As the alarm went off, I rolled over and checked the weather on my phone.......20 degrees, feels like 15. Wonderful. As I brushed my teeth the beers from happy hour last night not-so-subtly created doubt in my mind that this was a good idea today. $30 buck losss wouldn't be too bad of a loss today, but I still had to run at some point and I might as well just suck it up and do this. It was the first race of the year, and even though the course would be tougher, I was curious to see how I'd do since I've just started training again.
The temp started at 22 when I left the house, and as I drove north, it slowly dropped to about 13. I had run on Thursday in similar temps and it pretty much sucked. I wasn't really looking forward to this.
I met up with Dan and as he checked in, I went on a 2 mile warm up. The warm up didn't add too much confidence to things. My stomach was shakey and I just felt overall crappy. I still thought about bailing, but I was there, no point in changing anything now.
I ran into Craig near the start line. I hadn't seen him since the Asheville Marathon, so I was really pumped to see him. Not surprising, I saw lots of familiar faces near the start line, which is always nice. I didn't have a goal time for the day, I hadn't run the new course, I was just going to feel it out as I went.
As we started, the first mile was virtually all down hill. I started near the start line and in the first 200m I was passed by probably 20-30 ppl during the down hill section. I never let that get to me, I've see this so many times.....ppl starting out hard, especially on a down hill, and then peter out on the first flat section and slowly lose ground from there on. I, on the other hand, usually back off on the down hill, and try to run a little faster as I go, and today I also wanted to save some energy for the last .8 of hills at the end.
My pace was around 6:30 on the way out, and I slowly passed probably 6 or so ppl. I was reeling them in one after the other. Originally I had hoped to stay with Randy, a guy I know from track that I'm usually close to the same speed as, but he was easily 200-300m ahead of me and I pretty much gave up on that idea and focused on those in between us. At the turn I was just behind the 3rd place female, and another couple guys. My pace started to come down to about a 6:15 and I gained a little ground, but I wasn't trying to pass anyone just yet, I knew I still had a hill left. I wont pass someone unless I know I can keep them there, thats the deal. At about mile 5 I passed one guy, and it was me, the girl, and one other guy; all pretty close to each other. I could see the turn up ahead to the last .8 mile of hills, and I figured it was best to stay where I was and see what happens on the hill. I'm usually stronger than most on the hills, let's hope that's the case today.
In the first 100m of the hill, I slowly (SLOWLY) passed the next guy, it was just me and the girl. My breathing was like that of a fat kid with asthma, and I actually thought I might puke. Anytime I tried to spit, I thought I might pass out. That slight enough of a change in my breathing was killer. My face was numb, I could barely spit without it going all over me....like I cared or could even feel it at this point. I traded places with the girl a few times until the last .2 miles. It was rounding the final stretch that I decided I was gonna go for it, and I did. I passed her for the final time. I also was shocked to see that I had closed the gap on Randy to only ~30yds or so. I dug deep and picked up my pace, essentially red-lining myself and risking collapse. I was able to catch and pass him and hold on until the finish, probably a bit wobbly. I'd love to have seen my face at the finish line. Beyond tired, and frozen, and probably not too happy.....that last hill was a bitch....and I hated it.
Not a bad way to start the season though. I finished in 40:24, 12th of 791 and 2nd in my age group. Even though I felt like crap most of the day, I am quite happy with the way I paced myself and finished strongly. Actually had a couple ppl comment on how strong I seem to finish races. In a town of so many elite athletes, hearing stuff like that really makes my day.
A side note, the guy who beat me in my age group is new to town, 32 years old, and was two minutes faster than me. I got my eye on him this year........no one comes into my town, and beats me on my home course (Wedge Run) :)
mimosa.....watch the snow fall....college basketball.......NAP TIME!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment