This past Saturday I completed my last race for the month of November. The Great River Road Run in Alton, IL. It was a balmy 35 degrees at the start, sunny and the 10 mile course was flat as a pancake (anyone who says they enjoy running hills is a liar), so it made for fantastic racing conditions.
My friend, Stu, met up with me at the start. Stu is a natural athlete. He is the fastest person that I have the pleasure of knowing and I am amazed at his humility. He is great at every event of triathlon and I believe his least favorite part is the run. He squeezed up to the front and was out of the shoot as soon as the gun went off. I knew I would see him after he turned around. I'd still be heading out.
I felt pretty good for the first 5 miles. Ran into another friend, Jane, at about mile 2. We ran together for a bit and caught up on life events, but I'm a bit of a loner when I run so I took off. At about mile 4 I saw Stu. With the course being an out and back, that meant he was at mile 6. I cheered for him and gave him a high five. He was pretty close to the front of the pack. I kept plodding along, singing whatever song came on my iPod.
Then I hit the turn around. It wasn't windy, my asthma didn't act up and I had just taken a Hammer Gel which was on the verge of kicking in. Less than 1/4 mile after the turnaround, I saw Jane again. She was doing great!
I started focusing on the side cramp that had developed which slowed me from my sub-9 minute pace. F. The only time I walked was through the water stops and then I started running again. Overall, not a bad pace for 10 miles - 1:31:50. Not impressive for most, but it was an accomplishment only due to the fact that I didn't walk and it was 5+ minutes faster than my time from '09.
Stu: 1:01+
Me: 1:31+
Jane: 1:34+
Congratulations to all and I'm sure I saw all of you after the race at Fast Eddie's. I sure as hell enjoyed my beer!
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