The Gym before the race.
On Saturday I took the day off from running but that didn't get me out of the honey-do list. So I busted my back side around the yard most of the day. One thing that I aways wait until after the marathon to do is cut the lawn. But Saturday I had it in my head that I was going to get it done. I went to start my very large landscapers mower with a pull starter and after about 10 pulls, my left lower back was screaming at me. So much for cutting the lawn. Now the question was would I be able to run? As the day turned into night I was hobbling around and thought that my race was done. I was then hoping that if I could get some good rest over night things would get better.
This morning I got up and nothing had changed. As I bent over to put my shorts on the pain in my back shot to my brain. OUCH!!! I was having serious doubts about the race. So it was time for the breakfast of champions...600mg of IBP. Hopefully this would help. I arrived at the race 2 hours early to make sure I had plenty of time to loosen up. In the gym I ran into Steve Wolfe who wasn't sure how he was going to do today. He seemed burnt out from last weekends Eastern States 20 miler. In addition I ran into a very old friend from Chelmsford High School, Dennis Ducharme who was a couple years behind me but was a very good runner, better then me of course. After spending the majority of time stretching out in the gym it was time to head to the starting line. My back was not happy, as I jogged to the starting line it hurt with every step. Was this a good idea? Remember don't do anything STUPID!!. Soon it was GO TIME! The command was given and we were off.
Steve Wolfe Getting ready
I decided to take it as easy as possible during the first mile, then pick it up and see how things were going. To my surprise I ran a 6:28...SLOW DOWN IDIOT, Don't Do Anything STUPID!! There were a lot of people in front of me, most likely 70+. Now was not the time to panic. I decided to just keep on moving and to my surprise my back had loosened up. Should I start to pick it up...Don't do anything STUPID!!! I held back. I could see about 100 yards a head of me was John Tuttle who I knew was in his 50's and was a very good runner (I've never beaten him). I just held my pace and bid my time. over the next 9 miles the course is a roller coaster and really beats you up. Not to mention the wind was very strong in areas. John just stayed 100 yards in front of me the who time and was running in a pack that kept dropping people and I ended up catching them all and shat them out. But not John.
At the 10.5 mile mark I noticed that Dennis Ducharme was about 200 yards a head of me. So now I had a target. John T was now out of sight. So I worked the 11th mile hard and caught Dennis at the 11 mile mark. As I went by he said he was dead and the hills and the wind had taken it's toll on him. I gave him some words of encouragement and continued on my way. I picked off another couple of runners in the last 2 miles and knew there was a guy closing in on me. I just kept it smooth right on to the finish. Don't Do Anything STUPID.
So I ended up in 39th place with a 1:29:52 and John Tuttle was in 38th 49 seconds in front of me. Now the question was, was there any other old guys in front of John? Neither one of us knew the answer to this question.
I managed to locate Steve Wolfe and talked him into doing a cool down run, I needed to get 15 in for the day. Steve was disappointed in his race. Heck he ran a 1:25:11 for 24th place, I would take it. So Steve, me and another guy when out for a 2 mile cool down. It's good thing we did, my legs were already tightening up. When we got back the result still weren't up. For some reason it took almost 3 hours from when the race started until they were able to post the results. To my surprise I ended up in 2nd place for the 50-54 year old age category. I'll take it seeing that my overall pace ended up being 6:47's. I wanted 6:45's but this course was tough and the wind made it very challenging.
Race splits below:
1. 6:28
2. 6:37
3. 6:39
4. 6:44
5. 6:41
6. 6:47
7. 6:37
8. 7:06
9. 6:58
10. 6:46
11. 6:52
12. 6:53
13. 6:59
13.1 :41
Total 1:28:52 39th out of 1243 runners.
Nice job Scott!
ReplyDelete"For some reason it took almost 3 hours from when the race started until they were able to post the results."
ReplyDeleteHey Scott,
The results were delayed a bit, but not 3 hours. The 5K caused us to delay because there were about 100 entry forms that didn't make it to us until about 10 minutes after the 5K runners started finishing. We had to enter them all before posting results and this delay us.
Dave Camire
Yankee Timing
Dave, I was certain there was a good reason. Your team always does a super job in getting results up ASAP. I hope no offense was taken.
ReplyDeleteMy wording should have been a little different. Such as "It wasn't until 90 minutes after I finished the race that results were published".
See you soon.
Nice solid run Scott. My run didn't suck that bad, it was just a lot of work for the less than satisfying result. Regarding results, I think you were spot on. It was nearly 3hrs 'from the start of the race' to when results were posted. I left close to 2pm I think and the results were not yet posted. Race started at 11. Sounds like 3hrs to me :-)
ReplyDeleteDave, no doubt there was a reason but there was quite a delay.
Great pace Scott! As usual, a tremendous race day performance.
ReplyDeleteWatch your back. A similar movement is what tweaked mine. Sounds like you're OK now. Nothing stupid until Boston.
ReplyDeleteJim