s and found, even there, her heart rate was holding steady in the low 180s. Too high! She did what at race’s beginning was unthinkable, and she stopped to walk just to bring it down. She got her heart rate below 170, but as soon as she began to run again, it shot up to 180. You’d think at this point Julie would say, it’s not worth it, let’s take it in on a jog. Actually, you probably wouldn’t think that…and that is not what Julie did. She held steady and, as usual, after hitting mile 3, seeing the finish line in the not too far distance, she tried to do her usual pickup for the last .12 miles. She could barely get that much faster, and felt her heart rate going insane. She pushed it as much as she could, crossed the finish line and immediately went to find a place to sit down while she got past the “I’m gonna puke” feeling that was worse than ever. She checked her watch to see what that heart rate had been. 191. Oops. It’s official – overtraining has arrived. While Julie got 3rd in her age group, luckily they were only giving awards for the first place age-grouper so Julie’s over-efforts were not rewarded. The first place person in her age group came in at 22 something and was in fantastic shape. This was her first race ever! That’s some good running. For Julie, time to settle down.

Ryan’s race was part of his steady warm up from race to race. He focused on taking in the scenery and warming up mile over mile. While he was past shaking the cobwebs out at this point, he was still coming into his stride. He focused on staying within himself and running steady for the whole three miles. He started and finished the race relatively relaxed, clocking in at a 27:20.

For those keeping track, that’s 6-1 Julie. This is obviously not a competition. That said, let it be known, Julie is clearly winning.