We put together a 3 miles run/walk even for the people at my work. We have a thing named Active Health that is designed to get employees to be more active. So they get points for certain activities. A running or walking event that is 3 miles or more is worth 25 points. But most events cost more money than the accumulated points will be worth. So we put together a free event for employees to get 25 points. The event took place at a local park with a paved walking trail that is about a mile long. Actually there is line marked start and another line marked finish and it says one mile. Since the two are separated a bit, maybe 75 feet, the whole loop is a little over 3 miles. We planned to have a race starting at 11am, and then at 11:45, the people who wanted to walk/jog could go. We didn’t want the racers to be having to dodge a ton of walkers for three loops.
I changed into my running clothes before I left work, and wore a t-shirt and denim shorts over them. I wore my Pink Floyd-Dark Side Of The Moon shirt that won the poll on the LVM21 board as to which shirt should I wear. I headed to the park, arriving about 10:30. I stretched and got all my stuff together. 27 people had signed up for the race part, maybe 20-25 people showed up. I was pretty sure I would be one of the fastest people there. There would be water at the start/finish area, but not people handing out cups of water as the runners went by. So before the start, I grabbed a small bottle of water on set it beside the trail so I could grab it as I went by.
After some brief instructions, we were told to get set. I lined up at the front. Then were told to get set, and then go. I started running.

My goal was to run about a 7:00 pace. I was running, and seemed to be all alone. Where is everybody? I glanced over my shoulder and saw the nearest person was a little ways back. Had I overestimated the other people? Am I going to kill myself running 7:00 pace, when the next fastest runner might only be running 8:00 pace? But part way into the first mile, this guy wearing a white shirt caught up to me and was just sitting on my tail. I didn’t like that. I didn’t know if he was a slower runner matching my pace, or a faster runner biding his time. I kept seeing glimpses of white behind me. I slowed down a little at about 0.9 mile mark and let him pass me. Then I ducked in behind him. We finished the first mile in a little under 7 minutes. I didn’t want to slow to grab the water bottle. It was warm, and I was dripping sweat. I continued running, still right on the tail of the guy in the white shirt. I was catching glimpses of someone wearing yellow behind me. About the 1.5 mile mark, the guy in yellow passed the two of us. It was a guy I know named Paul. I passed the guy in the white shirt, and ducked in behind Paul. We continued running about 7:00 pace. The guy in the white shirt dropped slowly farther and farther back. Paul and I cross the 2 mile mark at about 14:00 minutes. Again I passed on grabbing the water bottle. As Paul and I were approaching the 2.4 mile mark, I glanced back and saw nobody anywhere near us. I was getting tired. I pulled up beside Paul and said that were in the lead by a huge margin. I suggested that we take it easy. He wanted to finish under 21 minutes. I said I thought we were on pace to do that. I suggested that we finished in a tie, and he said okay. I don’t think either of us wanted to get into a sprint to the finish. We talked about sprinting the last 0.10 mile, and at first I said yeah, then I said, let’s just hold the pace. I wasn’t sure if Paul would change his mind and sprint for a the win. But we were both honest, and crossed the line in 21:13. I guess that last mile was a little slower. As I said the course was a little over 3 miles, so I am guessing we averaged 7:00 pace. I probably could have finished a little faster at the end, but the race really didn’t mean much. It was just for fun. I don’t even get any Active Health points for, since I have already maxed out on them. So I was happy with a tie for first place. And I was happy to have held the 7:00 pace since I wasn’t sure I could. I hadn’t run that far that fast since July. I think the next place guy finished 30 seconds or more behind us.

Posted by Rob in Running on October 14th, 2008 |