As expected the hills kicked my butt. Mile 1 - Not bad since it was a downhill stretch and a turn up Main St. I got stuck at the start behind a bunch of walkers and had to work to get up to a running pace but once I did it felt good to let gravity pull me out of the pack. The real runners were far ahead of me and the walkers were a bit behind. This mile finished with a turn into a gradual long climb.
Mile 2 - This was the mile of hills. The long climb started in Mile 1 continued and I was puffing quite hard when i hit the top. The course had only a block before it turned to a shorter but steeper hill. My lungs needed to catch up and I walked up the hill and ran down the other side right into another steep hill. Walked and ran through this one too. Mile 3 - This was mostly downhill to give up all the altitude achieved in miles 1 & 2. Again I opened up my stride a bit and tried to let gravity help out. One final hill at the 2.75 mark took us up to the level of the finish line and I slowly trotted up it. It was a straight slow incline to the finish line. I was going to make it! Just as I was closing in on the finish line a college aged man passed me. For some reason this irritated me and I picked up my pace to keep up with him. He heard me coming and increased his pace. At that point I took it personally and began sprinting. My strides were huge and my arms were pumping when I raced passed him. He tried to pick up his pace to match mine but fell back about 100 feet short of the finish line. That was my personal victory of the race. The clock read 39'40" as I crossed the line. Just short of my 40 minute goal.
They had a nice free brunch after the race and I pigged out in the warm cafeteria. I stayed for the awards announcement just hoping to hear where I placed on the overall rankings list. They never reported any times from any of the winners and I was completely shocked to hear my name announced as the 3rd place winner in the 40-44 category for men. I can only guess there weren't too many men in that age category running the race. Whatever, I was happy to accept my little bronze medal to make my day extra special.
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