1st Race Summary

My goal for this race (my first one in about 17 years) was to hold an 8-minute-mile pace. That would put my finishing time around 24:50. Winning didn't really enter into it for this race, although I hoped to do well in my age bracket.

The weather was pretty poor. There was thunder and lightning going on while I was eating my breakfast, and it was cold (about 41F/4C). But I've been looking forward to this all month, so damn it, I was going! The weather kept a lot of people away: there were only about 70 or so runners, and you know those folks had to be pretty hard core.

The rain stopped just before the race began. Away we went, and I tried to keep my pace down. But I knew I was going out fast. I ran the first mile in 7:34: way above my goal pace. But I felt good, so I kept it up. About the 2.5km mark, I started passing people who had been ahead of me the whole race. It was also about this time that the rain began again. The second mile of this course is mostly uphill, with one flat section. Even so, at mile 2 my time was 15:45, so my overall pace was still ahead of my goal.

Just after the 2nd mile mark, I took on the last uphill. I passed a few more people, but I could no longer see the lead pack. The rain was coming down pretty hard now, but I just kept turning the wheels. As I got to the top of the last hill, I knew the last 3/4 of a mile was flat or slightly downhill. So I picked it up just a little, and just kept pushing. I felt someone coming up behind me. I pushed a little harder to keep him back there. His footsteps soon faded. In the last quarter mile, I started drawing up to the only runner in front of me that hadn't yet finished. I passed him just as I got to mile marker 3. My time at that point was 23:40! I tried for one last gear in the last tenth of the mile, but as those of you who have discussed this with me before know, I have no finishing kick. So the guy I had just passed got by me just as we getting down to the last few meters. He finished in 24:05.

My time was 24:10, which was good enough for 4th in my age bracket (and pretty much exactly middle of the field overall). That's also an average pace of 7:45, or 15 seconds better than my goal for this race! So I'm pretty darn happy with that.

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