This was a special race for me for
two reasons. One, it was the first 4 mile race I’ve ever run.....a guaranteed PR. J
More importantly, however, it was the first time I’ve seen FrankS, who lives in this area, since the 1997 MCM. For those
of you who don’t know who Frank is, he’s an old time forumite who now posts mostly on the Merv Competitive forum.....the
spot on the internet where all the serious folks from the RW Competitive Forum went when RW changed their forum system. Frank
is known as the conscience of the Merv Forum. He’s an ex-Florida 800 meter champ, a serious student and advocate of
the sport of running, and a heck of a nice guy. He’s also the only fellow forumite I know who is older than I am. J Frank has been very helpful to me in planning my racing while down here. He sent copies of the Florida Race
Place publication to me before I came and has been giving me good tips on where to run (and eat!)
in St. Pete Beach, where I’m spending the winter.
The Race for the Pies is a small,
local race with a twist. Age bracket winners are awarded a pie in addition to a very nice medal. (The medal design was the
first I have seen that had a replica of the T-shirt design imprinted on it in color......I saw Frank’s J) A good variety of pie types were provided from which winners could chose.....apple, lemon, chocolate,
peach, and others. A pie was awarded to each of the first three finishers in every 5-year age category from 14 and under to
80+. That’s a lot of pies! Still, there were more than 20 pies left over for random awards. In addition, there was one
huge pie, about 3 feet in diameter, from which everyone could have a piece. In keeping with my goal of losing 15 pounds, I
passed on a piece of the big pie.....then won a pie as a random prize. J
The weather for the race wasn’t
very good. Mid 70's and very humid at race time. There was a fairly stiff breeze, which would have been very welcome for its
cooling effect, if it had not been a head wind going out and tail wind coming back. The reverse would have been better. The
race was run through a housing development which proclaims itself to be an “Equestrian Community”.....even a couple
of the course marshals were on horseback! The course was good. Out and back with only 4-5 turns and completely flat. OK, so
there was one incline of about 1/4% for a couple hundred feet. J
I’m planning to race as many weekends
as I can while in Florida through March as part of my 10k training program. These races are intended to be my second speed
workout each week. However, I’ve had a light week of running this week. Today was only the second time I’ve run.
(I’ve been pre-occupied with sailing lessons all day every day this week and just haven’t had the desire to run
in the evenings afterwards.) I did get in an 8 miler Wednesday that included 12x440 at sub-5k race pace because I didn’t
want to skip speed work. My plan for this race was to run it as a tempo run in 35-36 minutes (8:45-8:50 per mile.)
I
asked Frank before the start what pace he planned to run and he said about 9 minute miles. (He is faster than I am by about
30 sec/mile, but is recovering from a thigh injury. He stopped running completely for several weeks and is just starting back.)
I decided that it would be a good, conservative idea to stay with him for the first mile or two and then do my own thing,
faster or slower than him. The fact that he had me pushing my warmup a little harder than usual should have been a warning
to me, but I ignored it.....that was mistake number 1.
We started out together. But within
a couple hundred yards, Frank eased out in front of me by about 30 feet. I maintained that spread and thought it was because
he had eased back a little. Then we passed the first mile marker. He in 8:05 and me in 8:08.....mistake number 2. Oh, well.
So much for this week’s race plan. It worked just as poorly as last week’s when I wound up running an all out
race instead of a tempo run. J
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to
hold that pace, which was faster than last week’s 5k pace of 8:10, through the race distance under today’s weather
conditions. So, I eased off a little bit. My splits the rest of the way were 8:23, 8:33 and 8:21 for a final time of 33:25.....about
2 minutes faster than I had planned to run.
I finished 4th in my age
bracket. Missed winning a second pie as an age group award by a little less than a minute. That’s OK. One pie is enough
to eat. J
BTW, Scott, there was no pie throwing.
J
Jim2
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