8 Tuff

I ran the 8 Tuff Miles race in St. John for the third time. The race goes from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay from sea level to sea level and up 1000 feet. Last year when I ran this race I had been living in San Francisco and was running a lot of hill miles. This year, since I have been focusing on distance, I haven’t been putting as many miles in on hills. I had a pretty good race last year and tried to tell myself not to be disappointed if this year I wasn’t as fast. I’m currently bouncing between the USVI, BVI and Antigua for work and am in full nomad mode. Though I have been looking forward to the race for a couple weeks I managed to wake up in the morning totally unprepared for it. I don’t usually race with headphones but I had planned on making a play list and running with music. I didn’t get a chance to go to the store beforehand to buy my race morning breakfast of a banana with peanut butter and cinnamon-rasin bagel. The night beforeI broke my pre-race rule and had a few drinks with my friend Keith, got home late and forgot to plug in my watch to charge it up. After a few anxious dreams about missing the race and having no watch, I woke up at 6:15 feeling kind of blah. Keith drove me to the start and the race got underway pretty much on time, or at least on time, island time. The first 1/2 mile brings you out of the park, into Cruz Bay town and around the round about with a steel drum band playing. The steel drum always makes me smile and I had a big one on my face as I headed up the first hill. I say first but I really mean THE. This hill keeps going up for the 1/4 of the race. I would say there are 3 distinct hill, the third being the hardest because it comes after the “highest point, 999 feet” sign.

Thankfully, it rained for pretty much the entire race. Though it is the end of rainy season, this year in the Caribbean has been particularly wet. The rain on the day of the race wasn’t just misting passing showers, either. It Rained. And it felt so good! I think it helped a few people push a bit more and go faster. The first woman to finish set a new course record for women’s time. The hills are hard and seem to just keep going but the best part is the 2 mile down hill finish. Once you hit the last hill at mile 6 you are home free, just don’t fall!  With all the rain the roads had little rivers crossing them and the finishing shoot was quickly turning into a mud bath. Though I was going as fast as I could I had to hold back a little to ensure I didn’t eat any pavement in the last mile. I finished with a time of 1:09:44 and ranked 14^th female and ~95^th overall. It really is a fun race with some great views and moments of self evaluation.

Because the roads on St. John are pretty narrow and the turns are pretty extreme the race committee gets the island to agree to close the road on the morning of the race. This is fantastic for running but not so good for getting back to Cruz Bay after you finish. Every year a few of the early finishers jog back over to the other side and I toyed with the idea this year but alas the lure of a free tshirt and local beer got the best of me. I joined some friends at the finish and headed over to the post race bar for a beer. Once the road is allowed to open again it is a free for all with taxis and hitching to get back over the hill. We took our sweet time finishing our beer and Johnny cake and managed to hitch a ride in the back of a pickup truck all the way back to town. I’m pretty sure the ride back is always the best part of the race.

I really enjoy the race and the island vibe it brings out. Almost 2000 people come out to run and everyone else helps at a water stand or just stands on the side of the road to cheer. Running in the rain is fun but cheering in the rain is not and I thank everyone who stood under umbrellas, palm trees or trash bags to watch the race.

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