Notes
Hoops 4 Life 4 today. Have run 3 of 4 of these races and, although benefits a great cause, do not like to race this course as it is a total beatdown. After having some cooler temps last year, it is a scorcher today. Over 550 people come out to raise money and awareness for pediatric brain research. Brandon's best friend and running partner Eric Schott is looking at breaking the course record of 15:57 but will have to do it as a solo effort as no one else will be within 75 seconds of him with Brandon taking it easy by running with me through most of the course.
Have a plan going into the race. Brandon and I are using this as a long run day and we put in 5+ miles pre-race with the plan on doing an additional 3-4 post-race. I will set the pace through the first 3/4 mile and attempt to get to the top of Bertling hill at about 6:10/mile pace then let Brandon drop the pace down to around 5:35-5:40 through the middle portion of the race prior to hanging on through the last mile of hills. He will help me up the last major hill then take off for a fast .50 mile at the end of the race.
Looking to relax on the first 3/4 mile of this course then start rolling through the middle of the course on the basically flat middle 1.3 miles. The first 3/4 mile of the race and the last mile of this race is a series of tough hills. Wanting to run a sub-19 min race without beating my legs up too badly.
We stand at the starting line and I am surrounded by the Zoughaibs and Doc Mooch. Shannon A announced twice over the intercom to keep the front line free for the sub 20 min racers so expecting all three to set PR's today. The gun sounds and everyone is out like a flash. Up over the first hill and Brandon and I are in about 16-18th position. There are two women and most of the HS kids ahead of us along with the adult contingent. I tell Brandon "You won't win this race blasting up the first two hills but you sure can lose it by doing so"....Travel up Perryville hill and move onto Bertling double inclines. Finally pass the lead woman (who ends up running a 19:15!) and still have about 10 guys ahead of us. Glance at the garmin and at 6:05 pace coming up to the 3/4 mile mark. Close enough. Tell Brandon we will go when halfway down the hill. We creep up on the pack as most of them are coming back to us and when we crank it up we fly by all of them. Someone says "see you guys later" as we move past the group and into 2nd/3rd place behind E, who is already about 45 seconds ahead of everyone else.
Brandon gets a little chippy and we find ourselves running at 5:00 pace; I tell him we need to slow this down. Hit the one mile mark at 5:56, mostly due to the last 200m "sprint" during the last portion of the Berling hill decline. About a 120m later we are still at 5:15 pace as we come to the corner of N. Sprigg and I tell him "5:40" pal. We settle into pace and come through the two mile mark in 11:38 for a 5:42 second mile split. The heat is getting to me and I feel myself slowing but know really only need to get up the big hill with the gap we have created between the rest of the crowd. Brandon encourages me up the hill but I am fading badly and am not going to kill myself to finish the race. Tell him to go ahead and take off right at the crest of the hill about 50m from the Sprigg/Cape Rock intersection. He moves ahead and I watch him pull away.
Work my way up the second to last hill on the course and move into the park. Hit the three mile garmin mark at 17:59 for a third mile split of 6:21 - Ouch. With the finish line now in sight I decide to quit feeling sorry for myself and cover the final .10 miles in 29 seconds for a finish time of 18:28 and 3rd place overall behind a couple of active Division 2/1 xc runners. I will gladly take it and was really surprised at how far under 19 min I finished. Nate Martin was 8 seconds behind me and probably would have caught me with a slightly longer course. AJ and JW finish 18:50/18:54 respectively. I think those were the 6 finishers who were the sub-19 min guys today.
Overall a good race effort and am hoping I didn't beat my legs up too badly as I am at the end of my first build week and dont want to torch my legs till the end of the third week. Missed my CBEM training partner as he would have created havoc in the 50+ age group but, as he is whooping it up in TX, others were able to move up in his age-group division.
Eric Schott ends up running a solo 15:55 and sets a new Hoops course record. Will probably stand until either he or Brandon decide to take it lower in the next few years. Brandon ends up putting almost 40 seconds on me in the final 800m of the race...... I guess that is why he is running at the Jr. Pan American games for Team USA next month. Toni finishes the race although very hot and probably dehydrated. I went back to get her and brought her some cold water/powerade. We have decide we are both going to volunteer next year and watch the runners from under a shade tree.
Hoops Director tells me the next day their two day total money raised for pediatric brain research will top 25,000 dollars this year. Incredible. Lucille Packard Foundation will be glad to put that check to good use.