Location: Greenville, SC
Date: December 4, 2010
Placing: 3rd Overall
Format: 5k Running Race
My Race Photos
Results: Click Here
Check the run on Garmin by clicking HERE

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!...well, maybe not according to the calendar on your wall but this weekend was the start of my 2011 racing season. That's not entirely true. In an effort to keep things new and fresh, I decided that this year, I would have a "pre-season". All the popular sports are doing it. I figure if I have a pre-season, then I don't have to really be on my game yet. I can always do poorly and then proclaim that I was protecting my "first-stringers" or that I didn't want to show my entire hand prior to the "real" season. Plus it gives me time to juggle my coaching staff (just kidding, RK)

The first of my 2 pre-season races was the Paris Mountain 5k. This is the sidekick race to the prestigious Paris Mountain 20k race - which literally goes up and over The Mountain. It's been a few years since I've done the 20k and I hated having to miss it this year. I had a good number of moderate-length runs in my legs, but my recent ankle injuries at the end of this past season still had me a bit nervous about running down a steep incline for that length of time. It's a shame. Not so much because I thought I might do well, but because I look real funny when I run downhill. No. REAL funny. Take how funny I look when I run on the flats and triple that.

When a race is small, local and inexpensive I usually don't pre-register. From the looks of it, a lot of other people go by the same system. Between the two events, there were over 600 entrants. Quite impressive. I guess maybe word got out that I would be there. I mean, it certainly wasn't for the weather which was a little chillier than expected. To be honest, it really was nearly a perfect temperature to race in; just not so perfect for jogging over to registration, making clothes changes at your car or sunbathing.

There are several things that take the edge off at an early season race and one of those things for me was seeing a lot of my friends that I hadn't seen in a while. It may not have been a super large group of people but it was definitely diverse. Aside from pure runners of all ages and abilities, I spied quite a number of triathletes. My warmup felt somewhat like a speed dating service as I would join up with one friend for a minute or two before parting ways and running into another friend. I probably jogged around in my heavy gear for a good 3 miles or so before returning to my car to 'strip down' to my racing outfit. As the name implies, my warmup had done exactly exactly what it was supposed to do and I didn't feel too bad in shorts, a long-sleeved top under my singlet, and gloves.

I finished my final bit of warmup with fellow Masters runner, Joe Hammond. Several of the Greenville Track Club Masters were out today as a warmup for next weekend's National Cross Country Championships in Charlotte. Joe and Dan Shelby assembled a great group from our club and we're hoping to have a good showing there. Joe is a great runner who just finished 3rd overall at the Spinx Runfest Half Marathon and I hoped that I would be running well enough to give him some competition. I really decided to run this event to make sure I wouldn't embarrass myself next week.

I watched Joe - and several others (myself included) almost fall forward on the front line when the starter said "runner's ready"...and then gave an unusually long pause before declaring "GO!". Quite humorous watching as runners lean forward as if they are about to fall off the edge of the earth. A hundred watches beeped and off we ran. In the first 100 yards we went around a roundabout which was problematic as everyone squeezes to the inside. Even with a smaller group I found myself trapped. Ironically, it was behind Santa Clause who was somehwere in the top ten. This would have been more disturbing had I not known that Santa was actually Ed Hughes - yet another great Masters runner.

A glance or two at my Garmin told me that I was well below my prescribed heartrate and that it was moving up rather slowly. That's a good thing. We finally came out of the huge roundabout and I gently passed the small group that seperated me from 4th place. The runner in first left the start line like he was shot out of a cannon. It was obvious after the first half-mile that this was probably a race for 2nd. I was now in 4th and the sounds behind me diminished. I had reached my heartrate of 151 and was holding it there amazingly steady. Now I can hear just one runner breathing off my shoulder as I close in on 3rd place. That runner was Joe. He came around me and my first thought was "looks like it's gonna be Joe's day". But after he passed me, he settled into nearly the exact same pace.

So it was my turn to spend a few hundred yards behind Joe. He was holding the exact right pace for my heartrate. It was almost as if he was reading my heartrate and adapting. Shortly before the 1-mile mark, we passed 3rd place and the two of us came shoulder to shoulder. We would run that way for the next mile and a quarter. We had passed mile 1 at 5:30 and neither of us was flinching. At the start of mile 3, we hit a short, steep hill and I was thinking that Joe might punch it here. Instead, he and I stayed as steady as ever as we tempoed up the climb. We hit the top and surprisingly, that's when it all "went down".

The "Windmill". That's what it's come to be known as. I think it started years ago when I would do the Fleet Feet night runs. I found I had this knack for being able to 'let my body go' on the downhills. I always surmised that it came from my cycling. The heavy pounding that downhill running does to your legs doesn't seem to bother me much after years of cycling. And of course, the only way to really let your legs go - is to let your arms go. Ergo...the "Windmill". It's not a pretty thing to watch and at times it can be quite scary, but who wouldn't look a little like a dork just to move up one place in a race?

I put the windmill in full swing down the other side of the hill and put a gap on Joe of several seconds. I didn't realize how many seconds I had gained at first and thought he might run right back up to me, but I couldn't even hear him so I just kept the pressure on. I was in the final mile now and allowed to take my heartrate up to 158. It was an effort (as it should be). I never thought of looking back, I mean after all if I am running at the correct heartrate what good is it going to do to look back with that much time left in the race? Either he is catching me or he isn't. Having said that, I most certainly looked back as I approached the finish because once you are within sprinting distance of the banner, all bets are off.

I was glad to not see Joe out of the corner of my eye but knowing that Joe is a great sprinter I wasn't going to be comfortable until that peice of tape on the ground was behind me. 3rd Overall. 17:36. Pretty far from a PR but a worthy time considering my circumstances. The real blooper of the day is what happened immediately after I crossed the line. I walked around for a few seconds, bent over and caught my breath (by the way, no hacking! Looks good for the asthma). When I finally turned back around, there was the next place runner handing over their timing chip. No, it wasn't Joe. It was Kevin Mosteller. A sub-2:40 marathoner and typically a leader at events like this. As soon as I saw him the realization set in that he was not in front at the start - even though we saw each other before the event.

It turns out that Kevin - who had been at the race site since around 5am because he was the co-director of the race - had forgotten his running stuff!! He raced back home. Parked about a half-mile from the start and literally ran up to the back of all 300+ participants as we took off. He had spent the better part of 2 miles finally weaving through the masses and then focused on Joe and I. He finally passed Joe in the finishing straight and finished just 4 seconds behind me. Wheeew! I thanked him for giving me 3rd place today and we had a good laugh about it. I was really hoping to train for the Boston Marathon with Kevin since we are only a few minutes apart on our marathon times, but the fiasco that was the Boston registration this year kept him out of the race. BUmmer for him AND me! Just one more year and Kevin will enter the ranks of Masters running.

A great "pre-season" run for me and I'm as excited as ever to race this year. I've always fought the idea of comparing myself to "other old people" instead of just everyone, but I'm starting to relax that just a bit. Oh, I'm still all about competing with the young guns but now it's more of a self-actualization for me. I hear myself saying to myself "can you believe a 46-year-old can do that?" Sometimes even I have trouble fathoming it.

Race Notes:
* Team Fleet Feet teammates Jon Stoehr and Brandon Southern took 2nd and 10th respectively in the 20k.
* Greenville Track Club Masters runners that will be racing in the National Championships next week took 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th in the 5k. In addition, Ed Hughes (also participating next week) finished 14th dresses as Santa Clause.
* Keith Brown - a friend and co-worker who only recently got into being active - was the lead cyclist for our race. We might have spent some of the day together had it not been for the speed demon winner.
* No "team photos" today. My "team photographer" slept in. I don't blame her one bit.

Next Up: Masters (and Club) National Cross Country Championships. After that, a barrage of running events in January including 2 half marathons.