Lehigh Valley Master's 4.0 RR (Read 262 times)

Go to the end if you want to skip the details. I signed up for this race several months ago. Race day comes and I just didn’t feel like I had anything special going. I’ve been getting the miles in, so I knew I would do OK. Plus, I have a buddy with me that just started running less than a year ago. This was his first race. I just decided to have a good time and see what happens. The course is mostly flat, any uphill being on the first mile. So I figured I’d try to run it as a progression run. A couple of months ago I figured I could go sub 27, but considering how I felt I made my goal 27:30. Got a 2 mile warm up run in beforehand. I ran to the 3 mile marker and back. This enabled me to know what to expect at the end of the race. Mile 1 - 7:08 This is slower than I had wanted. It was uphill, but nothing severe. At this point I’m a little disappointed and unmotivated. I had a breather running next to me for the first half mile. Thankfully, he couldn’t keep up. Mile 2 - 6:51 I was running behind a pack of 5 or 6 runners and started losing a little ground on them. This is when I got annoyed with myself. This was the spark I needed. I caught back up to them and parked myself there. I was determined not to let the 27:30 slip away just because I was being lazy. Mile 3 - 6:39 This mile was almost all gradual downhill. I picked up the pace and got into a good rhythm. The pack was starting to spread out and I was picking off runners one by one. By the end of this mile I had parked myself behind one guy who had separated himself from the rest. Mile 4 - 6:29 I spent most of this mile parked behind the same guy. He tried to pick up the pace a couple of times but I was going nowhere. With about 300-400 yards to go I decided to empty the tank. I surged and left the guy behind. I then noticed that I was gaining fast on another guy. I heard him say “I’ll try”, and it was about a 50 yard sprint to the finish. The guy must have had something left, because I couldn’t quite out kick him. He got me by a second. Oh well, I gave it what I had. I walked back and waited for my buddy He ended up running a smart race, and finished strong in under 38 minutes, I was real happy for him. So I go to the board and looked at the results and I came in 10th. I could have swore that there were more people in front of me. Turns out I got outkicked for 1st in my age group. Damn. I ended up running into the guy again and had a real pleasant conversation with him. Oh, and this was a well run race. They even served eggs and sausage afterward. That was good. Course was well marked and there were volunteers directing you at every turn. I’m surprised more people didn’t run, but this was the first year for the race. Hopefully it will grow. Official time: 27:07 Overall place: 10 out of 90 45-49 place: 2 out of ?? Thanks for reading.