What: KC Zoo Run
When: Saturday, October 5, 2013
Where: Kansas City, MO
Distance: 4 miles
Goal: Sub-30:00, if everything went right - sub-29:00
AG Placement: 3 out of 74
OA Placement: 50 out of 1,931
Finish Time: 28:00

I wasn't sure how I would do at the race this morning. During a 5 mile run on the morning before the race, I felt miserable and my legs seemed to have no pep. Because of that run, I did not have high hopes for the race. Since I signed up for the Blue Wave, my main goal was to come in under 30:00 since that was the cutoff time for registering for that wave. Secretly, I was hoping to come in under 29:00. The weather was near perfect, 54F and overcast with a 5-10mph breeze. I have not done any fast running so I decided I would go out fast and try to hold on. The first mile was downhill so I went out fast, but made sure to stay controlled and not expend too much energy. I managed to finish the first mile in 6:34. The second mile was mostly flat, but had some gentle inclines and quite a few turns (IIRC). I was starting to breathe heavy and finished the second mile in 7:01. The third mile had the two significant hills of the race and I really felt it during this mile. My legs felt great, but my breathing was real ragged. I just focused on keeping two guys in sight that might be in my AG. I finished the third mile in 7:42. I saw that I had sub-30:00 in the bag, but I might be able to go sub-29:00. I dug deep and started to pick up the pace. I was closing in the two guys that I wanted to pass. I passed the first guy relatively quickly and he didn't try to go with me. The second guy was moving well so I decided to bide my time and plan the pass. With about a half mile left I decided to take a chance and make the move. I pulled up along side him and saw that he was struggling. I dug deeper and sped up some more. He tried to go with me, but soon I heard the footsteps start to fade. At this time I was closing in on some young kids who were part of a XC team. They might have been middle schoolers at best. The finish line was just around the corner and I started to kick, but then I pulled back a bit since I was way ahead of my goal and I didn't want to do the douchebag thing of passing little kids right before the finish. I then saw the clock was at 27:57 and turned it on some more. I crossed just after it turned to 28:01 and was spent. I finished the last mile in 6:43.

I am very happy with the results and set a new CR for myself by 1:14. This is my fifth time running this race and my times started at 35:53 in 2008 and dropped to 29:14 in 2012. It was a great day for a race, I placed third in my AG, and got a cool looking small penguin plaque as the award. It was good to see that the long distance trail running has not really hurt my speed.

Eric

Congrats on a well-run race and a course PR, as well as on getting third in your age group!  Fantastic job, especially going into the race with tired legs!

Great job, RabbitChaser.  Congrats on the AG hardware!

Way to light up that last mile after faltering a little for the 3rd.  Not an easy thing to do.  And that was kind of you to not pass the young kids. 

Man keep this up and you may knock ten minutes off your first race there!

very cool all the way around...and a plaque too....nice description of the race...congrats on the cr!

Oski - Thanks! It starts outside the zoo but then goes inside.

meaghansketch - Thanks!

Damaris - Thanks!

Jay - Thanks! If I had realized that I was so close to going sub-28, I may not have been so nice.

PADRunner - Thanks!

LRB - Thanks! I'll need to actually start incorporating speed work to get there, but I think it can be done.

LTH - For some reason, that reminded me of one of the dumbest movies, Halloween III - Season of the Witch.

Ric-G - Thanks!

Taperrrr - Thanks!