The Bix 7-Miler

Another race that I look forward to every year is the Bix 7-Miler. Like Falmouth, it’s a summer race at a nonstandard distance, but that’s the least interesting thing about it.
The Bix 7-Miler, or just Bix, as everyone calls it, is held in late July in Davenport, Iowa. The race was started as part of an annual festival held in honor of Bix Beiderbecke, a seminal jazz trumpeter of the 1920s. Now, with 18,000 entrants, the race has become bigger than any other part of the festival. For more information, write 2685 Kimberly Road, Davenport, IA 52722; or call (319) 324-8657.
Bix’s seven-mile course is a tough one, including a huge hill right off the bat in the first mile. The weather is usually tough, too, what with the race held in the middle of summer in the middle of America’s farmland. Conditions at race time in 1997, for example, were 83 degrees with 80 percent humidity. These aren’t optimal running conditions! So what’s the big deal about Bix? Why not go somewhere you can run fast? Certainly, running on flat courses where you have a better chance of running a personal best can be fun, but always doing that is boring. If speed is your only goal, why not just go around a track? I think there’s more to racing than just seeing how fast you can go. Races that have character, like Bix, are challenging; running them is a good way to test your character as a runner.
Few things are going to get you through a tough course on a tough day any better than the incredibly supportive crowds that the race has. In addition to the great hometown pride of the Quad Cities’ residents, you’re guaranteed several more thousand spectators thanks to the concurrent jazz festival. I don’t mean to sound like I do nothing but party, but this race, too, has a great celebratory atmosphere, including steamboat casinos drifting by on the nearby Mississippi River.

The Falmouth Road Race

What’s that you say? You’ve always wanted to run a race that starts on an incredibly narrow drawbridge and finishes right next to the Atlantic Ocean? Then look no further than the Falmouth Road Race.
The Falmouth Road Race is held in the middle of August. It starts in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (site of a famous oceanographic institute and the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard) and ends 7.1 miles later in seaside Falmouth. More than 8,000 runners take part every year. For an application, write P.O. Box 732, Falmouth, MA 02541; or call (508) 540-7000.
Falmouth is great for several reasons. It embodies the celebratory nature of racing that I’m so fond of; you finish right next to a huge field, where a post-race party/barbecue is held. Although some of the best runners in the world are in the field, the race has a vacationlike feel. I know one runner who makes it his only race of the year; he’s just so drawn to the atmosphere of New England by the ocean in late summer. I also like the point-topoint course that builds momentum as you near the finish, like at Boston. Speaking of the course, Falmouth’s course is one of the most beautiful in all of road racing. At about two miles, you run past a lighthouse that looks like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting. For most of the race, you’re either running along the ocean or on roads through shaded forests. Right at the end, you come over the top of a hill to descend the last few hundred yards to the finish line, where there’s always a huge crowd.

The New York City Marathon

If you’ve heard of a marathon besides Boston, it’s probably New York. After all, it’s kind of hard to ignore 30,000 people running through all five boroughs of the world’s most famous city.

After initially being held in October, the New York City Marathon is now held on the first Sunday in November in an attempt to escape the Indian summer days that often plagued runners during the earlier dates. The race’s popularity has continued to soar as it approaches its 30th running in 1999. In 1997, more than 30,000 runners started the race, which was a record field for New York.
The New York City Marathon is the gem of the weekly races put on by the New York Road Runners Club. Because so many people want to run in the New York Marathon, the field is limited by a lottery, with many of the spots saved for overseas runners. To request an application, write Marathon Entries, P.O. Box 1388 GPO, New York, NY 10116; call (212) 423-2249; or visit the Web site, http://www.nyrrc.org.