What happened to summer? (Part 2)

July was the start of a new race series.  Granby, MA had a 5 week series of 3.1 mile cross country races to benefit the Granby Athletic Association.  In addition to the 5K, they also had kid races of 1 mile and 100 yards (depending on age).

An application was brought in to work, and I thought it would be fun to run a new course one week.  So, on the first night, I showed-up (along with 14 others) and ran.  What a nice (and tough) course.  Part of it was on grassy fields, and part was on horse trails in the woods.  This reminded me why I loved cross-country in high school.

The series was a points series, and with the way I liked the course, I had to come back for the next four weeks.  Persistence paid off.  I was able to win my division, and my friend Katie (who got me to run the series) was able to win her division also.

My next big event of summer was the Shipyard/Old Port HalfMarathon in Portland, Maine.  The weather was a little more humid than I would have liked, but the temperature was nearly perfect.  If everything went perfect, I was shooting for a 1:55:00.  My “satisfied” time was 2:10:00.

The way that they ran this race was a little different.  Two waves at the start.  Women first, and about 18 minutes later the men.  The split in time was based upon the median finish times of men and women in the half marathon according to a report by Running USA.  This would have been great except for the fact that they had a delay in getting a police car back to the start line to lead the men.  We ended up starting about 30 minutes behind, rather than 18.

The first three miles were way too fast for the pace I wanted (8:05, 8:11, and 8:15).  Either this was going to be a spectacular race, or I would pay later.  The course was relatively flat, and I continued to keep a good pace for the next two miles (8:41 & 8:46).  Still on pace to under 1:50. Miles 6 thru 9, I slowed a bit (9:03 to 9:34), but at mile 9, I was still on pace to a 1:55… then the wheels fell off.  I “BONKED” at about 9.25 miles.

The last four miles were just a matter of me keeping myself going forward, and staying under that 2:10.  As long as I met that goal, I’d be satisfied.  The last half mile, I was able to keep a slow jog without walking, and in the end I finished with a 2:07:28. Not my best of worst… just somewhere in between.

Along the way, I heard a phrase that I now try to keep in my mind, and use to help motivate some of my friend that may be afraid of running in a race out of fear of finishing last.  “Dead Last is better than Did Not Finish, which trumps Did Not Start”.  It’s not how fast of slow you are, It’s about the courage to try.