Nordic Berserker
Cool Runner |
 posted Jun-24-2007 07:12 PM
   
If you’re expecting a report of some sort of blazing or heroic effort, don’t look here. Maybe read about Ritz’s 2002 NCAA xc meet or watch a video Goucher’s 2000 5k Oly trials. For this one I don’t even know where to begin, but let’s just say that a lot of things have been going on over the past 5-6 weeks and yesterday just happened to be a particularly distracting day (good in almost all ways, but hardly what you’d recommend to do before one of your biggest races of the year).Fast forward to race time, conditions were good. We had high clouds and mid-60s but it was humid and with a stronger than faint smell of forest fires. Although I had woken up grumpy, the last hour or so pre-race was the most relaxed of all my four Midnight Sun Runs. They spared us a lot of pre-race chatter and the cannon (a howitzer that is subsequently carted by a platoon from the US Army) blew resoundingly at a few minutes before ten PM. I just focused on holding pace, and not getting drawn out too fast, which is easy to do on the first mile. The top end of the field was thinner than in years past and by the mile I was already top 10 or 12 with only a 5:50. By 2 (11:36) it was 5th, running right with 4th! In the past I've been about 15 seconds faster, but 10 or 15 places back.This would not be a normal MSR. Over the next mile I ran alongside a late 30s runner, whom I remembered from last year, when I pulled away on the third mile. This time it was his turn. Pace wise I was right where I’d planned, but the effort was also taxing. Just before mile 3 17:30), I let up, and my 10k pace suddenly shifted into a tempo effort and I shifted from racer to fun runner in just a few meters. It’s not very often I shift down like that, but like OJ’s infamous lawyer Johnny C. might have said, if you can’t find the gear, why grind your rear? I took in the crowds a little, which were pretty staid through the 5th mile, usually with a few families and friends out on their lawns. But the gatherings got larger, more drunk, and rowdier just by mile 5, when a rather large (a good 6’5” and >210 lbs), but very very fit young runner went by. Women were swooning at this shirtless guy. I gave a fight for a half k or so, but he kept it steady so I just went with the flow of the evening. Finished feeling fine, in an unofficial 6th and 36:57 (paper said 5th, so maybe Mr. Studly was a bandit, or maybe a mistake by the paper). So reached my goal to take 1st masters and a top 10 for the 4th year in a row. They're closing in, though! And I was lucky to eke out the boomers W. Although the effort just wasn’t inspired and competitive (or nearly as fast) as it’s been I'm happy to have a full complement of cermaic plaques that hang by the kitchen sink. So maybe it didn’t quite work how I’d hoped (4th or 5th was there for the taking, and if I'd run like I had in past years, top 3 would have been easy) how I’d like, it’s just good to be out there after that back thing a few weeks back and I’ll have other days to put forth my best effort and to run fast.
IP: Logged |
Nordic Berserker
Cool Runner |
posted Jun-25-2007 06:26 PM
Muscle dude in black shorts? He did finish in the chute. Results should be posted tomorrow (:lol: I saw your mention of the stooopid paper you mentioned in your thread. The NM can be rather annoying. :lol  As for the drunks--I'm not against people having a good time, but seeing how this is a family event with literally 100s of unaccompanied kids as young as 8 or 9, not to mention teens, yes a few of those block parties have to rein it in. My kids mentioned that they had to run through a tunnel of people, which they thought was a little 'freaky.' quote:
Originally posted by evanflein:
Always love hearing the report from the front lines.
Yes, Studly Man passed me like I was standing still, I'm sure he was a bandit.
That crowd at mile 5 was out of control... the bad part was running through the cloud of cigarette smoke hanging over that corner... ick. I didn't mention that in my RR. Also, some idiot was shaking his Corona bottle at a friend (I hope it was a friend) as he ran by and got other runners with it. Definitely a small town flavor to this race, but it's getting big enough we might need "crowd control" in the future?
IP: Logged |
