A major milestone today, Mr. Miyagi.
Today was the day that I beat Matt, one of the top runners here in the valley. A 33:50/2:36 guy. Never thought I would get close to him, let alone beat him. I have been getting fairly close to him lately...and today I passed him on a turn at the mile 4 mark. “A fast field today,” my friend Mike said to me prior to the race, and quickly added, “Including you.” And it was a good field, with both Kevin (14:48 PR), the aforementioned Matt (10 or 11 years younger than I), some unknown fast guy who ended up in second, and Juan (age 29) in the mix. I did my best to follow your plan, and so my aim was set upon Juan and Matt.
So, 27 degrees, hilly (with an uphill finish), and not much wind. Went out trying to keep with Matt and Juan. Of course, some guy who did not belong there kept getting in my way in the first mile or so, throwing off my rhythm. Once I got ahead of him, things started to smooth out. The second mile was very hilly, with some gravel surfaces, and I could see Matt and Juan running side by side, with Grayson ahead. My goal was go close the gap on them and get behind them. It took a while. Juan dropped Matt and then I started to work on Matt. Also, Grayson was starting to crack after the 3 mark (he is my boss’ number 1 xc kid, age 17). At about 3.6, Matt catches Grayson, and I am now on Matt’s heels. So, we both basically pass Grayson. I get behind Matt. I see the mile 4 sign go by, and a turn coming up. I think, “Do it now, or he might outkick you.” Feeling good, I pass Matt, knowing that the last .8 is all uphill. To be precise, rollers with an uphill tilt the whole way.
I started to gain on Juan, but never caught him. I was all too happy to be ahead of Matt and to hear his footsteps fade away. Juan was third, beating me by :08, and I was fourth with Matt :09 behind me. Grayson was fifth and :15 behind me. Times were unimpressive. Mine was 29:25 (5:53 pace). I felt good pretty much the whole way, running 5:48, 6:03, 5:51, 5:50, 5:44. A neg. split and a decent last mile, conisdering the uphill. Still had a bit left in the tank. Finished with a smile on my face.
With snow on the way, I ran extra miles in the cool down. Warm up was 2, race was 5, and cool down was 5. I was figuring with 5-6 inches of snow in the forecast that it may prevent me from running tomorrow, esp. if it freezes overnight.
Just after finishing, Matt said to me: “Your training is paying off.” Some nice words from a fine runner.