Stone Harbor Lions 10K
Woke up to pouring rain at 5am this morning and, undaunted, Kevin, Tony and I took off at 5:30 for the 85 mile trip to the Jersey Shore, stopping only at Dunkin Donuts for those tried and true performance enhancers of caffeine and sugar. Weather continued nasty on down the Atlantic City Expressway, where I went into a nasty hydroplane at one point, and the Garden State Parkway, but let up as we approached Stone Harbor and as we parked the car in the beachside parking lot the rain had, amazingly enough, stopped.
We were deep in the territory of the Evil Empire - the South Jersey Athletic Club who, due largely to my own club's (PAC Track Club) lack of a competitive woman (hear that Deirdre?!) is sitting way ahead of us in the Mid Atlantic USATF's Grand Prix standings. The fact that this was a Grand Prix race attracted various club types, and the fact that there was prize money 3 deep - $500; $250 and $100 - attracted some African-looking runners and some PTC folks. This race was different from last year's version in that they added on a 5k race to the traditional 10k and redid the course so that everyone started together and ran a 5k loop. At this point the 5k racers finished and the 10k racers turned around and redid the original loop backwards. This is a bit like playing high-low in poker, as you don't know for sure who's racing what until the finish/turnaround. It also let me run the 10k and Tony run the 5k.
I started out working with PACTC teammate Chuck and the second female, Kenyan Naomi Wangui, listed at 5'3" and 100 lbs. I fell in behind her going into a headwind and thought this is ridiculous, I'm getting nothing by drafting off her. So I moved out ahead of her hoping she'd figure out that she could save a little energy by tucking in behind me. Either she didn't get it or didn't want a part of it, as she proceeded to pass me again. Renee Gunning, who runs for PTC, was about 50 feet ahead of us and looked like she was getting paced by Rob Hewitt, another PTC runner. Mile 1 goes by in 5:30 and I'm feeling strong, so I take off past Chuck and Wangui and started gunning for Renee and Rob. Patience I tell myself as mile 2 goes by in 5:31 and I'm in no-mans land, odd man out between the two couples. Hewitt starts to slow right about at the 5k finish, and runs into the 5k finish chute. I hit the 5k mark in 17:20 and on the turnaround see that the only males ahead of me are the eventual winner, Kenneth Korir (31:16) and Brian Skelly, another PTC runner. So I'm third male; if I keep this up I'd get a payday.
All of a sudden the race gets more stressful. Chuck is the next guy behind me, and though I have a good lead I know he has come back to outkick me at the finish several times in past races. All about hanging on to this lead. The combined mile 3 & 4 split was 11:13 - slowing a little; and mile 5 split was 5:37. Holding steady. A left on 111th St. and I can peek behind me to see I have a comfortable lead on Chuck and that I should be okay. On the other hand, I was not going to reel in Renee either. The last 1.2 miles clocked in at 6:57 (5:48 pace) and my final time was 34:50. 3rd male and payday!
After the race I ran to the end of the 5k course just in time to catch Tony hammering it in. He finished in 36:20, a new PR! He told me it was a tough race but he kept going because he didn't want to get behind this Coast Guard contingent who were doing the race marching double time. I told him I was very proud, and I am!
I'm very happy with my time, and always feel gratified at winning money in one of these things. I am unabashed about being satisfied with running sub 35 minutes after logging 22 miles yesterday, and running a full minute and a half faster than my time last year. However I don't want to get too hyped about my place, as my payday had as much to do with Ryan Walsh choosing to run the 5k, where his sub 16 minute time got him no better than fourth, than it did with my performance. But the evolutionary anthropologists may have a point - there is very much a primal caveman-like feeling that comes after running hard and returning home with the bacon.
Now to show you the contrast in running clubs that I'm affiliated with. Not including me and Kevin, I counted 12 people on the Philly Runner message board who committed to running this race and spending the day on the beach. Out of all of them, only Craig and English Mike showed up to run, and Tim and Biz came out to cheer. Apparently the rest were cowed by the spectre of a little rain, which ironically never appeared. On the other hand, PAC Track Club was out in force, and out of the guys we accounted for 7 out of the top 20 finishers - 3rd (me), 5th (Chuck Shields), 6th (Jeff Hayes), 7th (Andy Cherry), 12th (Neill Clark), 14th (Kevin Forde) and 20th (Adam Prince). However, this was business for PACTC crowd (most of whom are in the first picture), as they were uninterested in spending the afternoon on the beach.
So we had breakfast with the remnants of the Philly Runners (second picture) and then Kevin, Tony, English Mike, Tim, Craig and I spent the afternoon on the beach, where the conditions were great although you are forbidden to go farther than waist deep into the water. On the way home we stopped at Pat's Famous Cheese Steak and Clam Chowder shack, an apparent Stone Harbor institution and a story in and of itself, on the way back.
Plan is to take it easy this week and see what I can do rested in Virginia Beach next week. To paraphrase a great Talladega Nights line, "I'm gonna come at [them] like a spider monkey" on Sunday.
You probably had to see the movie to appreciate that one.
We were deep in the territory of the Evil Empire - the South Jersey Athletic Club who, due largely to my own club's (PAC Track Club) lack of a competitive woman (hear that Deirdre?!) is sitting way ahead of us in the Mid Atlantic USATF's Grand Prix standings. The fact that this was a Grand Prix race attracted various club types, and the fact that there was prize money 3 deep - $500; $250 and $100 - attracted some African-looking runners and some PTC folks. This race was different from last year's version in that they added on a 5k race to the traditional 10k and redid the course so that everyone started together and ran a 5k loop. At this point the 5k racers finished and the 10k racers turned around and redid the original loop backwards. This is a bit like playing high-low in poker, as you don't know for sure who's racing what until the finish/turnaround. It also let me run the 10k and Tony run the 5k.
I started out working with PACTC teammate Chuck and the second female, Kenyan Naomi Wangui, listed at 5'3" and 100 lbs. I fell in behind her going into a headwind and thought this is ridiculous, I'm getting nothing by drafting off her. So I moved out ahead of her hoping she'd figure out that she could save a little energy by tucking in behind me. Either she didn't get it or didn't want a part of it, as she proceeded to pass me again. Renee Gunning, who runs for PTC, was about 50 feet ahead of us and looked like she was getting paced by Rob Hewitt, another PTC runner. Mile 1 goes by in 5:30 and I'm feeling strong, so I take off past Chuck and Wangui and started gunning for Renee and Rob. Patience I tell myself as mile 2 goes by in 5:31 and I'm in no-mans land, odd man out between the two couples. Hewitt starts to slow right about at the 5k finish, and runs into the 5k finish chute. I hit the 5k mark in 17:20 and on the turnaround see that the only males ahead of me are the eventual winner, Kenneth Korir (31:16) and Brian Skelly, another PTC runner. So I'm third male; if I keep this up I'd get a payday.
All of a sudden the race gets more stressful. Chuck is the next guy behind me, and though I have a good lead I know he has come back to outkick me at the finish several times in past races. All about hanging on to this lead. The combined mile 3 & 4 split was 11:13 - slowing a little; and mile 5 split was 5:37. Holding steady. A left on 111th St. and I can peek behind me to see I have a comfortable lead on Chuck and that I should be okay. On the other hand, I was not going to reel in Renee either. The last 1.2 miles clocked in at 6:57 (5:48 pace) and my final time was 34:50. 3rd male and payday!
After the race I ran to the end of the 5k course just in time to catch Tony hammering it in. He finished in 36:20, a new PR! He told me it was a tough race but he kept going because he didn't want to get behind this Coast Guard contingent who were doing the race marching double time. I told him I was very proud, and I am!
I'm very happy with my time, and always feel gratified at winning money in one of these things. I am unabashed about being satisfied with running sub 35 minutes after logging 22 miles yesterday, and running a full minute and a half faster than my time last year. However I don't want to get too hyped about my place, as my payday had as much to do with Ryan Walsh choosing to run the 5k, where his sub 16 minute time got him no better than fourth, than it did with my performance. But the evolutionary anthropologists may have a point - there is very much a primal caveman-like feeling that comes after running hard and returning home with the bacon.
Now to show you the contrast in running clubs that I'm affiliated with. Not including me and Kevin, I counted 12 people on the Philly Runner message board who committed to running this race and spending the day on the beach. Out of all of them, only Craig and English Mike showed up to run, and Tim and Biz came out to cheer. Apparently the rest were cowed by the spectre of a little rain, which ironically never appeared. On the other hand, PAC Track Club was out in force, and out of the guys we accounted for 7 out of the top 20 finishers - 3rd (me), 5th (Chuck Shields), 6th (Jeff Hayes), 7th (Andy Cherry), 12th (Neill Clark), 14th (Kevin Forde) and 20th (Adam Prince). However, this was business for PACTC crowd (most of whom are in the first picture), as they were uninterested in spending the afternoon on the beach.
So we had breakfast with the remnants of the Philly Runners (second picture) and then Kevin, Tony, English Mike, Tim, Craig and I spent the afternoon on the beach, where the conditions were great although you are forbidden to go farther than waist deep into the water. On the way home we stopped at Pat's Famous Cheese Steak and Clam Chowder shack, an apparent Stone Harbor institution and a story in and of itself, on the way back.
Plan is to take it easy this week and see what I can do rested in Virginia Beach next week. To paraphrase a great Talladega Nights line, "I'm gonna come at [them] like a spider monkey" on Sunday.
You probably had to see the movie to appreciate that one.
posted by seebo | 7:34 PM
1 Comments:
A round of beers on you! Alright!
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