Gasparilla! It went well today. If you told me a year ago I'd be happy to run 53:42, I'd be "unhappy". But it's this year, and I'm good with the result.
I met Charles and Mike ahead of the race and we ran about 3 miles to warmup. A bit more than intended, but those guys are so awesome to run with I didn't notice our mileage until the race was about to start.
Mike and I planned to run 5:45 miles. For Mike, injury not withstanding, that is no big shakes, but he was sick and I was glad for the company.
We clicked off the first couple miles right on pace. It felt pretty easy and I wondered if I was sandbagging the race (spoiler-not!). I heard we were in 30th place, and there were definitely a lot of people up there. It's a Gasparilla tradition to go out too fast, so I knew a lot of them would be coming back. Still, it felt a little weird to see so many people in front. After the first mile, I didn't get passed again.
That said, a lot of people ran well today. Best weather for Gasparilla in years, neither humid nor windy. Just 55-60 temps, really nothing to hold you back.
By mile 3, 5:45 pace no longer felt easy. At the mile 5 turnaround I was really starting to work. Mile 8 I slipped off, but on the 9th mile I came back. Still, the last .3 I could literally not breathe, and I crossed the finish line and began dry-heaving. A race official approached me with an slinky bag, anticipating actual vomit action. That was an interesting first experience. I think I ran today as hard as I ever have.
I've tinkered with the idea that lower miles might be an interesting recipe to experiment with. I think this race definitively answered that question.
I can run 30-32 200s on 10 miles a week or 100. But for distance events, after the initial miles, the difference is the mileage base. I came up against the limits of my training at mile 7.5 today, and it was not pretty.
If I choose to put on a certain set of goggles, I could feel bad, running a lot slower than last year. But more realistically, this is the best I have run in months, and I was able to match my pace against my goal and stay in control. Now I need to take this momentum and roll it forward.
I'm really grateful for my teammates that help break down the race pressure and mindless mileage in our weekly training. I got to spend time hanging with them post-race and that community is my second family.
It was very cool to meet Tom K from the blog on the bridge post-race. The sense of humor and camaraderie in his writing transfer in person. West Coast! Florida yeah!
I have a nagging question to answer: at 42, have I ran my fastest times? Nothing happened today to put off the Grim Reaper, but I don't think I lost ground either.
I think I still stand at a point where my fate is in my own hands.
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