9 mile. James Joyce Ramble 10k, USATF Masters Road Championship.
2 years ago I ran this thing under the same circumstances; 13 days after Boston. However, a few variables were slightly different. 2 years ago I was fitter and stronger going into Boston, caught the tailwind and cruised to a 2:33 PR. This year, my training was a little more conservative and I came away with a solid 2:38 and trashed legs, not running a step until the following Friday.
2 years ago, I was 40, now I'm 42 (not really relevant, not really.) Finally, this year just made everyone a little slower, from the little heat, the wind, who knows, but for example, Kevin Collins, who I would say is in much better shape than I was 2 years ago when I ran 32:43, ran 32:48 for the win. Go figure.
So, anyway- we Masters got a 4 minute head start and man, that was a treat in a race with 2000+ people. This way, we had the clear streets all to ourselves and could really race against our competitors.
I went through 1 in 5:04 as it's downhill and then settled in and started to grind a little early. I was just tired, but I had guys like Burdett and Pickelsimer and Nedeau close enough in front of me to make me stick to it and commit to pressing the whole way and just hoping things didn't totally fall apart later.
Mile 2 was a 5:25. From then on, it was just maintaining contact. Right after 3, I passed Francis, who admittedly didn't seem to be having his best race, lucky for me, because when he's on, he's damn near impossible to catch.
At 4.5, I finally passed Erik and, though I was really hurting, I could tell he was too and I just had to try to keep some distance on him because I know he's got wheels I can't come close to. I didn't want to have to kick against a guy who's got a world record in the 4 x 800.
I almost caught 5th place, as he was coming back some, but I just didn't have it. I finished in 33:55, and thought that time isn't quite what I was looking for, on a day like this, I'll take it, as, most importantly, it helped the team to get 3rd place, got me a 3rd place in the 40-44 and was good for 6th overall. Not a bad day at all and I feel great as I write this the following morning. Looking forward to the racing coming up, but realizing also that there's work to be done to get some speed back.
M- 9
T- 0
W- 9
Th- 8
F- 5
Sa- 6
Su- 9
week- 46 miles.
2 comments:
You got to be happy to beat guys with names like: Frank Burdett, Erik Nedeau and Dave Dunham.
Their respective running resumes are awe inspiring.
Oh man, yeah. These are the results pages I'll screenshot and keep like trophies. It's quite safe to say I wouldn't have been near them back in the day, but they're still going hard now, so anytime I get any of them, it's as big as any win for me. They scare me (in a good way.)
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