That Nike Track your Run feature in your blog is cool.

Good luck with training and the race!! (tu) (tu)

--Islander

hmm, Pam Gaffin mentions this race in her book. I've been wondering if it will happen while we're there. Yes! Our plane leaves at 3:35 on the 23rd. So I suppose we need to be at the airport at 1:30.

http://8tuffmiles.com/AGE-GROUP-REPORT.HTM

The race starts at 7:15. The slowest woman (age 41) did it in 3 hours 15 minutes, about 23 minutes/mile. Interesting that the oldest woman (age 78) did it in 2 hours 16 minutes, about 16.5 minutes/mile. I'm 71, and certainly no competition for Velma Pullen, but I think I could do it in 3 hours. It is a heck of a climb, though.

My question concerns getting back from Coral Bay to the airport. I would assume that Centerville Road is closed for the race. Then what happens? Are there taxis there that day or will I need to be picked up by my husband? I guess I'll write to Peter to see if it's reasonable to do the race and fly out of STT at 3:30.

I notice that the 8tuffmiles site has a link to your blog. You're famous!!

Hey Maggie,

Just remember that it dosen't always start on time. It was late starting this year by quite a while, and I know the runners were pretty annoyed as the start time had them running in sun - not saying it will happen, but it can.
We were at a water station waiting and the news came that they had only just started and we were expecting the first runner in Coral Bay 🙂

"Island Time" baby 🙂 🙂 🙂

Pia

I wrote to the race director and Peter says,

> Yes. I think you can make it. Focus on finishing in 3 hours. Pack your bags
> before you leave the house in the morning and catch the 12:00 noon ferry
> boat to St. Thomas. There are usually taxis in Coral Bay waiting to take
> people back to Cruz Bay and there is a public bus also.

He didn't say a thing about late start. Imagine that! I've decided the anxiety would not be fun. But you've given me an idea, I'll volunteer for a water station that's a couple of miles up the road from Cruz Bay. My daughter and I will walk from our cottage - which is on Centerline -- not far beyond the white church which is after the green and white Islander Building, after St. John Eye Care, after Dolphin Supermarket -- yeah, I'm learning about the St. John use of landmarks instead of addresses. Gaffin's book mentions it, and I'm experiencing it. My landlady never heard of Prince St, the first road you see coming off the ferry http://maps.yahoo.com/broadband#lon=-64.792911&lat=18.330889&mag=2

But I digress. After all the runners have passed, we walk back to our cottage. That way we'll get to enjoy some of the excitement of the day without having the anxiety of missing our plane. I'll write to Peter again and ask about working at a water station.

hmm, I've hijacked T J's thread. -- back to the original question - anyone else running?

Congratulations on your engagement, TJ. And best wishes to Ashley.

Maggie, wish I could be there. I'd love to do that, but the hills there are killers!!!!!

I give anybody ALOT of credit for even attempting it.

Good luck.

This photo on the cover new St. John Magazine explains the hills better than anything I've read or seen before. Is this looking out to the East End?

Thanks for the kind wishes, Maggie! I have been neglecting the blog a bit due to the engagement plans and everything - but I plan to get back to running daily in the next week and reporting on my training runs. It's freezing here (we live outside Chicago) so that has made it hard to get motivated to get out! Can't wait for the St. John weather in February.

Since I've never ran the race before, I can't say how easy it would be to get back to the airport, but sounds like Peter had some good advice. We are making the race the highlight and midpoint of our trip, so we'll have a few days to explore and run a bit before the big day, and then a few days after to relax and enjoy the island.

If anyone else has further advice or comments let me know!