I'd been thinking of doing this race for some weeks, but didn't know what kind of shape I'd be in (coming off a piriformis problem and a muscle pull), so I didn't preregister. But by midweek last week, I decided to go for it. Friday (the day before the race) a good friend showed up at our door (a surprise, arranged by DW), and instead of stying home and taking it easy, we all went out for dinner.Our friend is a martini drinker, and when he ordered one before dinner, I did too (and it was delicious!). I also had a glass of wine with dinner, so, clearly I wasn't taking the race the next morning all that seriously. DW asked my strategy going into the race, and I told her that I was just in it to have fun, since this was my very last chance to race in this age group. There was a light, steady drizzle Saturday morning, and the temps were in the upper 40s - pretty good, actually! This race course is flat until the last 1/4-1/2 mile, when it goes downhill, uphill, and then a slight down and up again to the finish. I got there early, got registered, chatted with a bunch of people I know who also showed up for the race, and slowly got into my warm up routine. By 15 minutes before race time, the rain had stopped, and the skies lightened just a bit. I was in navy blue shorts, white shirt, Brooks bright yellow cap and Asics Hyperspeeds. I lined up in the 10-minute pace area, being optimistic about my speed for this race. As is typically the case, I expected to be the only racewalker in this running race, and so figured I'd just find some runners to key off of for pacing, once we got going and settled in to the race. The gun went off, and I took off, reminding myself of all the things that I needed to do to maximize speed: head up; fast turnover; good hip rotation; strong arm swing. I got into a good, comfortable pace, and heard someone call out 10:45 when I passed the one-mile mark - cool! Just after that, a tall guy came up on my left shoulder, and he was walking! So, of course, I picked up my pace a bit to stay with him. All of a sudden, we were side by side. He wasn't going to get away. Then again, neither was I. We both knew each other was working, but neither wanted to give an inch. At 2 miles, I fell of the pace by a couple of strides, and my new partner/competitor told me to tuck in behind him and stay with him. Gratefully, I did that for a few more paces, but then wanted to get back in the game. So I caught up to him and we were side by side once again. He surged, and I caught him. I surged, and after a couple of strides he was right back with me. We just kept dueling like that, not really seeing anything but the road in front of us and each other out of the corners of our eyes, and not hearing anything but our own and each other's breathing. We got to the hills, and were side by side going up them. We turned the corner, and to the last down and up to the finish. He surged big time, and I couldn't match it. I was about 5 paces behind, not losing any more ground, but not making it up either. The finish came and he crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of me. In the chute, and after we both caught our breath, we congratulated each other, thanked each other, and introduced ourselves. Cleveland was his name, and he was visiting from the Bahamas, and decided to enter the race because he always walks on Saturday. We were both surprised and grateful to find another walker in the race, and glad that we pushed each other to have better races than we would have had otherwise. My official time was 32:35, which gave me a 10:29 pace. Considering that this was my first race since February, and my first 5K since last summer, I was pleased with my time. I knew, of course, that I was a lot faster than I would have been if Cleveland hadn't been there. I also wondered exactly how my night-before martini contributed to my race. I was out to have a good time, and I had a great time - I didn't care that Cleveland had beat me because the fun of the competition weighed far more than which of us finished in front of the other. It was one of those fantastic race experiences that I have been fortunate to stumble upon every now and again, and I will remember it for quite some time to come. Thanks for reading. - Jay

Thanks for the great repost coastwalker. I loved reading about your "battle" with the other walker. Your pace walking is faster than my pace running. Yowsa

Sounds like a great race! How often does that happen - dueling walkers? Congratulations on having a fantastic race experience, that is what it is all about! huskydon

Jay, great race and the fun was in the duel. Marj and I had martinis last evening, but we didn't race this morning. However, we ran 4 miles and biked 10. There may be some hidden power in those drinks.

Nice way to return to racing Coastwalker! Way to go! I loved the duel play by play and could feel the adrenaline surge even while reading. Perhaps a pre-race martini fueling strategy is just the ticket. Thanks for the report. CNYrunner

I'm always impressed with how fast you walk - nice racing!