A beautiful morning for a race! Cool (mid-40s), crisp, dry, light breeze. The sun was shining brightly, but wasn’t a problem. Perfect day for singlet and shorts. Hands just a little chilly at race time....that’s a good sign.

 

Ran into a guy before the race who trains on the B&A (Baltimore & Annapolis) Trail, as I do, and just entered my age bracket about a month ago. His name is also Jim. He’s about 20-30 sec/mile faster than I am. He told me he had just seen a couple of other guys in our age group who are faster than he is, including the fastest 60+ year old guy in the Baltimore area. I took second in the 60+ age group in this race last year. But, forget about an age group award today. It will just be a run for time.

 

Ready to start my warmup and I ran into another guy, John, (also my age) who I started running with at a local fitness center 18 years ago. Warmed up and chatted with him for about a mile. Today marked an anniversary for him. Seventeen years of a streak of running at least one race every month. He also has a 16 1/2 year streak of running every day and a 7 1/2 year streak of two-a-days. I remember the race in March, 1983 when he told me that he had run every day for a month and thought he would see how long he could continue it.....he’s still going strong, although he is no longer competitive.

 

Now, to the race.....It’s run on the B&A Trail beginning and ending in the parking lot of Marley Station Mall. The first 7/10 mile is around the mall’s parking lot, which permits the field of a few hundred to spread out before heading north on the 10-foot wide asphalt Trail surface. The turnaround, which begins at about 2 3/4 miles, is about a 1/4 mile loop that includes a 80 yard stretch over a grassy field. Then, the last 2 miles is back down the Trail to the finish line in the mall parking lot.

 

I based my race goals on my recent Philly Marathon. I ran it in 4:10, but the weather conditions cost 20-30 sec/mile. I had determined before the race that I should be capable of a 4:00:00 marathon, which equates to a 40:30 8k, so I made that my “realistic” goal. I set 41:30 as my floor goal and 39:56, which was my time in this race last year, as my optimistic goal.

 

I warmed up, learned the race start was delayed by 15 minutes, and then warmed up again. Finally, it started smoothly.

 

Mile 1 - Got a clean start with only a few seconds to cross the start line. Off to a good pace. Not too fast, but not hampered by the field, either. About 1/2 mile into the race, I noticed my friend, Jim, about 20 yards ahead of me and I was closing on him. That shouldn’t be. I thought that either he’s sandbagging like heck or I’m already in trouble and don’t know it. I didn’t know that it was he who was in trouble. As I closed on him just before leaving the parking lot to run on the Trail, he moves to the side and pulls up. I slow and ask him what’s wrong. He says that he’s OK and to go ahead. I don’t see him again all day, so I know he didn’t finish the race. I’ll have to find out what happened to him. After hitting the Trail, I finish the first mile running alongside a young woman and a boy about 10 years old, who must have been her brother. The 1-mile split timer calls out 8:22....my watch said 8:23. The boy said to his sister, “Did you hear that!?” She asked how he felt and he said “OK.”

 

Mile 2 - Continued to run with the young lady and boy. We are beginning to pass a few people now as some of the fast starters begin to fade already with almost 4 miles to go. We reach the 2-mile marker in another split of 8:23. She checks again on how the boy feels. He still says, “OK.”

 

Mile 3 - Shortly into the third mile the boy suddenly slows to a walk. Her stride falters. He says he’s OK and she should go ahead. She does.....and proceeds to steadily move ahead of me. She’s a good runner who was just trying to help her brother. I don’t see her again until the post-race ceremony. About 1/3 mile into the third mile, the front runners begin to pass going the other direction. Now, passing other runners on the narrow Trail with two-way traffic, which I continue to do steadily, becomes more of a challenge. It’s like passing cars on a two-way highway with traffic moving both directions. I use surges to pass people without interfering with oncoming front runners. The 100 yard grassy strip in the turnaround loop feels like it slowed me noticeably. However, my mile 3 split of 8:02 shortly after getting back on the Trail headed back south toward the mall shows the favorable effect of the surges.

 

Mile 4 - It’s starting to get tough, now. But, I still feel strong. With only some scattered back-of-the-packers left coming from the other direction. I settle into a steady pace that is working me hard, but that I think I can sustain until getting into the last mile, when I plan to shift gears. Mile 4 passes in a split of 8:14.

 

The Last .97 Mile - I had planned to shift gears and go to my 2:1 breathing rate with about 1/2 mile to go and a 1:1 “final kick” rate on the last little hill about .2 mile out from the finish. However, shortly after starting the last mile, I feel that I’m beginning to lose the pace and my form is beginning to get a little ragged. So, I decide to move on to the 2:1 rate early and plan to probably shift to the 1:1 rate when starting the first of two tough little finishing hills with .3 miles to go. I’ll just try to suck it up and hope the lactic acid buildup isn’t too much to overcome in the last stretch.

 

A couple of guys pass me with 1/2 mile to go.....the first people to pass me since the 2-mile marker. Nothing I can do about it. I’m giving all I can without going into a finishing kick a half mile out. Meanwhile, I continue to pass a few people. I hit the bottom of the first of the two finishing hills, shift to a 1:1 breathing rate and change my focus from how my legs, heart and lungs feel, to my arm swing.....if the arms continue their cadence, the legs have to keep up, no matter how bad they and the rest of you feel.