Prior to the race I counted up all of the racing I have done on this course. The five times at the 12 hour run are a mind meld. Add the recent Miles for Music, previous Fools race, Road-end-run race, and the old Run for Rhett course and today will mark my 173rd and 174th racing lake loop. No wonder I am a little bored of it.
Its a Fool race and I think it will be funny to wear an old bright yellow Pacer shirt from the CCM. I also put on a Club Oly beanie. So fun to see Bill wearing the same thing! We did not plan it really. Bill has lost a lot of weight, beat me by a minute here a few years ago, and should be close today.
So many helpful volunteers and so well organized. No lines at packet pickup, despite a record number of runners. We start right on time. I did get in a decent two mile warm up. Cool and windy. Cloudy and sort of damp in the air. I need to keep moving before the race to avoid the chills.
Start - I end up starting right behind Bill and we are near the front. Off we go faster than we should, but not so bad. Bill is ahead and I will let him go if he gets much faster. Soon enough he settles in and I catch up and run next to him.
Mile 1 - Feeling great. I did not look at my watch at this split though. The big thing about this course is that the paved and gravel trail, while wide, is open to the public and lots of people come here to run, walk, jog, walk their dog, or have a family outing walking with their dogs and completely blocking the route oblivious to the fact that there is a race going on. This would be a PR course if not for the human and dog obstacles. I have accepted that this is how it is here and take it as a challenge. Right now I am behind four young racers who are slowing a bit, Bill at my side and coming towards us are two people walking a dog. I make my move, passing the four and dodging the pedestrians and dog. Pleased with my pick up I am able to go pretty fast before settling back to the pace I was at before.
Mile 1.3 - Tammy sighting. She is volunteering and as she yells for Bill, I know that he is right behind me.
Mile 1.6 - Into the wind. Around the bend. Over the bridge. Onto the grass bit. Speed up on the sidewalk. Feeling like I can pick it up at any time, but not for long. A little surge to get past a guy. Now lots of 5K walkers and slow runners that I am lapping. Keep up the pace and happy to see that I am at 7:25/mile, faster than last week.
Mile 3.0 - Looks like I will beat Bill. Final sprint to the finish and no one is close enough to catch me at that speed.
Finish - 3.1 on the GPS. Really happy to be about 25 seconds faster than last week. Everything felt good today. Now it is cold. I grab a sweatshirt, jog over to Tammy and watch the others come in. Seems to be getting even colder. We walk back to the finish area. Hot coffee! And Muffins! Lots of snacks. And the results are ready so quickly. Lots of raffles but I do not win. I do get a first in age group water bottle with two gu packs inside.
This ends my third week of trying to run over 50 miles each week. I ran 56 the first week. 53 the second week. That week I felt tired and cut my run short on Friday. The Saturday 5K went fine but a little slow. This week I decided that 50 might be too much. I took off completely on Friday, plus the usual Wednesday rest day. After the race today I end the week with 47 miles but a faster 5K time. I did not quite make that goal, but I did average over 50/week during that time. Average weekly mileage since January 1st is 43 miles, way higher than any previous three month period. No race next weekend, then three marathons in three weeks.
22:46
17th of 304
Race#352, 5K#91, RLaF#3
*****
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