Notably, I was born 28-years-ago on this day so it was cool to wake up and immediately go to work doing the thing I love. I left the apartment on foot with a few minutes to spare to a quiet and cold landscape, but the sun was out and I could tell it would be a nice day to race. I'm a fan of tradition, so I was a little bummed not to be able to take the trail systems like I had the previous three years since moving to Andover as I made my way to the starting line. It wasn't that there was too much snow; it was wet and I didn't want to get my feet wet as I would be spending approximately the next two hours outside and my toes have a tendency to freeze.
I was pretty warm and had to shed a layer around 3 miles into the warm up and for the race I ditched my hat and gloves. And I was wearing long tights and a thick longsleeve base layer which was probably more than necessary as the temperature steadily rose throughout the morning.
Although the race attracts over 10,000 registrants, this is my hometown race and it has a hometown feel for me. The club I have coached for over the past 4 years hosts the event and they do a great job partnering with Dave McGillivray's DMSE timing company. I time my arrival to the starting line to have as little time as possible before the gun because I see 50 to 100 people I know and it's pretty distracting since my instinct is to try and say hi and wish a happy Thanksgiving to EVERYONE. Although there were definitely some guys taking the race more seriously (which I support) I was happy, as I usually am, to chill out and just see what a hard effort looks like on this day.
I had the goal of running about as quickly as I did last year which was somewhere in the 26:40s. Last year I had done that by surprising myself and attacking the last two miles of the course in around 10:10 with my last mile under 5:00. This year I ended up running more evenly with a faster start and slower finish. Francis Cusick* and I ran hard together at New Bedford last year for about 8 miles so I kind of paired up with him for the first few miles, climbing the 120' hill in 5:32. I settled in from there on the flat neighborhood miles in 2 and 3 going 5:25, 5:22.
Getting to the downhill and flat section last year had me fired up to race for home and take scalps. This year I was running well, better than last year, but I wasn't hungry enough, simple as that, to start hammering for home. After the race I was a little miffed that I hadn't given it a better effort. I was actually cheering for runners I knew in the 5k as I passed them by! It was a little too casual in hindsight, but I had fun anyway, running 5:13 for mile 4. Last year I was all-out in the final mile and this year I just cruised, going 5:16 into the finish, for a time around 26:55. I loved Al Bernier's write-up about excuses and this one makes me cringe even as I write it! Not hungry enough? Blech.. Anyway, it'll be fuel for the fire which hopefully will be burning hot this winter as I take to the track...
Happy Thanksgiving to all the runners out there! Here's to winter!
No comments:
Post a Comment