I've been training for the US champs in Duluth since April, and it was finally time to make the drive up I-35 and try to get some rewards for all that hard work, and to see if it was worth it. I mean, it's kind of a weird gamble to aim for a race and put in extreme effort every day for two month of your life for a little over an hour of racing, in which so many variables exist. I assume this is my outlet for uncertainty, since I'm not drawn to normal gambling or even playing most board games. I usually fear risk.
And then there was a race -
I got up at 3:30 a.m. to catch the 4:15 bus out to the start. It was nice and cool, but quite humid. After the usual nervous jog around and awkward nodding at runners that I kind-of-know, and even more awkward conversations with the ones I actually know, it was finally time to get assertive and run.
We started off and the pace felt quick, but I wanted to make sure I was positioned as near to the front as seemed reasonable. I found myself with Mike Reneau early, and I wound up running almost the entire race with him.
We came through mile one in 4:41
It didn't really feel that bad, but hanging on to a fast pace was kind of my goal, so I went with it.
5k in 14:46
Still feeling pretty good, and the pack was starting to break up a little already. I feel an energy when a race explodes like that. A sense that I'm strong and that I belong with runners of this caliber, (rightly or wrongly). People started coming back at about this point, while a few others made a dig from behind us, trying to keep with it before things really got messy.
Somehow we slammed on the brakes over miles 5-6 and came through 10k in 30:09. I was kind of running in the dark the whole time and didn't realize we'd slowed at all. I made a push to get back to a better pace, but it didn't stick. We were fighting to maintain until we got back into Duluth. At about 11, Mike made a surge and I weakly followed, as we continued to gobble up carnage from the front. At 12, Mike got away and I was cashed. I was able to hold on the last mile and pick up a place to get 12th (the placing and money went to 12) in 1:04:43. In the last straight, I was coming up on Matt Gabrielson, but I had no kicking legs today. My finish at Fargo was definitely a statistical outlier. I'm glad he at least was worried about me at the finish. Of course there were no large women wandering around on the course, so it was a fair fight this time.
I wasn't pumped about the time, but it was a humid day, with a slight headwind - and the Grandma's course isn't as fast as I expected. I think I ran a pretty smart race, and got the best result I could have in that field.
I was most excited to get some congratulations from some famous runners as well as Kevin Hanson from the Hanson's group. He's a really nice guy and it seems to validate being a pseudo pro distance runner when you hear kind stuff from accomplished folks.
NEXT-
I'm looking for races for the rest of the summer to try to cash in on all this training I did. Let me know if you have some good ideas.
I'm also looking for a fall marathon, right now I'm thinking:
10/7 Twin Cities
10/14 - Toronto
12/2 - CIM
But I'm still looking -
Now it's time to watch some Olympic Trials - I've got a couple good buddies running, so look for a surprise finish from Bobby Mack in the 10k and a lightning-striking-twice run from Christian Smith in the 800
