A crazy start
I tossed my clothes in my car got my bib, I only had time to get in about a half a mile warm up. I did a few sprints and then lined up for the race literally seconds later bang the race was off. 10 seconds into the race a car pulls into the race course. The car was confused and just sitting there so I was one of the first runners to go around on the driver’s side. The car then flips a uturn and almost runs me over, to avoid the car me and a few other jumped off the road and ran through the bushes. When I popped out on the other side my adrenaline was pumping and I was flying. I looked around and I was probably in 10th place. I looked at my watch and I had run 5:50 pace for the first 0.2 miles.
Mile 1 – 6:20 Avg HR 177
The rest of the mile I tried to relax and find a sustainable pace. A lot of this mile was slightly down hill and this was an out in back course so I knew that I would have to run back up this section to finish. The course for the most part was clear but every once in a while patches of ice reached across the entire path. 6:20 pace over ice is a scary proposition given my recent track record over ice. Most of this mile I was getting past by people since I went out to fast.
Mile 2 – 6:24 Avg HR 183
By mile 2 all the passing was over and I was now with the people I would run the rest of the race with. I was feeling pretty tired already and this mile really hurt. My breathing was still out of control and I was afraid that I had ruined my race by going out to fast. My foot that has been having problems was starting to complain, not good. I seriously felt like the train was about to come off the rails.
Mile 3 – 6:32 Avg HR 184
As you could probably tell things were still getting worse. We turned around at 2.5 miles which didn’t do much for my mind. I kept thinking only half way done… that first half really really hurt. This was the low point of the race I felt like I was about to turn it off and jog back at 8 min pace. We crossed the creak and started heading towards the finish. Not much longer and I could hear yelling “Go Allen!”, “Your doing great keep going!”. It was coming across the creek from my teammates. I was exactly what I needed when I needed it.
Mile 4 – 6:27 Avg HR 188Remember when I said we had about 15 people running the race. Well each one of them was yelling and cheering for me from across the creek at various locations. My mentality flipped and I was thinking only 2 miles left no big deal. My foot was hurting a lot and my quads felt destroyed but I knew I could hold the pace. My breathing was out of control but still it didn’t matter I was a man on a mission and that mission was finish the next 2 miles under 6:30 pace.
Mile 5 – 6:26 Avg HR 188Coming into the last mile I was actually on 6:10 pace for the first half of the mile but this section had some up hills. All my friends were gone now and I was on my own but their encouragement was still propelling me to the finish line. When I came around the last turn I could see the finish line about two blocks away and I sprinted to the finish (see pic below). My wife and some coworkers that weren’t running the race cheered me across the finish.
Post raceI have purposely stayed away from this distance for a reason. This was not a PR but I am going to call it a non teenager PR or post weight loss record (still working on the name) any ways in need to have two sets of PR’s. I believe that this was mostly likely my best race of my adult life.
Official time 0:32:09 (6:26 pace, Avg HR 183 Max HR 194)
24th place overall out of 700
2nd in Age group out of 36 ($15 gift card to the running store)
1st finisher on our team and made them proud, they paid for my entry and I wore their shirt (I am sponsored!)
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