Remembering Falmouth

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I got a nice surprise in my inbox yesterday. My Cape Cod running partner, Trish, wrote to say hello after a long absence and to remind me that this Sunday marks the 10th anniversary of our first time running together in the Falmouth Road Race.

I haven’t run Falmouth in years, but it remains my favorite road race even thousands of miles away. Like certain runs, there are races that a runner holds dear. Maybe you fell in love with the place or the person beside you. Maybe spectators knew you by sight or name. Maybe stamina overrode stigma and you finished dead last with your head held high and fists pumping.

I suppose Falmouth is that race for me, whether I finished those 7.1 miles soaked in sweat ahead of my friends or shivering uncontrollably well behind schedule. For several months each summer everyone’s training runs were in support of that Sunday morning in mid-August for the 7,000 fortunate enough to get in. The day never disappointed.

Falmouth itself is a big part of my personal history. The race starts in Woods Hole just a few miles from where I vacationed as a child and ends where I honeymooned as a young bride in Falmouth Heights. A decade later I spent four years raising my own family near these familiar shores. On weekends, I often met up with Trish and another friend, Donna, to run the winding, narrow roads of Pocasset and Cataumet. Younger, healthier versions of ourselves ran in snow squalls and rain, oppressive summers through spongy springs. Right now I miss it, I miss them.

Good luck to you, Trish, as you push up Nobska Light this weekend to the theme from “Rocky” and negotiate the rolling hills and gauntlets of Super-soaker squirt guns. Don’t feel badly if you get passed by a bunch of costumed characters, and do soak up the cheering crowds that build as you approach the final hill. May you finish under that huge American flag with another Falmouth Road Race in the books and another dreamlike deposit in the memory bank.

I'd love to learn what your favorite race is and why. Let us know in the comments.

[Photo courtesy of Boston.com]

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