Sunday, March 27, 2022

Race report: 2022 Savin Rock Marathon

On March 26, I ran the Savin Rock Marathon in West Haven, CT.  This was my first marathon in seven weeks.  I was signed up for races on February 20 and March 7, but both of those races were cancelled.

Ordinarily, I would’ve found other races to run, but I’ve been recovering from a lower back injury, and I felt I needed more time to recover before racing again.  The good news is my back has been gradually improving.  The bad news is that I’ve lost a lot of fitness.  Since late November, my training has been sporadic.  At first, I was still running marathons every two to four weeks.  Lately, I haven’t run anything longer than 11.25 miles.  That’s too long to go without a long run, especially when you don’t have much of a training base.  I signed up for this race, knowing I wasn’t in shape for it, but also knowing I needed to get a marathon under my belt before next month’s Boston Marathon.

The closest major airport to West Haven is Bradley International Airport in Hartford.  I flew to Hartford Friday afternoon and drove from there.  My flight was delayed by more than two hours because of a mechanical issue.  At first, they thought they could fix it, but they had to get a new plane from the hangar.  Fortunately, I was flying out of a Delta hub, where getting a new plane was an option.

The drive time from Hartford to West Haven was about an hour.  By the time I got there, it was almost 6:30.  Packet pickup wasn’t until Saturday morning, so I didn’t have to worry about getting there on time.  Otherwise, I would’ve been freaking out.

While I was in line to check into my hotel, I bumped into my friend Michelle.  Michelle was traveling from another city, but she also experienced flight delays.  By chance, we were staying at the same hotel and got there at the same time.

After checking in, Michelle and I went to Savin Rock Park to see where the race started.  Then we went to a pizzeria that was a few blocks away.  When we got there, we discovered their pizza oven wasn’t working.  One of the employees recommended another pizzeria that was about a mile away, so we went there for dinner.

Michelle and I talked for a long time, so we didn’t get back to the hotel until almost 9:00.  Then I started to organize my clothes for the race.

Sleeping is always hit or miss when I’m traveling.  This was a miss.  It took me half the night to get to sleep.  Then I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep.  The hotel was right next to a highway, and I could hear every truck that went by.

My alarm was set for 6:15, but I was already awake, so I got up at 6:00 and started getting ready.  Although I slept for less than three hours, I felt OK.  I can often shake off one bad night, as long as I slept well the previous night.  The hotel’s breakfast service started at 6:00, so I was able to grab a light breakfast before leaving.

Packet pickup was outside the Savin Rock Park Conference Center.  The race didn’t start until 9:00, but packet pickup started at 7:00.  I decided to get there on the early side, so I could get a parking space before the lot filled up.

Savin Rock Park is named after Savin Rock, which is the name given to this small rock formation.  It stands out, because the rest of the terrain is flat.  The Rock is surrounded by sandy beaches.


The temperature was in the mid-40s.  After picking up my race packet, I waited in my car to stay warm.  Every so often, I got out of the car to use one of the port-o-potties.  Whenever I did, I bumped into one or two friends who were also doing this race.

I expected the temperature to climb as high as 50 degrees, but no higher.  I wore a short sleeved short and tights.  I also added gloves, which I could take off as soon as I was warm enough.  While I was waiting in the car, I noticed about a dozen small drops on my windshield.  I wasn’t expecting rain, but I made a last-minute decision to start the race with a light jacket, just in case.

Michelle and I are both members of a running club called 50sub4.  We bumped into three other 50sub4 members and took a group photo before the race.


I lined up farther back than I usually do.  My goal for this race was to run the whole way.  That’s it.  I knew I would struggle in the late miles if I started too fast.  If you asked me to predict my time, I would’ve guessed 4:30.  That wasn’t a goal; it was just a prediction.

The course was a 13.1 mile loop.  Those of us doing the marathon needed to run it twice.  About a third of the course was along the coast.  The rest traversed through the city.  The loop was described as four flat miles, followed by five hills in the next five miles, and then four miles that were downhill to flat.

For the first mile of the race, I was running with my friend, Karen.  The pace felt nice and relaxed.  When I noticed the one mile sign, I glanced at my watch.  That mile took 9:49.  I was surprised it was that fast.  It felt like it was slower than 10 minutes.  After that, I stopped looking at my watch.  I wanted to focus on how I felt, without being too focused on my pace.

Karen stopped to take a picture, and was planning to take a walking break, so I continued on my own.  For the next few miles, I ran by myself, but I continued to run at a pace that felt fairly relaxed.

There were aid stations every two miles or so.  Each aid station had water, Gatorade, and Gu.  Each time I drank, I slowed to a walk until I finished drinking.  That way, I was less likely to splash any Gatorade on my arm or shirt.  I wasn’t worried about losing five seconds at each aid station.

Somewhere around four miles, I turned a corner and saw a small hill in front of me.  Evidently, I was done with the initial flat section, and I was beginning the hilly section.  In general, I found each hill to be tiring, but I was never tempted to take a walking break.

As I started up the first hill, I started to feel hot.  Until then, I had been comfortable wearing my jacket.  There was a cool breeze off the coast.  Now that I was working up a sweat, it was time to take off my jacket and tie it around my waist.

Somewhere in the middle of the hilly section, I started talking to a runner from Nebraska named Steve.  We ran together and talked for about half of the race.  On one of the hills, Steve needed to slow down and told me to go ahead.  I was enjoying the conversation, so I slowed down briefly to stay with him.  Before too long, we were back to running the same pace as before.  For the rest of that loop, I found Steve’s pace to be about right for me.

Late in our first loop, I noticed we were alongside a beach.  I commented to Steve that we much be done with the hilly section of the loop.  In fact, we had finished it a few miles earlier, but I didn’t notice.  By now, we just had one more mile to get back to Savin Rock.

I was expected cloudy skies, but the sun was out now.  Steve and I were both feeling hot.  I finally took off my gloves and put them in my fanny pack.  Near the end of the loop, we briefly turned right into the wind.  That felt really good.

I forgot to check my time at the end of the first loop.  Steve said it was about 2:05.  That put me on pace to finish in 4:10.  That’s much faster than I was expecting.

Steve asked me my goal, and I told him I just wanted to run the whole way.  Steve was hoping to run negative splits, but didn’t know how he would feel the next time we reached the hilly section.  Now that the sun was out, getting hot was also a concern.

As we began the second loop, I didn’t find the pace to be as easy as before.  I continued to run with Steve, but it took some effort to keep up with him.  I knew I could keep up this effort in the flat miles, but I didn’t know what would happen when we reached the hills again.  If Steve didn’t slow down on the hills, I would have to drop back and finish at my own pace.

During the second loop, I noticed more traffic.  There were police stopping traffic at most of the intersections, but not all of them.  We had to be conscious of cars where we needed to cross streets.

I recognized the corner just before the first hill.  After making the turn, I started up the hill.  I slowed down, but I kept running.  Steve dropped back.  When he yelled, “you go ahead,” I realized he was taking a walking break.  I continued running, but I yelled, “you’ll catch up to me later.”  At the time, I really believed that.  Now that I was no longer working to keep up with Steve, I expected to slow down.

Just after the first hill, there’s a short out-and-back section.  After the turnaround, I saw that Steve was about half a block behind me.  I still thought me might catch up to me later in the race, but I realized it might take a while.

Some of the hills seemed longer and more tiring in this loop.  I saw other runners walking on the hills, but I kept running.  I passed a few runners on each hill.\

The first time through this section I was talked to Steve, and our conversation distracted me enough that I didn’t remember where each hill was.  I reached a steep downhill section and wondered if I was done with the hills.  Then I remembered looking at the elevation profile before the race.  Most of the hilly section has an uphill trend, but it finished with a steep downhill, a long uphill, and one more long downhill.  I still had five miles to go, so I concluded this was the second-to-last downhill section.  I still had to climb one more hill.

I found this steep downhill section to be uncomfortable.  My running form was awkward.  It felt like I was leaning backward.  I knew, if anything, I should be leaning forward, but then I would go faster.  I couldn’t force myself to do that.  My legs were already too sore.

I started to notice some rather significant discomfort in my right knee.  This is the same knee that bothered me for more than a year.  I thought it was fully healed, but this is probably the first time I’ve run down a hill that wasn’t a gentle grade.

The last climb was steep enough that I questioned why I was expending so much energy.  It didn’t seem like my running pace was that much fast than walking.  I got almost halfway up the hill and then took a brief walking break.  After walking for about a minute, I ran the rest of the hill.

The last downhill section wasn’t as steep as the previous one.  Instead, it was longer.  Even though it wasn’t steep, I noticed the discomfort in my knee again.  I looked forward to the last few miles, which would be flat.

With about two and a half miles to go, I came within sight of the coast.  I knew our route would follow the coast the rest of the way.  From here on, it would be fairly flat.

There was a woman a short distance ahead of me who was walking.  I knew we were done with the hills, so I planned to tell her that to encourage her to run the rest of the way.  She didn’t need any encouragement.  She started running just before I caught up to her.  She ran the rest of the way.

With less than two miles to go, we came alongside the South Street Beach.  We would have the beach on our right all the way to Savin Rock Park.

I had planned to keep a relaxed pace when I got done with the hills, but now I wanted to pick up my effort.  I wasn’t concerned with running a faster time.  I just wanted to get done sooner.  The last two miles seemed to take forever, but I was hanging in there.

Now my knee was bothering me even running on level ground.  It wasn’t as uncomfortable now as it was running downhill, but I had to endure that for the rest of the race.  It was disconcerting, but what really matters is how it feels in a day or two.  If I feel fine on Monday, I won’t worry about it too much.

It started getting cloudy again, and the breeze got stronger.  Earlier, the breeze helped keep me from overheating.  Now, my hands were getting cold.

My hands may have been cold, but the rest of me was hot.  With a mile to go, I was really thirsty, but I wouldn’t get another chance to drink until I finished.

As I was making the final two turns, another runner passed me like I was standing still.  He was making a strong charge to the finish.  I couldn’t do that.  All I could do was maintain my effort.

After I finished, I heard the announcer say, “You won your age group.  Come over and get your award.”  At first, I thought he was talking to me.  He was actually talking to the woman who finished right in front of me.  This was the same woman who resumed running with just over two miles to go.

The next runner to finish was a younger woman.  She also won her age group.  Then another woman finished, and she also won her age group.  How did I do?  I finished in 4:13:11.  That was only good for 4th place in the “old man” division.

I ran positive splits, but only by three minutes.  I think all three of those minutes came on the hilly part of the loop.  The hills slowed me down much more the second time.

We had our choice of red or black ribbons for the finisher medal.  I chose the red ribbon.  The shark is the logo of the Shoreline Sharks, who sponsor this race.


I made my way over to the food table to have a glass of Gatorade.  I also had part of a bagel.  Then I went back to the finish line to watch for Steve.  I waited for about 10 minutes, but he wasn’t anywhere in sight.  I wanted to wait for him, but I was getting too cold.  The wind was getting stronger, and I couldn’t spend any more time standing around wearing damp clothes.  Reluctantly, I walked back to the car and drove back to the hotel.  When I got there, I made myself a hot cocoa.  Then I took a long hot shower.

By the time I was ready to go out again, it was after 3:00.  It was getting awfully late for lunch, but it was still early for dinner.  I had enough other things to do to keep me busy until 4:30.  Then I had an early dinner.

My post-race meal of choice is usually pizza, but there was a steakhouse right next to my hotel.  All I had to do was walk across the parking lot.  By now, the lack of sleep was suddenly catching up to me, so I liked the idea of not needing to drive anywhere.

Saturday night, I slept much better.  That’s how it usually works.  When I got up, I didn’t have any discomfort in my knee.  Thinking back, I don’t think it bothered me at all Saturday afternoon or evening.  It only bothered me during the race.

Another concern is how running this race affected my lower back.  So far, I haven’t noticed any increase in the discomfort from my sciatic nerve.  We’ll see how I feel after flying home.

Overall, I’m pleasantly surprised with how I did in this race.  I think this will help prepare me for the Boston Marathon, which is in three weeks.  I might not be fast, but I probably won’t struggle just to finish.


Race Statistics
Distance:  26.2 miles
Time:  4:13:11
Average Pace:  9:39
Lifetime Marathons/Ultras:  450
Connecticut Marathons:  4