Race Report: MRTC RRS 2nd HALF

The Finish (Jon Sinquefield just a few seconds back)

MRTC RRS 2nd HALF

DATE/TIME: 20NOV2016@ 0700

RACE COURSE Singleton Way

Total: 13.1 miles

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

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

Narrative: - Keep Haskins in view - Pace smart on the 1st ½ - Attack on 8 - Left it all on the course

Overall

Gender

Age Group (45-49)

Award

Official Time

Pace

Bib

3th of 628

3th of 285

1 of 54

3rd Overall

1:28:38.62

6:46

984

HEART RATE MAX: 178/215 BPM

Cadence 202 Avg/225Max – Avg Stride length 1.18m

TEMP/WEATHER: 30°F at Sunny, 86% humidity

Shoe

Nike 2015 Free 5.0 Pink

Attire

Nike 2inch shorts, Nike Dry-fit Pink “Breast Cancer” shirt, Nike - High-Compression socks

Timer

Garmin 225 Forerunner

Injury/Ailment

Twinge right hamstring, Left calf, both Achilles.

Saturday

Ran Breakaway 10miler in 8:20-ish.  Spaghetti pasta dinner.  Slept Early after UW Husky blowout.

Pre-Race

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.

On the Line

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.

1-5

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.

6-7

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.

Mile 8 “The Pass”

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.

9-11

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.

12-Finish

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.

After

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.