Notes
3rd Annual Hoops for Life 5K presented by the Aldridge family. Each year this race gets bigger and better and this year is no exception. Over 600 "registered" runners/walkers and probable 40+ additional bandits come out for the "Sahara" cause. This year's version promised to be possibly the fastest field assembled in a 5K road race in the Cape.
I know most in the field and it includes 4 collegiate runners, this year's HS XC Runner of the Year and a whole basket full of top level Master's runners, one who ventured down from NY State and has a National resume as long as his leg (and he is tall), including several podium finishes in National competitions. Everyone is jacked up and ready to race as we stand at the starting line. Brian Jannin leads us off with a great pre-race prayer then a young lady sings the National Anthem to the delight of the racers. RD "Rising Force" Shannon Aldridge is true to his word and begins the race right on time; The crowd of 600 plus is off and moving promptly at 8:00 a.m. Brandon has offerred to run me through the first 2 miles of the race prior to going back to run his sister Hannah in on her first 5K road race. Nice of him. I have gone over the race strategy with him and he is aware of the first 2 splits we are looking to run.
The starting "Yell" sounds and the pack is off. And they are out like a shot. As we round the first corner onto Perryville Road there are probably 25 people ahead of us. I tell Brandon "Let them go for now" and we jog up the first hill nice and easy. As we crest this incline and move down toward our first crossroad and up the next Perryville hill we move out to the side so as I check the guys I am looking to keep an eye on, mainly Mr. NY and Bryan K. We begin to move toward our real "race pace" as the PV/CR junction is the .35 mile mark. Both of my key guys are ahead of me as we move up Perryville hill #2 and onto Bertling. Mr NY is out fast and BK is looking to settle into his pace already. I move past NY halfway up Bertling and as we hit the crest of Bertling glance at the garmin and realize we are right on pace for a solid but comfortable first mile. Brandon and I have passed other runners coming up Bertling and now sit in 6th place at the top of the hill.
The fabulous 4 collegiates are already stretching it out and BK is about 7-8 seconds ahead of us. I plan to check my first mile split then move into my 2nd mile split pace. Mile 1 = 5:46. A few seconds quicker than I wanted but not disaster. Settle in and turn the corner onto Old Sprigg Street with a pack of 3-4 guys right behind us. We have ratched up the goal pace to 5:3X for this mile as this section of the course is the easiest and has only three little "rollers". Brandon glances back at the 1.65 mile mark and tells me we have dropped the group following us down Bertling.
We run by Red Redinger and his Lil' Reds with their water guns at the 2 mile mark. Folks behind us will be liking a cooldown spray from Red Inc.; Split 2 = 5:33 and 11:19 elapsed time. Ahead of projections by a few seconds and going to try to hang on now as the heavy work is about to begin. Brandon turns back at the 2.1 mile mark and I move forward as I am slowly pulling up to BK as we come up to the Old Sprigg/Lexington turn. Never have beaten BK and know he is running on few miles the past few weeks due to the birth of his daughter. Still want to beat him if possible. Pull beside and pass him as we come to the beginning of Lexington Hill.
I work up the hill and am hurting at the top but know there is still .5 miles to race. Focus on getting up the next hill on Lexington which is essentially the last, but difficult, hill on the course. Can feel myself slowing and wondering how much I have on BK as well as Matt P, who has an ass-kicking finishing kick. Turn into the Park and try to push down on the gas. Samar Z is at the 2.9 mile mark and encourages me as well as telling me "they are coming hard". I know this as I can "feel" them back there. 3 mile split = 5:57 with elapsed time of 17:16. I dig down again and begin my 47 y/o kick. With about 80m left Matt P catches me and essentially blows me out of the water. I keep driving hard as I don't want BK to also pass me. Finish in 17:51 and, I believe, in 6th place. Last .11 mile in :35 seconds. Improve on my 2010 finish by 47 seconds. Hooray!!!
About as good as I can race at this point. Wanted to break the 18 min mark and hoping for a top 10 finish so both goals achieved. Also had in the back of my mind of breaking the "old" Hoops record of 17:55. Icing on the cake.
Bram runs well and finishes under 20 min this year, a whopping 50 second improvement from his last Hoops effort in 2010. Solid, impressive time on a tough course. If not for the NY National elite, he would have again crushed the GrandMaster's field. CBEM has a great showing today.
My wife finishes in under 45 min. She did great as she has difficulty dealing with the heat due to her asthma. She even "kicked it in" at the end of the race. Hannah wins 1st AG in her first-ever 5K race with 25:xx finish. If she wants to work at is, she could be very good. She was excited to place. Brandon did a great job running with both myself and his sister and it was appreciated.
Winner runs a 15:56 with Chris Losman in second place. Eric Schott runs a strong 3rd in 16:02. He probably ran 80 miles this week. Amazing top 4 finish times.
The Hoops course is not certified but it is accurate. I age-graded my time of 17:51 at 47 y/o and it is an 80.68% mark with an age-graded time of 15:59...... I still lose by 3 seconds on the age-graded scale to Alex Z....... but very, very close to the fabulous 4 today on an even playing field. Hope to continue the ride into this Fall on some flat courses with some cool temps and see what transpires.
***I need to note that our friend from NY, at the age of 54, with a finish time of 18:46 and a corresponding age-graded time of 15:53 and 81.2% mark becomes the age-graded winner of the Hoops4Life 3 run. He lives up to the pre-race hype. Very impressive indeed.
Interesting..... 4 people ran 80%+ graded times on one of the most difficult courses in MO.