Weekend running was pretty much nonexistant, as my motivation is at an all-time low right now. We had some amazing perfect fall days, but failed to capitalize partly because the weekend was pretty much log-jammed with car shopping and events. Friday, went car shopping immediately after work and took the entire evening. Saturday morning was more of the same, then cleaned up and got ready for my friend Steve's Diaper Dash bar crawl. For those who are not familiar, a diaper dash is the male equivalent of a baby shower, only the male participants bring diapers and we pretty much go out for the rest of the day. An added theme/contest was who had the best moustache, so I did my best Brian Sell impression and our group of 15 or so guys proceeded to creep out everyone all around town. Broke away from that group a little earlier to recuperate some, then met up with Tim and Erin at a local bar for a couple of drinks so we could catch up. Went to bed somewhat early (considering Tim and I's previous track record), then crashed out for the night.
Race Morning
Woke up Sunday morning feeling tired and dehydrated, so went crazy on water and Gatorade. Had a couple cups of fruit and lightly stretched out while waiting for Tim and Erin to come over. Started mentally thinking up strategy for this course - we ran this earlier in the summer, and it is a typical cross country course full of nasty hills, so I knew my times would be slower. There are a couple really steep inclines on the 2nd and 3rd mile, so I needed to be patient starting out - those hills are hard to recover from if I expended too much energy early. Got to SIUE a little before 8, registered and got our shirts, then went back to the car and did a quick 10 minute shakeout run. Weather was sunny and in the 60's, and we had a pretty stiff breeze to contend with.
At the Start
Talked with some of the people there to figure out the course, and found out there were some changes because of all the rain we have had lately which made some of the course unrunnable. First mile weaved around more and we didn't have to contend with some of the major hills which was good. Did some strides to loosen up the fast-twitch muscles. Found out that the race started at 9:30 instead of (doh!), so had a little more time to kill. Lined up at the start, wished Tim and Erin good luck, then the gun went off!
Mile By Mile Report
Mile 1 - Started out pretty quickly, nice downhill to start out the race and ran pretty hard. Went out with the lead group, but could feel that the pace was going pretty quick. Not smart to be pacing myself with the university cross country team runners who run this course a lot more than I do. My Garmin was all over the map with the hills, so impossible to really keep a constant pace going. Weaved around for a bit, effort was pretty high so slowed it down and laid back with some of the runners in the group behind. [Mile Split - 5:47]
Mile 2 - Course flattens out for a little bit, so ducked in behind a couple runners and let my legs recover. We made a turn, then hit a series of rolling hills. The terrain was wet and muddy, so had to be a bit careful manuevering at this point. Started to lose a few runners in our group, and was getting gapped by one of the SIUE girl runners, but tried to keep her within 10 yards of me. Caught back up to her on one of the massive hills, but had lost everyone else at this point. Ducked behind her and let her dictate the pace for a while. [Mile Split - 6:20]
Mile 3 - At this point, was tired and getting beat up by the hills, but was definitely taking in the benefits of working off the SIUE girl runner. We make a hairpin turn a little past the mile marker, and saw 1 person about 30-45 seconds behind us so wasn't too worried about him. The people ahead of us were too far up, so decided that breaking away was not in my best interest since (a) I wasn't going to catch anyone but the girl I was running with (b) felt good enough that I was going to beat her so might as well let her do most of the work (c) my only time goal was to break 20 minutes, and that was essentially in the bag. Continued to work off her as we made our way out of the woods and kept going. When we popped out onto the mainland, could see all the runners ahead of us, and was a lot easier to visualize the finish. The last mile, could hear all the SIUE people cheering on their teammate, which just fueled the fire so I just sat patiently until the final hairpin turn. The last 1/3 of a mile is pretty much uphill, and had enough juice for a kick so made my move there. [Mile Split - 6:30]
Finish - Bounded up the hill, didn't look back in fear of losing any momentum but wasn't hearing as much cheers for the SIUE girl runner. Put myself in cruise control, and coasted across the finish. [Final Time - 19:21]
RESULTS
Peter Kim M30
Clock Time 19:21
Overall Place 9/77
Gender Place 8/40
Division Place 1/8
Pace 6:13/Mile
Final Thoughts
Felt pretty happy with the race, but wasn't overly pleased with the inconsistency of my mile splits. But a lot of that was from the crazy terrain, so wasn't too mad at myself. Probably went out too fast early, and the last mile was ridiculously slow but more from me tucking behind and waiting patiently to make my move. It never computed in my mind that I would have broken 19 minutes had I gave it more effort, but that is a moot point since I haven't done much since Chicago and slowly getting myself back to good speed shape. Ended up getting some water, then went back to the finish to watch Tim and Erin finish. Saw Tim bounding up the hill, so cheered him on to his strong finish. Erin finished shortly after, and we got some food and waited for the awards ceremony. Turns out we all did very well, because we all won age group prizes! Erin won 3rd in the female 20-29 category, Tim won 3rd in the male 30-39 category, and I won 1st in male 30-39. So was fun to sweep up some awards, and all in all a very successful effort by all!Afterwards, picked up some breakfast food, beer, OJ and champagne, then headed over to Pat and Crystal's for Sunday Funday! Spend most of the afternoon playing ping pong, cards, and Wii Bowling, and passed out the rest of the day to end a very fun weekend. Had a pedestrian 27 miles this week, but was race week so that is my excuse :) Back to hard work finally - am envisioning a 40 mile week, and am looking to get back into good shape again!
3rd place in the Moustache Contest, and my best Brian Sell impression!
Post race group photo
Age Group Prize Winners!
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