Pre-Race Injury Week: Slight pull of the right quad on tues. or Wed., hoped it would get better before race day. Ran an easy 4 miles Friday morning, stopped several times with a shooting pain. During our drive to Moab, decided to switch to the 5 miler, hard decision, tried to look long term. When we arrived at Moab (hotel), spend quite a bit of time with Sylvie massaging the quad and me massaging her upper hammy with hut tub time.
Pre-Race Day – Nice morning for the race, warmest I can remember at the start. We met Paul and Bethany before the race wandering the same trail as us. Paul and Bethany are such nice, great, people. Amazing that one of the of the top 20 long-distance runners in the county is at the start of the 5-miler, likely known to only a few runners. Running is pretty darn amazing where average Joes, like myself, get to talk running with one of the top runners. Nice to meet Bethany, great smile and seemed a little worried before the race. Not to worry, she would run great. Races can be nerve racking for any runner. Once the gun goes off, just do your best.
Pre-Race Warm Up – Ran ½ mile down the road to the start with Sylvie, did about three short striders to see how the quad would feel? Soon found out that I needed to stay up towards the ball of my feet and work the quad more.
Race Start – lost track of Paul and Bethany before the start. Sylvie was right next to me; we were about 5 rows back. I knew it would be a slow starting, as several young kids were up on the starting line and in the first few rows. Also, a Native American running team (warriors) about 10 of them were also on the starting line. It took 4 seconds to cross the start line. Sylvie is much better at working thru traffic than me. I finally got free after about ¼ mile and passed Sylvie shortly after. Also, Sylvie is fast on the downhill.
Mile 1 – 6:38 split – (my Garmin time) downhill mile, likely the fastest mile of the 5 miles. This mile was about right on as planned, no quad issues, as the second mile had the dragon hill (Chad’s name for the hill), needed some time in the bank. During this mile, settled into a pace trying to stay in contact with a Gray male gray haired runner ahead of me. It appeared he might be the only one in my division ahead of me.
Mile 2 – 7:15 split – Darn, gave some time back to the course, 15 seconds gone to the dragon. (Keep working on those hills). Hill note – passed 4 runners on the hill and had no one pass me. (Felt good about that).
Mile 3 - 6:58 split – This mile was kind of a gut check – slight head wind as we came out of the canyon, under the road with a little uphill, followed a slight cresting hill. I really worked hard on this mile to stay close 7 min. miles. As I hit the three-mile marker I could hear two runners right behind me, one woman (3rd woman overall) on one guy. They got right behind me and were pacing off me. This kind of irritated me, did a strider pickup for about 15 seconds to get them off my tail. I have not done something like this in a race for years. Luckily, was able to recover and get back on pace.
Mile 4 – 6:52 split – This mile is a faster mile with gradual downhill an turn towards the home stretch. I had the male behind me pass me at the turn. The woman also passed me just after the water stop. I decided to stay right on her heels as long as possible and return the favor.
Mile 5 – 6:47 split – I stayed on the young lady’s heels as we make the turn for home. As we were headed for the finish, about 200 yards left, I was on her right, just a half step behind, and she was running me into the fence. At that time, slowed down one step and moved to her left and gave it everything I had to the finish. I don’t know if it was race tactics on her part, or she was just trying to make it to the finish. Anyway, geezered the 3rd woman by 3 seconds. She did give me a high five at the finish, and said good race.
Post Race Finish Line – I did not stop my Garmin when crossing the finish for a few seconds, race results had me at a net 34:22 and gun time of 34:26. I think the official time was off by a few seconds. I will call it fair with a 34:30. Funny thing happened, old geezer thing. Four of us guys all finished within seconds of each other. One guy asked us what division we were all in, we were all in different divisions, we did almost a football huddle and did hands on top of each other, this one was for the old timers. I hurried back on the course to run Sylvie in, she did not need it, she saw me before I seen her and was running great, especially considering her injury.
After the race – came back after a shower to see the results, Sylvie was 4th and by some darn luck, I was 1st. *Note, the best 55-59 runner that day was in the half-marathon, Lloyd, he beat me at both the 5K and 15K at the SLTC series. So, never get too excited about 1st, just as easy could have been 10th. Glad to have ran hard and got 1st as it means that I do not need to enter the lottery next year, auto-entry. Paul won his division and would have won the half or 5 miler if he were injury free. I guess Paul skipped Benjamin as he moves down the blogger PR list, as I was his victim that day. Good to see him coming back from the injury. Talked to Cody, Paul and Bethany in the awards area. Cody ran a great race 1:18 on a very tough, non PR course, Bethany ran great, she just started running in October. I expect to get chicked by her some time in the future, but, she will need to work hard to make it happen. | 