Race Day!

Road races tend to start early.  Because I need time to get the dogs walked and corral everyone up and ready, I had to get up this morning at 5 AM!  OUCH!  I woke up and both knees hurt, my right hamstring ached, my left hip abductor was not cooperating.  This was shaping up to be a really bad race.

I walked the dogs and it was colder outside than it should have been.  It was below 50 and that meant the race would start with temperatures in the very low 50s.  Not as cold as my first, but colder than I had hoped.  Cold weather means muscles that are more stiff and I was already achy.  DAMN!  We got there and my hands felt like icicles.

All that nervous energy obviously meant something.  All that concern about how sore I was, how cold it was, etc. meant little.  10K 43:11 31st overall, 2nd in 40-44 year olds. 6:57 per mile average!  Yes, I said that.  I finished 2nd for my age group.  Now, that’s a bit of a misnomer.  There were a few more in my age group that finished higher.  The thing with road races though is that you can’t win awards in more than one category.  So, one was in the top 3 overall.  Two were in the top Masters group (40-50.)  That means they could not be part of top three in age group.  So, technically, I finished 5th for my age group, as there were 4 men 40-44 that finished above my time, but it doesn’t matter.  I was listed as 2nd for my age group and that meant in my second 10K ever I win an award!!  I was so stoked.  Colleen and I were getting ready to leave, when I noticed they had posted the 10K results.  I ran over to see how I’d done and BINGO!  I was almost literally in tears I was so overcome with exuberance.  I had not expected to do that well.  I knew where I’d finished overall because the race was a loop and I could count the number of runners that made the turn before I had.  I just couldn’t tell who was in my age range.

The race was significantly harder besides the amount of external issues.  It started with a fairly steep and lengthy climb, which was then a fairly long and steep descent.  But, I beat my pace goal.  I ran 6.2 miles averaging less than 7 minutes per mile.  I did the first three miles in 6:30 averages, or under 20 minutes total.  I was stoked because I knew after the first loop that I was well on my way to beating my goal.  Of course, I faded quite a bit on the second hill ascent, but it didn’t totally ruin my pace.

I am so excited.  I am guessing that my next goal now needs to be a below 42 minute total time.  That’s going to mean another 10 or 15 seconds per mile off my time, which will only get harder to accomplish.  Still, I hadn’t expected to be able to make either of the two I met so far.  We’ll see.  5 weeks to go until the next race!

Cheers!