Notes
I've been having strange experiences in racing lately. My last 3 races prior to today:
1. Best race of the year - 5 miler
2. Got lost off course a half mile from the finish. DNF.
3. Last race I had my worst race of the year - 5K.
So today's race followed the trend of expect the unexpected. This was the Turkey Day Classic in Framingham, MA. This race has special significance for me as it was here in 2005 that I ran into Hovey after not seeing him for 20 years or so. A re-acquainting of one of my closest friends from the past. The guy who wasn't a runner when I knew him in high school now has me hooked on the Boston Marathon!
So I met up with Hovey, Barry, Dave and the Stephs for the race. Dave and I went out together and we locked into a nice rhythem, hitting the first mile, (slighlty short - .99) in 5:52. right away I knew this was going to be so much better and faster than the last race. We started up a hill about 1.5 miles in and just before we reached the top. about 10-15 runners that were ahead of us were coming back! This whole group went off course. We all turned around, went back down the hill and got back on track. When this happened I was disappointed and lost my focus for about 20 seconds, but then I just thought to 'run hard' no matter what. Dave had pulled ahead of me. i didn't catch him until the last 50 meters along with Barry who did the right distance.
The results were all messed up. The first 2 guys who broke from the pack ran a 5K. After these guys to about 6:20 pace runners ran about 3.3-3.4 miles. Everyone after that was a 5K. After not running for 5 days, Mike was happy with his race. Barry was also psyched as this was his first race since his injury. He has been out since Boston. Even though this race turned out so very bizzarre, iIam happy with it because I was running well and having a great run. I have seen a lot running, but 20 or so runners off course is something I've never seen before! I don't know my actual pace but I estimate it around 6:00.