Running In Place

First of all, I need to give a shout-out to cool weather! I don’t think I had a clear sense of just how profoundly heat and humidity affected my running until I had this beautiful opportunity to run without it. Autumn racing is going to rock!!

This race was held in conjunction with the annual Woodsmen’s Days. You wanna talk about a workout - come watch these men and ladies chop, saw, and climb trees! It’s Fear Factor in flannel and Timberlands. There’s no eating of cows’ eyeballs but plenty of greasy steak sandwiches to go around.

The run started at 6PM so I was able to sleep with no alarm clock and putter around most of the day. It was cool and overcast all day, and when I left the house the temp was 68F with a slight little bit of humidity and a good breeze. I arrived at the high school and picked up my packet and while I was waiting around at the start the wind really picked up and it was darn chilly. We were all wearing short sleeves or tank tops and everyone was shivering! I actually thought about going back to my car and getting my jacket! Evidently, all this heat has de-acclimated me to anything below 75F! There were maybe 50 runners and I took my place at the back. The race director announced that there was a “violent storm” moving in our direction and expected to show itself in about 1 1/2 - 2 hours. He said that in the event that the storm moves faster than we run to just get off the road and go to the nearest house. Being a small town, it’s pretty safe to say that if 5 or 10 runners showed up at anyone’s door they would be welcomed in for coffee and pie without hesitation. The director then set off his car alarm as our starting gun and we were off.

Everybody shot off the start and I immediately found myself bringing up the rear, with the sweeper truck hot on my heels. There were a couple people a few yards ahead of me, moving at about my pace but everyone else was really off and running. I didn’t mind being last and I really didn’t want to go out too fast just because everyone else was moving quickly but it was really hard not to try to keep up. The first mile was flat and I was really working hard and hoping I wasn’t making a big mistake. As we passed the first marker I looked at my watch - 10:23. Uh oh.

I kept on pushing because I just couldn’t bring myself to slow down and a short way into the second mile things started to smooth out and I could feel myself hitting a stride. This is also where the course started to roll - nicely roll - some good ups and downs but not the intense steeps and longs of a couple of weeks ago. I kept up my pace and closed the gap between myself and the man and woman who had been keeping just ahead of me. She was moving at a nice, steady pace but he was struggling and kept trying to rocket past us on the hills. He didn’t sound like he could sustain it much longer. I passed both of them in mile 3 and was feeling great! I was powering up the hills, maintaining my pace, working hard but feeling strong - wow! Is this really me? In the 5th mile I really started to feel the confidence that I was not going to crap out and that I still had enough in me to really race this. I passed a lady on a hill who had been pretty far ahead of me the whole while but was now really struggling. Next in my sites was a guy who had been motoring along at a pretty steady pace and I wondered if I was going to be able to catch him. Then I saw his t-shirt. He was wearing the race shirt from that miserable 10K in June!! And I thought well, this is providence! I am going to run my best 10K by reeling in this dude who represents my worst 10K. I’m gunning for you buddy! I mean seriously, how symbolic can you get! It took awhile to overtake him but as we headed into the last mile I came up on him. We exchanged a few words and I did not tell him the whole reason I was passing him - just wished him well and left him (or more specifically, the past) behind. The last mile was pretty well flat and there was one last guy in my sights, though he was still a ways away and moving along at a strong, steady pace. I really had my doubts about catching him but I poured it on and, lo and behold, in the last tenth of a mile or so, I made my move and managed to get by him. I had a good kick for the finish too! Official time 1:04:32!! That’s an average pace of 10:25! That’s almost as fast as my 5K PR pace (though that was all the way back in May).

But you know, the real pleasure for me was that I ran a good race. I put myself out there and gave it my all, even though there were moments I was afraid to, and it felt great! I know it doesn’t always work out like that but that doesn’t matter today

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One last thing - if any non-runners who ever go out and cheer for runners are reading this, thank you so much for coming out and giving encouragement when we need it most - BUT - At least you’re not last! is not only not motivating, it’s actually kind of insulting and hurtful to all of us back of the packers, especially the person who is last and who is doing as great a job as the person who came in first! I’m sure you don’t mean it that way but for the future - Way to go! and You’re doing great!!will be much more appreciated. I, and some of the people behind me (though presumably not the person who was last) got this shout of “encouragement” at least 3 different times.

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Ok, next up: New Haven! I can’t believe it’s just a couple of weeks away! I’m putting in an advance order for some more nice, cool weather so there will be some serious RBF rocking on those courses!!