Well I can say I had a great time socializing with all the blogger's that ran today! The race on the other hand.......UGGHH! Let's just say the go "out like a lion" aggressive strategy worked for about 1/2 of the race, and then the rolling hills and in particular the NASTY HEADWIND took their toll and I ended up doing the crash-and-burn pretty bad. I was pleased at least to see that the bloggers who also did the race last year were quite a bit slower as well as those who did Painters this year. At least it makes me feel better about blaming the wind. However I must say the women bloggers seemed to have great PR efforts despite the conditions. Kim had an amazing blowout PR performance, shaving 7 minutes or so off her Painters effort finishing in 1:58:35. Josse also did very well, improving on her Painter's effort by a few minutes finishing in 1:32 something. Does this mean the women handle the wind better than men? Or perhaps more likely just reaping the rewards of stellar training over the previous couple of months. Good job!
Ended up officially with a time of 1:25:43 (garmin says 1:25:36, don't know what's up with the extra 7 seconds). Third place in my age division and 4th overall master's, although with the 2 guys ahead of me in AD I ended getting awarded 1st in AD. I'm a bit angry at myself for letting a few guys pass me over the last few miles that I had passed earlier. In particular Bill Cobler who is in my AD and who ended up just beating me by 30 seconds or so to bump me out of top 3 overall masters. Have to see if I can return the favor next time :) Even though fellow FRB runner Andy B also passed me after I died, I was pleased to see him have what I think was great race and great time. Andy ran a lot smarter than me, next time I hope to be wise like him and pace myself a little more intelligently. He didn't have a watch so had to run completely by feel so maybe there is a lesson to be learned there. Except for the wind the weather was actually pretty nice, especially the first 6.5 miles. Very little wind at first, temps around 40, almost perfect. But then the ugly wind had to come and be the spoiler. So here we go with mile splits and commentary.... 1 - 6:00 Feeling good, but probably too fast as this first mile although net downhill actually had a bunch of uphill maybe .5 miles worth. Ran with Andy most of this mile. 2 - 6:13 All is well for the next few miles, I pass a bunch of guys.
3 - 6:12 4 - 6:15 5 - 6:13 Miles 5 and 6 are supposedly downhill but they sure seem pretty flat to me.
6 - 6:12 7 - 6:21 OK this is where we turn right, downhill is pretty much done and now we have hills and the STINKY HEADWIND! Wheels are beginning to wobble. 8 - 6:29 Not feeling to good, trying to hold 6:30 or better. I take a GU.
9 - 6:52 Wheels start falling off now, guys I passed earlier are passing me back :( 10 - 6:59 Not a happy camper, also I'm not very near anyone so feeling a bit lonely. Lacking in motivation.
11 - 7:11 Over 7 stinks bad, want to just be done. 12 - 7:11 About the same as 11 13 - 7:00 Notice I'm not breathing that hard but I can't coax my legs to go sub-7 :(( .1 (.07 on garmin) :23 (5:58 pace) Was I really able to go down to sub-6? If so means I wimped out on earlier miles. Still need to work on mental toughness down the stretch. So I was first quite disappointed but after seeing what experiences other runners had (except for the women) and seeing that the Sasha race predictor still says this gives me 2:52 at SGM I'm upgrading this race to OK. It was great to meet and socialize with the bloggers. Kim and I, Silvie and Brent, and Mik'L and Clyde were all staying at the Red Moose Lodge and we were able to hook up Friday night for some dinner and chat. We also rode up to the race start line and back to check out the course for those who hadn't run it before. All the blogger folk seem like really great people in addition to being amazing runners. Clay and Cindie were also staying at the lodge but didn't get in until late so unfortunately we weren't able to talk too much with them other than a little before and after the race. The FRB elite racers rocked and showed up all over the leader board as usual. Good job guys!
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