Another beautiful day for a race. Another flat, fast course. Another well run race. Another second-running-life PR. Another age group award. Florida racing is getting boring. J

 

The Meadow Pointe Classic offered both a 5k and a 10k. And it wasn’t necessary to decide which you wanted to run until reaching the 5k point of the race. However, I decided a few days ago to run the 5k. I’ve alternated 5k’s and 10k’s for the past 3 weeks and plan to continue to do so for the next two weeks leading up to the Azalea Trail 10k on March 27.

 

The temp was in the upper 60's at race time. A little warm, but not bad. Sunny. Very light breeze. It was a loop course that meandered through the suburban community of Meadow Pointe. Perfectly flat. Several turns. Mile markers every half mile and splits every mile.

 

I ran 24:28 (7:52 average pace), which is a second-running-life PR by 20 seconds, and finished second in the 60-64 age group. My splits were 7:47 for the first mile, 7:55 for the second, 8:46 (7:55 pace) for the last 1.1068 mile.

 

The first mile was a little faster than I wanted it to be, but I was able to hang close enough to the pace for the rest of the race to get a good time. Mostly, it was because a half mile into the race a guy who looked like he might be in my age bracket eased past me. I didn’t know for certain if he was in my age bracket, or even if he was running the 5k or 10k, but I decided to use him as a pacing tool and, if he was running the 5k, to try to not let him beat me. We ran together for 2 miles. Mostly, we ran side by side. Although, sometimes he would take a stride or two lead and sometimes I would do the same. I think we both knew we were pushing each other. Finally, I eased ahead of him just before the 2 ½ mile point and never saw him again. I just hung on to the pace fearing he would appear again and out kick me to the finish. I don’t know who he was, or if he continued on to complete the 10k, but he helped me to a PR.

 

I saw FrankS (Masters and Merv Forums) at the race. He was with a friend and didn’t run. But, I’m very glad he was there. I locked my car keys in the trunk of my car, along with my wallet and money. L Only the second time I’ve ever done that. Frank helped me to solve that problem by pretending it was his car and calling his insurance company for road assistance. J

 

Jim2

 

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