I was not at all sure how things would go today. After trudging through my easy run yesterday, I'm not very confident. Also, I have overdone the carbo-loading the last three days, "carbo-loading" being a euphemism for eating way too much junk food. I weighed in this morning at my heaviest weight in seven weeks - not optimal for race day.
But I am feeling a little energetic today, and the adrenaline is kicking in as I anticipate the race. The race preparation is good in the morning, and I feel great during an easy 1.5 mile warmup. A couple of days ago I had in mind two pretty ambitious goals: first, to try to finish under 55 minutes, and second, to try to squeak into the top ten in my age group - men 40-44. I am not at all sure I can get close to either of those, but I have not entirely given up.
Some might think that it gets easier in the groups over 40, but that is not the case. Men 40-44, my classification, is probably the toughest age group. The men are almost as fit as the 30-somethings, they are generally despereate to prove they haven't lost a step as they passed the 40-barrier, and they tend to be much more experienced in race strategy and tactics than the younger runners. The 40-50 year old groups, and even 50-54, also compete fiercely within their groups, especially among the top few who pretty much have been showing up together at all the same local races for 15 years. In fact, I recognize a couple of men I used to race against in local races when we were in the 30-34 age group.
I try to hold back a little at first, but I am too excited, and I cover the first mile under 7 minutes - too fast. I back off a little, and find a good pace by the second mile. In fact from mile 2 to mile 6.5 the order of the runners around me barely changes at all, a good sign that I found the right spot for my pace. I pass only three people in that 4.5 mile span, one early and two of them right around mile six as a few people are tiring, and one person passes me about mile four and I never see him again.
The end gets interesting. Just after mile six my stomach starts to feel queasy. My pace has slowed over the rolling hills, but I'm still averaging just about 7:30/mile. I know I can't sustain it without losing breakfast before the finish, but I really do not want to be one of the several people who run out of gas and gets passed by 100 other runners in the last mile. I slow up just a bit, hopefully enough to recover without dropping too far. As I get to mile 6.5, two women pass me, accelerating into the last mile. Shortly after that, another really tall guy about my age passes me. Besides just trying to hang on, this time my thought is that I am probably on the edge of top ten in my group, and this guy passing me could be the difference. But right now I can't do anything about it as he slowly pulls away a step or two at a time.
About mile 7, my stomach settles and I get a little bit of a second wind. I pick up the pace, and with 1/4 mile to go the two women and the man who passed me are all within about 60 yards. 200 yards to go, and the man is now 25 yards ahead, between the women, but moving faster. 100 yards to go, I catch the first woman, and the other two are just 10 yards ahead but moving fast. I'm feeling queasy again, but at this point I'm just focused on the arch of balloons right in front of me. I find a kick somewhere, and sprint as hard as I can. 50 yards to go I pass the other woman. With just steps to go I catch the tall guy, regaining my place from a mile previous and beating him across the line by a step or two. Yes!!!
Then I drop to my hands and knees in the road and start taking deep breaths so I don't lose breakfast.
As for my goals, I was one out of two. My time was 55:31, not quite 55 but a very respectable 7:27/mile pace. The final results showed me as 8th place in my group out of 41. Cool!! And the the guy I passed...well he was indeed in my age group, 40 years old, but apparently he was a few seconds behind me at the start line because by "chip time" (the diffence between when the shoe sensor crosses the start line and the finish line, which is official for everyone below the top awards), he finished in 55:29, two seconds faster than me, making him 7th place in our group. @#$#@^$!!!! So even though I passed him, he still got by me in the standings.
And as for the "old men", they ruled the day. The overall winner on the day by 8 seconds was in the 40-44 age group. He took home both the first place checks for overall winner AND for masters winner. Two more of the top 10 overall finishers were also men 40-44. The only other age group with three runners in the top ten overall was men 15-19 years old. And even more men in the 45-49 group finished ahead of me than did men in my own group, so it won't get any easier for me this decade!
I am really happy with how the day went, and now have to start thinking about my next race!
No comments:
Post a Comment