First, I find a lot and pull into a parking spot. Almost immediately, two women come into the space between my car and the car on the left and act as if I'm not there. They stand there talking about whether Crocs are comfortable shoes or not. I wait a minute, then another. Then another. Ok, if that's the game. So, I just begin to open the door and they realizr they are blocking me.
I pick up my race packet, weigh in at the CARA booth (I weigh in at 184 with cltohes and shoes which puts me in the Clydesdales Masters Class A), and head back to my car. I decide to change right away, since I'm not sure how much I'll have. So, I get ready, and do a little warmup. I line up at the start but I'm sure I could move up.
The race starts and it takes 20 seconds to reach the start. The first mile, I'm weaving about trying to find a lane at my pace. My time for mile 1 is 7:42. A decent start, but the first two miles are hilly. Mile 2 split is 8:17. I'm actually surprised since it seemed slower. Mile 3 is 8:10. Ok, I'm in good shape.
But mile 4 is up a good hill (or a bad hill) and my pace falls to 8:47. We enter a park and circle a baseball field. My pace comes down to 8:38. Still doing ok. Then we turn onto a long, straight road. It rolls very gently, or it seems. I'm looking for the turnaround for a long time, it seems. We also get to glimpse the lead runners coming back in the opposite direction. Mile 6 is 8:35. I'm trying to hold on, and I think if I just run 9 minute miles, I'd be happy. At the mile 6 water stop, I take water and gatorade. The water goes on my neck, the gatorade I drink. Mile 7 is mostly downhill and I improve to 8:24. That's great, I might come in under 87.
However, miles 8 and 9 have a few hills. Mile 9 has a bad one. My time for those miles are 8:49 and 9:03. Yikes! The spectators keep saying it's all down hill from there. I pick up the pace, as much as I can. My Garmin shows an instantaneous pace of 8:10 the two times I check. That seems fast. Well, I finish with a 7:59 mile. Outstanding!
My overall time was 1:24:32 - just 12 seconds off the Seven Bridges 10M time and this was much more difficult. More hills, bigger hills, and all asphalt. Overall is was 386 out of 779, 63rd in my Age Group out of 101, and 300th out of 509 Men.
