I knew what was in store for me

October 1, 2017

Yesterday, on a breezy, 60-degree morning, I competed in the Trek Against Trafficking Race at Duke Island Park in Bridgewater.  Having scoped out the course last week, I knew what was in store for me.  I arrived early enough to jog just about the entire course as warmup.  I stretched fairly well and lubed up with Icy Hot, on account of a being a little sore from cross training (tennis with my new colleagues on Thursday and Friday).   The moderate race was well organized and featured a few stronger runners from Garden State Track Club, at least one I had seen at my most recent 5K race.

I noted the start and finish of the race and was disappointed that it was noticeably longer than the 5K tempo I had done at Duke Island last week.  Here I was against bitching AGAIN about a course being too long!  Shame on me!

At any rate, I settled into the proper mindset and was ready to roll.

The start: Got out well with the top few runners.

Mile 1: Found my rhythm and stayed relaxed.  I tried not to panic as two runners gapped me.    The first runner had at least 20 seconds on me, the second runner, a teenager, had me by ten.  Reached mile 1 in 5:45.  (One GPS shows the mile mark as being at 1.02M, while another shows it as being 1.03). The correct mile? 5:39? 5:42? 5:45?

Mile 2: Headed into the wooded area with several curves and switchbacks.  I could hear a set of footsteps closing in on me.  I figured they belonged to one of the guys from GSTC.  I was right, as he connected with me at the 1.25M mark.  He expressed a word of encouragement, which perhaps allowed me to hang onto him for the next 800 meters.  By the time we reached the two-mile mark, he had me by 20 meters.  I hit the most forgiving GPS-measured two-mile mark in 11:30, the second at 11:37, and the official two-mile mark in 11:47.

Mile 3: This stretch was the same route as the first mile except in reverse direction.  I looked at my watch and said I would go at the 13-minute mark, figuring I had five more minutes of running left.  I knew I needed to push to break 18 minutes, but I was somewhat reluctant about burning my gears.  I had this notion that I could surge and catch up with the guy just ahead.  I surged a little and closed the gap to about 15 meters.  He then responded and pushed the distance back to 20.  I looked at my watch again and said I'd push with 3:00 to go.  Meanwhile, during all this self-talk, though somewhat positive, the guy had doubled his lead on me.  I looked at my watch again and saw the time closing in on 17:00 as I rounded the bend around the lake.  With frustration and disappointment on my mind, I appeared on the road and could glimpse the finish line.  The watch read 17:10 or so, with .2 to go.  I passed the 3M marker on the ground. As I neared the starting line, I saw 18:00 come and go.  About 60 meters beyond the start line was the finish line, which I crossed in 18:22 (5:54/mile pace).  www.secondwindtiming.com/results

One source, http://www.mappedometer.com/, suggests the course was about 200 meters long!  (If this is accurate, I ran about 17:40!)

Another source, http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/, suggests the course was about 65 meters long!  (If this is true, I ran about 18:10.)

(If the course is off by, say, 130 meters, then about 17:55 was my time.).

Rather than live in conjecture, I just need to accept my measly 18:22!

I placed fourth overall and first in my age group.  I wound up having a great conversation with a father and his son, a novice runner who had run 17:52 to place second.  I encouraged him to talk to his high school's XC coach.  Given his time on a modest training regiment, he clearly has talent for running.