Allen Stone Memorial Run-Swim-Run

Allen Stone Memorial
Saturday July 20, 2013
Oceanfront - Virginia Beach
1km beach run - 1km swim - 5k run


This is the third year, I have done this race. I always look forward to it. It is a great workout, and your get to hang out at the beach. I was signed up to race as an individual orginially, but my buddy Mike Fine needed a fill his Team Hoyt team. It sounded like new challenge, and a good time, so I told him let's do it.


I got to 31st St park around 6:30, met up with Mike, and Stephen Todd our Team Hoyt athlete rider, and got all of our gear together. We milled about until the opening ceremony, where they read the names of the fallen SEALs. In year's past they had guys parachute on to the beach, but not this year. Maybe they couldn't afford gas for the plane, because of budget cuts.


The off shore winds we had for the past few days churned up some cold water. We got in the water to "warm up", and it was instant shrinkage. I would say the temp was around 65F, and when you first dove in it took your breath away. I met up Zack, our swim helper, from Norfolk Academy.

Around 7:40 we lined up to start. The first leg of the race is a 1km beach run. We used a beach cart to pull Stephen the 1k. At the start there were some beach goers we had to navigate through. We got out in front, found some firm sand and rolled to the swim start. Stephen has a great sense of humor, and the entire run, we chatted about the excellence of our team.

Ou friends from The Noblemen loaded Stephen into the raft, and we were off on the swim. The water was cold, but calm with a slight current pushing us down the beach. Mike was on the front pulling, and I was on the back pushing the raft. We got into a rythum, and pulled away from the rest of the groups. The final 200 meters Mike poured it on, and gapped me. Mike had a really strong swim.

The final 5k was uneventful. We took turns pushing the cart, and there was a slight headwind on the way down. Coming back toward the line, I was starting to get hot. The next team was about 5 minutes behind, so we let up a little towards the line.

Overall, it was a really good time. Pulling the extra athlete made this an entirely different race. Stephen was awesome, and kept us entertained the entire time.