It's me against Meb! (Read 687 times)

10k race tomorrow! Just found out Meb Keflezighi will be running the race as well this year. It's the head to head matchup the whole world has been waiting for--me and Meb, mano y mano, the 6.2 mile battle royale. We will put aside, for the time being, the fact that he will probably be finishing while I am somewhere between miles 3 and 4. This may just be the race where I bust out a sub-5:00 pace. Granted, I have never run faster than 7:00/mile ever, but it could happen! Wish me luck; I'll try to remember all the little people when I make it big!

Despite all my best efforts, I am afraid to report that Mr Meb bested me in this morning's 10k... I did run a PR by almost 5 full minutes (granted it was only my 2nd 10k ever). However, my 46:18 finishing time was not enough to overcome the sub-28:00 times posted by Meb and the other elites. Meb actually finished 4th; the race was won by Kenyan Duncan Kibet in a time of 27:52. It was fun though--Meb brought his wife and daughter, who is absolutely adorable! It's the first race I've ever run against what could be considered a world-class field, and I finished in the top 17% (818 out of 4839). I felt pretty good: I went out pretty fast but managed to hang on, even through two late-race hills. My goal was under 48:00, which I did and then some! I also was only a few minutes behind Joan Benoit Samuelson. Granted, I am half her age and she was running it "for fun" at a slow pace, but still. Next stop--Maine Marathon October 7th!

Just run 5 a PR by 5 minutes each time and you'll get there! Good race! I beat my own 10k PR from last year by almost 10 minutes, last week. Had there been a reasonable # of water stops I'm certain I would have beat it by closer to 12 minutes. k

Wow! Congrats! What race was this?

one of the good NZ women runners, Jess Ruthe was over there - i think she was third? Congrats Peter - good job on your race

Ah hah, didn't notice this thread before asking how you did in the B2B thread! I didn't realize Meb would be there until I saw him warming up as I was jogging to the start (I park at the high school)...I didn't think it could be him until I saw him again later w/his singlet on and realized it actually was. He beat me by over a minute per mile! He even beat Pat Tarpy by a minute and a half, and Pat is one of the best runners in New England. (I am one of the race directors for the New England Mile, and he recently was the first native Mainer to run sub-4 on Maine soil at our race!) As for running behind Joannie, that must be better than running next to her. First, you don't have to feel as belittled because more people cheer for her and ignore you, and second, you don't have to worry about getting punched by an Olympic gold medalist! Not that she did it on purpose; I just like telling the story. It's hard not to love Joannie! I'm glad that she got to run again; this was only the second time she's actually been in the field for the Beach to Beacon.