So, this race wasn't really on my schedule this year, but it's a new race and one of my customers was sponsoring it.  How could I say no?  I pushed back my marathon training by a week, and agreed to run it.  My training for the last month has been very inconsistent.  I've had bathroom renovations, a week long conference in Pittsburgh, my bachelor party weekend, my wedding and reception, etc.  My mileage was down last month from 150-160 per month to 101.  To make matters worse, my diet had gone into the tank with wedding cake, reception leftovers and lots and lots of beer.  As most of you know, a lot of my progress has been in the area of weight loss.  At my last 10K I was just below 220 pounds.  I used to be 315.  Over the last month, my weight crept up over 225.

So, I was already a bit nervous that this would be my first NON-PR race.  I thought that I still had a shot because I'd been doing more speed work at faster paces.  The weather did not want cooperate though.  At 8 AM there was still a cool mist in the air, and a light breeze.  The clouds were keeping temps down, and it felt great.

By the start of the race, the sun came out and the wind picked up.  The asphalt road dried quickly in a cloud of steam, and suddenly the entire feel of this race had changed.  I don't think anyone in the field has had a lot of opportunity to train for heat and humidity yet.  We're still coming off of winter, and I'd assume that most of us are still getting up early to avoid this situation.  We had two runners go down before it was over, and I don't remember ever seeing someone go down because of heat in a 5K.

THE RACE:  This was LTH's type of race.  YES!!!  We had popsicle stick timing!  The course was measured out perfectly.  My Garmin said 3.1 miles, and the time matched what the race director had within 1/2 a second.  Who needs chip timing?

Mile 1:  The first mile flew by.  We started out on a crushed stone trail, which was really nice until you got a small sharp stone in your shoe.  Minor inconvenience.  Just before crossing the covered bridge, I snuck a peak at my watch.  It seemed like the entire field was still sticking together, but our pace was in the 6's.  I knew that people were going to start dropping off soon, and I might as well get a head start on them.  This pace was no sustainable, and I knew it.  I settled in a bit as we got to the asphalt road.  We had a heavy crosswind that I knew would be at our back after the first turn.  7:34

Mile 2: Shortly after passing the 1 mile marker, we turned left and had the wind at our back.  I thought this would be nice, but it certainly wasn't.  Now, we could feel just how hot it was getting.  With the wind only hitting my back, the air was heavy, thick and humid.  The sweat was staring to poor.  This did not feel good at all.  There were two runners in front of me that seemed to be about my pace, but definitely not my AG.  I glanced over my shoulder, and I didn't have anything to worry about behind me.  I'm just going to hang with these two.  For once, I'm not going to race the clock.  I'm just going to race people.  I'm not going to win the overall, and my AG place is in the bag if I can just hang with these two.  I'm only checking my watch to make sure that they don't completely bonk and take me down with them.  7:53

Mile 3: After another left turn the wind is now directly in our face.  Holy crap, I'd prefer hills to this mess of changing weather conditions.  In my mind, I wish the entire course had been a straight line that followed the direction of that first mile.  Not only do we have wind, have you ever been on a narrow country road that has sharp turns?  They bank those corners so hard, I had visions of tripping and rolling down the banked road to the gravel shoulder.  No cars, so I'm trying to pick angles that make the corner more hill like.  The two guys in front of me are fading a bit, but if I pass them I'm on my own out there.  I glance over my shoulder, and there's nobody.  Let's keep the pack together.  Finally, we turn right and we're back on the path.  Up and over the covered bridge.  I can see the clock.  There is a very slim chance that I could break 24 minutes, but a very real chance of a PR.  8:01

.1: I feel like if I really dug deep I could have gotten past the two in front of me, but I know I'm still just going to be in low 24's and would just improve my overall position by 2 spots.  This weather is miserable, and there's a chance that one of the two notices me and I don't get past him anyway.  There's a part of me that's already thinking about my marathon training.  Oh hell, stay behind them.  :42

My popsicle stick said 20.  They plugged that into my AG sheet, and there's only one other person with a popsicle number on there.  His said 11.  So, I was right.  I wasn't going to improve that position by killing myself, and there were 8 others in my AG that weren't going to catch me.  Well played.

Official time: 24:11.5

2nd/10 AG

20th/130 Overall

Summary:  I've always raced for a PR, and a faster time.  With my spotty training over the last month, and the weather conditions I had to adjust my expectations.  Changing gears mid-race to compete with people was a different experience, that I thought was interesting and fun.  At my last 10K I took 3rd, and was excited to get my first AG top 3 finish.  This was my first AG "award".  So, that was really exciting, and I knew that was a possibility.  I've been stalking 5k times for that area, and knew I had a chance.

This race was for several good causes, and I hope they raised some money and awareness for cancer and autism.  The people were great.  As with most races, I met some really nice people.  Okay, okay, okay...I'll get to the pictures.  Sheesh.

Here's a picture from that first half mile, where we all thought we were going to run it in about 20 minutes...lol  The joke's on us.  It would be a while before I saw some of these people again.

congrats flash!

Dave - I was actually surprised to see that someone finished fairly close behind me, but the feeling of racing people is interesting.  Once we get back to cool temps, I'll go back to racing for time :-)

Traci - That shirt was the topic of much conversation.  One of the volunteers bought her fiance the same shirt.  They're getting married next week.  My wife bought me that shirt for my bachelor party, and we got married 2 weeks ago.  It seems women secretly want to marry the flash...lol

She Can - The covered bridge was very cool.  I wish it were 3.1 miles long...lol  It was cool in the bridge!

Flashwood, yes! Congrats. I need to get my ass in gear, you are leaving me in your dust.

Good job! Not terrible splits, all things considered. The weather has been very tough for a lot of people (myself included) this week and it really does have an effect. Every race is a learning experience and you did a good job with the conditions you were given!

Very nicely run race!  Way to keep your wits about you and be aware.   Congrats on the PR amd AG award!

Congratulations on the AG award, and on the wedding too!  You've had a lot going on, so you were smart to race to your fitness in this race and not try to push it too hard.  Just stay consistent with the training and you'll keep seeing great results.  Good luck with marathon training too!

Great job running a smart race and finishing 2nd in your AG, Congratulations! Thanks for sharing the RR and pictures.