Warmup: 3.00 mi in 00:24:01 - 7:59 ppm.
Cooldown: 1.68 mi in 00:13:43 - 8:09 ppm.
Running Buddy
Full Results
The 6th-place runner appeared to be just out of reach when I opened up my stride on the last big downhill, with just over half a mile to go. I was kicking but it appeared I had let him get away too early. Suddenly, not even a quarter-mile later, he was coming back to me. Could I catch him? I dug down for one last effort, but it was too little, too late. I had given a much better go at it today than I had last week, and that was all I really wanted.
A few quick highlights and explanations before delving into the details...
- Running Buddy measured right at 1.54-5 miles at the turnaround, meaning this should have been a true 5k to the T. It would appear I cut the tangents so sharply on the way back that I actually ran shorter than the meet directors had intended. Well, isn't that the idea, if possible? It makes sense because they were counting on traffic on both sides of the road for a good portion of the course, and I didn't really follow that idea; I was running through people at one point. It was a fantastic strategy. Everyone else I talked to, including Ben Hovis, measured this one almost exact.
- I started off way too fast again. My first mile was right at 6-flat but I was in the sub-5:30 range at the half-mile mark. Not good.
- Despite the uphills on the way out, this was a fast course. That combined with nearly ideal weather conditions (over 70 but cloudy at gun time) led to many people running much faster than they have lately.
Ben later told me that that was about it as far as the CRC crowd was concerned. I did my warm-up on the course, again uncertain exactly where the turnaround was, and headed back to the Residence Club. Jamaar (cheering), Christi (racing), and Theoden (cheering and taking photos) were all present and accounted for at this point. Allen had mentioned earlier that he didn't feel well, and I soon noticed him walking around in a t-shirt with a towel wrapped around his head, looking like he was about to pass out. He then told me he was going to have to pull out due to sickness, and had given his bib to Jamaar. Well, there goes my plan of racing with Allen. He told me he'd find me a sub-19 guy to chase, and then pointed out a young teenager named Patrick who had been finishing just ahead of him at the GPX events. Patrick was wearing an orange shirt, which made things pretty easy.
The pre-race announcements were mercifully quick as I did some striders with Christi and lined up right behind Hovis. I foolishly wondered if I could beat Beigay, since he would be pushing a stroller (um...no). After an airhorn start, we were off. It was impressive to see Hovis blast out of the gates. It wasn't long before he was completely out of sight; Beigay, Mayes, and Stanford formed a chase pack of three. I got out of the gates way too fast and started slowing down, letting Patrick and 40-something runner Bobby Aswell get ahead of me. We were less than half a mile into the race and my fate, place-wise, was sealed: I would no better than 5th and no worse than 7th.
Herein lied my problem: I wanted to still hit my goal of no faster than 6:00 for the first mile, so I had to slow way down, but then I would have to maintain and be ready to surge, all whilst running up and down some imposing hills. I came through the mile in 6:04 and had to really work to keep the pace from going over 6:10. The uphills really did me in but I saved myself on the downs (note to self: do a freakin' hill workout soon). We passed an aid station and began to approach the turn: surely enough, it was a good bit further down the road than what I had run yesterday. Hovis flew by in the opposite direction and I then caught a glimpse of Compton, standing in the middle of the road right next to a sign that said, "Turn Around."
I noticed Mayes and Stanford, then Bobby and Patrick in front of me make the turn without going around Compton, so I did the same. I tried to go wide without running off the road, came to a nearly complete stop, turned my arms, went off into the grass, and nearly took out a mailbox. I heard John chuckle and say, "Nice turn." Yeah yeah, whatever... I noticed the Garmin had read 1.53 miles before I got to him so I happily guessed we'd be running a true 5k.
It was now time to get to work, and I was hurting. Bobby and Patrick were still within my grasp but they weren't slowing down and I couldn't seem to get any faster. I just kept looking at the watch, trying not to slow down too much as opposed to actually speeding up. I hoped I had some turnover left to shoot down the big hill and into the finish, but it would be a fight. It would have been nice to have more than two guys to race with, but hey... On the next uphill, Bobby began to pull away from Patrick, and he began to pull away from me. We reached the big downhill and I opened it up but it appeared to be nowhere nearly enough.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Patrick appeared to be slowing down. I knew I had sub-19 in the bag but I wanted to catch him. I tried to dig down but there just wasn't much left and he sped up just enough to slay me. I came through the chute in a time of 18:39.
As discussed, there was much talk post-race about how this was indeed a surprisingly fast course. Anytime you have a mostly downhill finish, when everyone is kicking anyway, that will lead to some fast times. Christi especially blew it out of the water, running sub-20 by a good bit. I met her, Jamaar, and Sarah Keen (with a cameo appearance by Leonard Hilliard) at Toast in Davidson for some tasty post-race breakfast.
Some photos, with many thanks to Theoden Janes a.ka. "Run with Theoden."...
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| Pre-race. Always, always, always messing with my laces. |
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| Hovis (in black, far right) fast out of the gates. |
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| Too close to the leaders for so early. (From left: Patrick, Beigay and his child, and Hovis). |
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| Still ahead of Mayes (back) and Stanford (in hat) a quarter-mile in. |
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| Trying to reel in the youngster. Patrick is young but he's fast and ran a surprisingly smart race (Megan's coaching??) for someone his age. |
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| Sarah, myself, Christi, Jamaar, and Layla (the pup). Glad to be done! |
'Til next time, people. Thanks for stopping in.
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