Tonight was the inaugural running of an 8K in Orchard Park NY, to benefit Brian Moorman's P.U.N.T. Foundation, benefiting kids battling cancer.

Moorman (formerly of the Buffalo Bills) actually ran, which was very cool.  (Being the punter and arguably the best player at your position on the team means your team is a hot mess, but that's another story.)  Rian Lindell ran also, but Moorman beat him .

The weather was awesome, sunny and low 70's with no wind on a course with some gradual rolling hills.  The course left a sports complex on a mostly rural road, looped into town, and went back out, finishing with a long, mild uphill straightaway before turning back into the complex to finish.

Prerace walkaround turned up Ray, whom I had just raced last week, and Dave, a former XC teammate who has since become one of the fastest guys in Buffalo.  OK, no pressure to win now, Dave is on a much higher plane and can smoke me at will, any distance every time.  Just run my own race since Ray is one AG down.

A conservative pace went out from the gun, and the lead pack was roughly 6 guys, most of whom I was not familiar with.  A few of the tougher hills were on mile one and I hung back as a guy in green slowly took a 30ish yard lead on the rest.  Oddly, no Dave.  I assumed that he was lurking behind the pack somewhere and would suddenly drop into a low 5 min/mi pace to destroy the rest of the field.

As we approached 2 miles, the green guy who had been quite far ahead suddenly fell way off pace.  Ray went past him, I went past him, hearing the telltale gasping for air of a rabbit.  Well played, sir.  Most rabbits die earlier.  Ray had now opened about 40 yards on me and was running strongly.

A few more guys slowly faded away, and by 3 miles I started listening for any "good jobs!" behind, and wasn't hearing anything.  The pace had picked up a little since the first split, and now I was really mystified by the absence of Dave.  If he was going to tear out of nowhere, he would probably have to do it soon.  Otherwise, I was running a solid and lonesome #2.

On to the 4 mile split.  No Dave.  WTF?!?  Ray was still well ahead of me but I felt great, and decided that I wanted to run a fast last mile and picked it up.  As we came into distant sight of the last turn back into the complex, I noticed that Ray was not quite so far ahead.    My first thought was to just coast.  Ray was running well, I had beaten him when he was sick last week, he should take this one.  Then, a more diabolical part of my mind said "dude, make it race."

Creeping closer, ever closer.  I started to time where a move would be made, laying it out just inside the last turn where there were maybe a few hundred yards inside the complex to the finish.  Spectators started yelling, and now I wasn't yet kicking but running at an uncomfortable pace to close the gap.  Inside the turn, 40-50 yards had become 15.  10.  Drop it.

I think Ray had no idea that I was closing until it was too late, which was exactly the plan.  He's got wheels and would probably outkick me if all other factors were equal;  but I had gotten the jump.  In the lead for maybe 15 seconds, but they were the last 15 seconds, and Ray finished :04 behind me.  The finish line spectators were going nuts.

After collecting myself, I walked over and congratulated him on a great race.  28:36 was just enough.

Watching finishers come in, Dave finally appeared, pacing a lady friend.  Talking with him afterwards, he has a race on Friday that is included in the Runner of the Year series, which he is vying for, and so will focus on that.  I didn't really win, Dave just didn't race.

3 in a row, this is surreal.

Moorman is in my AG and at the awards ceremony, shook my hand and said "I have something to shoot for next year".  I think he was serious, haha.

Sick fast.

Great RR!!

Wish we had 8K's out here.  

Nice report and congrats on that finish!

Punter is the best player?  That does not sound good for your team, lol, if he's the most active one on the field!  Maybe he'll get less activity this year.  One can only hope so, right?

I missed this the first so I am glad it was bumped.  Congrats on another win!

I had no idea who Moorman was, or the Buffalo Bills, and what is punting anyway? But because I like you Jay, I googled all this up.  Ah! Football... yes, of course... But who cares about this guy? What is truly exciting is that YOU were there and YOU ran such an exciting race! What a fantastic runner and racer you are! Well done, young man. Well done...

Damn.  You are the man, Jay.

This is one of the best RRs I've read on here. Great race and great RR Jay. Exciting as hell to read.

Jay, what an exciting race.. It's like I am there with you.. Awesome run!