A few weeks ago was the Martha's Vineyard 20 Miler and the Amity Island Relay put on by my friend Todd Cleland and Amity Island Running Club (run by Kara Shemeth). The race has a long tradition on Martha's Vineyard with this year being the 20th edition of the race. The course which begins at the Vineyard Haven Steam Ship Authority terminal and runs through Oak Bluffs and Edgartown before ending at the Oak Bluffs School is largely flat but often intensely windy along the shore. While this is a local event it generally draws talented runner from across Massachusetts and New England, and this year was no different.
This was my second time running the event, but my first time running the relatively new Amity Island Relay, which is set up as a 2x10 mile event. I partnered with Rene DaSilva who is a quite talented runner living in Vineyard Haven, our team Plum Perfect (named after Rene's painting company) was looking to be one of the stronger relay teams and one of the favorites for the win should all go as planned. Our goal was to chase the course record of 57:03 should the conditions agree with us. Rene and I had discussed the possibility of this race since January, however a minor injury to Rene's foot left us unsure that we would be ready on race day. Thankfully in the weeks leading up to the race Rene reported some improvement in the foot and we were cautiously optimistic the race would go well. Finally a peak workout of 10k at 5:48 pace (roughly goal 10 mile pace) showed the fitness was there for both of us to run right around record time if all went well on the day of.
When race day did roll around Rene and I showed up to find a solid field in both the individual and relay sides. Ian and Amanda Nurse were representing their respective clubs (The BAA and Heart Breakers) with their team name of the Heart Breaking Unicorns and Mike (next to me wearing a grey shirt in the photo above), a runner I'm familiar with from Falmouth, was present with his partner to make up the Stoney Knowle Runners. On the individual side several fast local runners including Steve Brightman of Providence promised a brisk pace in the individual race, however no one present seemed up to the task of taking down the stout course record of 1:48:34 set back in 2010 by Patrick Moulton.
As we got underway a 5:25 first mile reduced the lead pack down to three runners, Ian, Mike and myself, the second and third miles being covered in 5:35 and 5:38 strung our group out with Ian taking a strong lead approximately 30 seconds ahead of Mike who himself was a further 10 seconds ahead of myself. This order remained throughout Oak Bluffs where I hit 5 miles in 28 flat; as we got to the beach the winds picked up and the gaps between each of us widened significantly. Coming into Edgartown the finishing order of the first leg seemed set, however once off the beach I was able to psik up the pace and slowly began to close the distance with Mike, and with only 400 meters to go I was able to pull ahead and pass the baton (a wrist band in this case) off to Rene just ahead of Mike's arrival.
Having finished my leg I was able to relax and speak with Mike and Ian about their runs, Ian reported having finished in 56 and change, which put him approximate 2 minutes ahead of my finishing time of 58:05. Mike told me that his partner was planning to run something over one hour for her leg which meant the race was down to Rene and Amanda's respective performances to determine final placement. Rene was planning to run something under 60:00 which meant for us to win Amanda would have to run 62:00 or slower for the final 10 miles... Unfortunately for us Rene was only able to take about a minute out of Amanda's time which left us with a finishing time of 1:57:58 compared with the Nurse's 1:57:00, which was also the new course record. Mike and his partner finished in 2:08:02, which was more than good enough for third place.
Sadly it was a disappointing day for team Plum Perfect, but I anticipate that we'll be back next year and ready to give the Nurse's a run for their money! For more info and coverage see the MV Times article on the race.
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