Halloween was a perfect day for a race. I had decided before the event that this year I was going to go for a PR, and with race day 42 degrees and cloudy, it seemed it would be a good day to accomplish this.
Nick (who ran 2:04 last year in his first ever 13 mile run, let alone race) was going to run with Frank Holmes, as we had done several training runs together. However Frank got sick, so I was trying to find someone for Nick to run with before the gun went off. It turned out not to matter, as he blew away his best with a 1:42:37 PR, coming in 76th overall, and third in "18 and under" (having just turned 13 the month before). He raced in "Batmanesque" fashion with black tights and a cape for Halloween, inspiring many runners along the way.
I started out in the lead pack, and ran 6:05 at the first mile. This was, relatively speaking, rather slow for the leaders, I thought. However, they did not seem to be interested in running much faster, and indeed the winning time was only 6:13 per mile. I lost contact in the second mile, and ended up in a long, drawn out series of 6:10-6:15 miles, mixing up a little bit between 5th and 8th through the first 10k or so.
When we turned the corner for "halfway" I was in 7th, running with Steve Wolfe (46) and John Pajer (48) who lamented about chasing the youngsters (excluding Greg Cornell (50), who passed us at mile 3). The three of us put together a few more decent miles in the 6:15 zone, but then we came upon a huge headwind. At this point I was feeling like I had a shot at a PR, with a 10 mile split at 63:20 or so. I took over 5th place and set out trying to catch the 4th place runner, who had been slowly coming back to us over the prior 3 miles. Despite the huge headwind in miles 11-12, I caught up and passed into 4th place right at the 12 mile mark. Sensing a PR and a very strong finish, I ran 6:04 for mile 13, and kicked up the little hill for a 4th place finish at 1:23:01, my lifetime best (I never raced a half marathon before age 35). The leaders were only about a minute and a half in front of me, and given the strength at the end, I think I will be able to cut off at least half that by next year.
This was a strong end to a season which also included my master's 10k PR. I now look to start moving down in distance to the 800m and 1500m (with an occasional 400m or perhaps 3k) as indoor track starts in about a month. Meanwhile, Junior Olympics for the kids starts next weekend in Rhode Island. Nick and Melissa will be competing with the Granite State Flash, hoping to advance from New Englands to the Region 1 meet, and if lucky, maybe a shot at nationals.
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Darin
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