Well, I took the advice here and finally hopped off the treadmill and tried a race. I had been treadmilling to lose weight, and after following all the discussions around here, my interest in racing was growing. Bear in mind, when I told a friend of mine that I was racing this week, he reminded me of something I said years ago, "Didn't you always tell me, 'If you ever see me running, something scary is behind me'?" The staff were great in dealing with a total newb like myself, and before long I had a number pinned on waiting for start time. The weather was overcast, around 48°F, and threatening to shower. I had tested the traditional route on Wednesday, and was surprised (and somewhat relieved) that they rerouted the route to the left at Breakheart reservation, skipping the bigger hills and creating an out and back on the eaiser side of the outer loop to the Saugus parking lot. Having no idea how I'd do, I decided to start at the back of the line-up. It beat's being passed. Some 120 people bunched together for the first 10th of a miles while the fastest racers worked their way forward. I just stayed in the crowd for the first 1/2 mile until things started to thin out and then tried to pick a steady pace. Running solo on Wednesday, and without any experience or guide, I had no clue how to pace and ran quicker than I intended. In the race, you have a hundred different pacers waiting to reveal their pace. I tried to maintain a decent pace and even managed to pass a few people early on, but with 5 minutes left to the turnaround, the leaders were already on the return leg and most people seemed to have found their pace. After the turnaround, I was feeling pretty good keeping pace with the people in front of me, and found myself getting past a few people on the hills, making me wish the course stayed on the original plan - I swear my uphill is quicker than my downhill (running downhill is entirely new as well, very untreadmilly). At the three mile mark, one of the volunteers gave me my time, and I had no idea I was under 24:00. I made one last pass on the uphill leg as it started raining, and then headed on by where DW and kids surprised me by showing up. I made one last sprint to the finish line and came it at 30:32. I was hoping for under 36:00 and was pleasantly surprised to have pulled off an 8:12mm pace. All in all, it was an excellent experience. I've got a red bar in by training log, a t-shirt, and a time to beat for next year. I also stopped by REI and grabbed a Garmin Forerunner 305. I think I'm going to be spending a bit more time outside. Thanks, all.

Good job. You know you are race ready when you are asking for bigger hill.

Wow Russ, that's a great and very untreadmilly job for your first race. Well done! MTA: Enjoy the freedom the Garmin gives you, it's a great training tool.