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| The Finish (Jon Sinquefield just a few seconds back) |
MRTC RRS 2nd HALF
DATE/TIME: 20NOV2016@ 0700
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RACE COURSE Singleton Way
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Total: 13.1 miles
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1M -6:52.1
2M -6:55.7
3M -6:50.9
4M -6:51.1
5M -6:54.8
6M -6:40.4
7M -6:35.8
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8M -6:42.0 Put the hammer down
9M -6:35.2
10M -6:42.6
11M -6:50.1
12M -6:52.1 Rolling Hills.
13M -6:51.4 Give it EVERTHING
13.1 -0:26.4
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Narrative:
- Keep Haskins in view
- Pace smart on the 1st ½
- Attack on 8
- Left it all on the course
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Overall
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Gender
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Age Group (45-49)
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Award
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Official Time
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Pace
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Bib
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3th of 628
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3th of 285
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1 of 54
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3rd Overall
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1:28:38.62
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6:46
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984
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HEART RATE MAX: 178/215 BPM
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Cadence 202 Avg/225Max – Avg Stride length 1.18m
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TEMP/WEATHER: 30°F at Sunny, 86% humidity
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Shoe
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Nike 2015
Free 5.0 Pink
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Attire
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Nike
2inch shorts, Nike Dry-fit Pink “Breast Cancer” shirt, Nike -
High-Compression socks
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Timer
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Garmin
225 Forerunner
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Injury/Ailment
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Twinge
right hamstring, Left calf, both Achilles.
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Saturday
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Ran
Breakaway 10miler in 8:20-ish.
Spaghetti pasta dinner. Slept
Early after UW Husky blowout.
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Pre-Race
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Got
up at 4:45AM. Singleton Way is very
close to my home.
I
was already packed. Got in a
bottle of water and Granola bar. Got
to the race site at 5:50. Rested in car
until 6:10 for my warmup with my dog Rouge. Ran my usual slow 2miler. Saw
my Haskins, the person in 2nd place in the Age Group Series (45-49) who was only 19seconds behind the series time. We wished each other luck.
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On
the Line
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Saw
the usual characters. Spotted Haskins ahead of me in a yellow neon
shirt. Thanks I though, that’s easy to
mark. Gun sounded and counted/waited
5secs from when Haskins started. “Okay,”
I thought, “that gives me 25secs. Here
we go.”
I
didn’t want to look at my watch. This
was not a race for time, it was going to be about effort and the WILL to get
it.
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1-5
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Super-racer J. Maglasang
was gone immediately at the gun. My friends Zucker and Adrien, were grouped together with Haskins. They
were up on me by 50 yds. At various
marks, I’d count when Haskins passed to when I would pass. He was around 25-35sec on different
marks. I was picking off runners. About 10 people were ahead. I even passed Schwaller (a very fast runner). "I must be doing pretty well," I thought. I wasn’t suffering. The group of three looked so far away.
By M4, their group started to break. Adrien
was dropping and I caught but did not pass him. I paced him instead.
I’ve
run with Adrien many times on Breakaway Saturday practice runs. He has a knack for slowing then
resurging. So, if I kept pace and
relaxed, I knew he’d lead me to Haskins.
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6-7
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At the Half
way point Adrien and I were only 30sec
away from Haskins.
We got back to Singleton and Haskins was a chipshot from
overtaking. I was gaining but didn’t
want to rush it. I slid to within
10yds of him. Once we got to the
4-way stop, I let out a War-Cry. Not so
much to announce I was going after him, I needed to pump myself up.
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Mile
8
“The
Pass”
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Haskins
never looked back. Even with my yell,
he didn’t look back. But he did a few
things that perked my interest.
He kept grabbing his left side.
He also kept looking at his watch.
Two indication that he might be physically
or mentally off.
I
had already surged ahead of Adrien and matched pace with Haskins for a good ½
mile. But when it seemed he was in a
lull and looked at his watch again, I counted 1, 2, 3 and put the hammer
down. I did not want him to realize
what just happened or respond. I
wanted it to be dominant and in complete surprise.
As
I passed him, I gave a respectful nod and he just said, “Go Get It”. I didn’t look back. In fact, I saw Zucker’s red shirt only a
few yards up. He was my next target.
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9-11
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I needed a target. Just passing Haskins would not be
enough. If I just relied on the pass
as my victory, then Haskins could come back.
I need to keep the pressure on myself.
Zucker was fading. I don’t know what if anything was wrong with him, but around mile 10, I had him.
As
I looked into the valley, I realized there were only two other people in
sight. Someone 100yds in green and
someone about 1/2mile away. The green shirt was fading and in no time, I
passed him too.
I
was getting cheered by my friend Beth who was volunteering at a waterstop. But then I hit a deadzone where there was no one in front of me or any volunteers ahead. It got lonely and my mindstarted
to question if I could hold this. They
guy ahead was way too far. I was
starting to slow and I knew it. My
mentality was fading with my speed. Was
I “Done”? That’s when I heard another person's voice. “Jesus Christ Rome! Great Run”.
My heart was about to drop.
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12-Finish
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I’m
a StarWars guy. A favorite scene is
when HanSolo backs-up Luke at the trench to blow up the Death star. Today mine came in the form of Jon
Sinquefield. I was so surprised he was
there. He’d later tell me he was with
me since M5 and pacing off me.
Don’t
mean to get religious or mystical. But
Jon was a gift from God at that moment.
Karma in action. Just a month
ago we raced at the Greenline Half Marathon where he won in part because of our pacing each
other to mile 6.
It
was if today he returned the favor. We
would pick each other up with encouragement through the pain.
I didn’t want to look back (jinx), so
I’d ask him to look for me. He’d give
me marks. By the time we got to the
last hill climb, I asked one last time. He
said, everyone was dropped.
I had delusions of running in hand in hand with Jon. However I ran faster to get to the finish to make the pain end sooner. I was at full max effort, my lungs were caving-in and legs burnt out.
I
went full sprint at the 13 sign. When
I crossed, I raised my hands in exaltation.
I had just won my age group for the series. I left every ounce of effort on that course.
I was 3rd overall for that race but more importantly, I had increased my Age Group Series lead from 19sec to 1min39Sec. Haskins would finish this half-marathon 1m20s after me. When Jon finished, I hugged him and thanked him for pulling me through that. In fact, I hugged everyone up to the 10th finisher for their effort. It was such an Honor (and I mean HONOR) to race that race.
I
got to the water truck and talked to Haskins for a minute. I said that he pushed me to be the best I could be. I congratulated
him for both this race season and his NY 3:16 run he just ran 2weeks prior to this race. I knew it was tough for him and it was a
superman effort to do this in such a short time.
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After
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I was spent and didn’t stick around. Grace collected me into the
car. I just wanted to get home. I was exhausted.
Beth messaged me, telling me I looked very strong when I passed her, although in all honesty, I was probably jelly when I saw her at the waterstop.
I
went straight to bed after a shower. I
woke up. It took me a
bit to realize what I had just done. I
couldn’t believe it because at the beginning of the morning, all I had was a
strategy but not necessarily the belief.
It wasn’t until the action that I started to believe. Then I fully executed the plan. Low and behold Success.
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