Notes
My goal today was to simply get under 22 minutes if possible. I had no expectations at all so whatever happened was fine and it was just fun to be around the guys for an hour or so. I warmed up for about a .5 (6 minutes tops), stripped down, and was ready to roll. Gun goes off and a group of about 5 guys take off together. Greg M, E, Doug, Dave McCall, and another guy. Tall Dave just behind them and L Boogie and I mostly running next to each other. I knew Lance was hurt so I figured I would try to stay with him as long as possible. About a minute into the race, I look down and notice my pace is at a 6:04. Wait, what? That’s not right. The watch is not running. My attempt to start the watch apparently was lame so the thing never starts. Now I have no idea where I am, or how fast I’m really running but that’s fine. I figure I would just try to worry about the pace and run 7s. Thru 2 miles (of my new and f’ed up distance somewhere between .1 and .2 behind the real clock) I’m running about a 14 flat. Not horrible for where I am in life. Tall Dave keeps getting further ahead of me and I hear chirping from time to time over my left shoulder. I know that red headed fucker is trying to play mind games with me so I lock into the music and just try to hold it together. At one point I notice the watch says I’m running a 7 fiftysomething. Fuck. I keep expecting L Train to go flying by me but it never happens. I guess the fact that it looked like he was warming up with one leg had something to do with it. I pass the road to Mt Hope and try to pick it up. The pace continues to get better as I get closer to the finish. With 100 yrds to go some woman I don’t know picks me off and starts to pull away. I’ve got the crew of guys who have already finished watching from the sidelines and L Train behind. For the pure sake of pride and being chicked in front of the crew I get a “No fucking way” surge of energy and catch her, and pass her. I don’t slow until I know I have it in the bag and then ease up a little. In retrospect the pushed helped because now I’m under 22 as hoped. Otherwise it would have been a bit of a bummer. I go through at 21:57 (which is later confirmed thru the official results). Coming through the finish I get an overwhelming urge to throw up. This has only happened to me a couple times but I really thought I was going to hurl. Jaime hands me a water, and I try to not puke. About 10 seconds later I’m fine. 7th OA and 3rd in my AG and I’m not in shape.
It was nice to run in a race again based on all the personal shit and the craziness in the world the last 5 days. It felt normal. The trip to the motherland, and the many H-O-R-S-E games with my nephews helped too.