This is my first post so I hope that you aren't expecting "Amazing" from this post! Kimi, my wonderful wife, and I recently competed in the Bass Pro' Cohick Half Marathon in Springfield, MO on November 6, 2011. We were greeted pleasantly by wonderful temperatures just as we were hoping for on this particular day. The temperatures were near 60 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if you don't know, for the temperatures to be that warm at this time of year in Missouri, there must be a wind coming from the south to keep the temperatures from falling much much lower. That was of course the case on this Sunday in November. The wind was between 15-20mph and was constant. I knew that was going to play a huge roll in our race that morning. We started the race at 7:00 in the morning (thankfully it was daylight savings weekend).
The race began after an opening statement from Frank Shorter where he made a joke that only Prefontaine fans would understand. He said something along these lines, 'why don't you leaders do yourselves a favor and share the work and take turns leading, you don't have to always lead' this was a joke because Frank Shorter was a runner that back in the 1970's ran with Prefontaine who as most of us know, never let anyone else lead, 'ever!
The first 1/3 of a mile was directly into the wind and so I started out sitting behind the lead pack letting them do most of the wind blocking. However, after we turned the corner, I was expecting the pack to pick up the pace. This didn't happen, so I quickly decided that I was going to have to start moving the pace quicker if I was going to run anywhere close to my goal pace. I lead through the mile and then I was passed by a small group. I wasn't too concerned because I was feeling just fine. I hadn't actually pressed the pace anywhere close to my max just yet. I had to let the leader go because I knew I couldn't compete with him but my ultimate goal of beating a competitor (that I prefer not to name) that had beat me the week before in a 5k was still possible. My group consisted of Me, my competitor, and an Ethiopian girl. I knew that I was in control because I was able to set the pace faster or slower as I pleased. At 5.5 miles in I was leading the pack by a couple seconds, so nothing really. This was at a point where we were clearly going to go directly into the wind for a while so I didn't want to waste myself while letting the opponent draft off of me so I payed close attention to this during the headwind portions. Any time that I noticed my competitors getting into the drafting zone, I quickly made a lateral move to force them to fight the wind equally.
Just prior to mile 9, I had nearly a 10 meter lead. I didn't feel like I was completely able to shake them just yet so I eased up on the pace to sit next to them for a little while. However, the Ethiopian girl had another idea. She decided to press the pace herself. At first I was ok with this and let her get a 10-15 meter lead while I felt I was resting up and preparing for a long stretch of nearly a mile and a half straight into the wind. However, my plans changed quickly when I was running next to my 'competitor' and we were making a right turn. There was a cone at the corner on the right and he and I were running stride for stride right next to each other. He took the corner a little tight and I was right next to him. Though I don't feel like I cut him off or forced him into the cone at all, he must have felt so because he pushed me sideways by giving me a pretty good stiff arm to the right shoulder. I was shocked and almost lost my balance. My reaction was to turn around and give him an 'arm's out to the side look like what was that for?' That was my last straw however. At that very moment I made a conscious decision to put on the afterburners and go for the rest of the way.
I quickly caught the Ethiopian girl and had to run directly into the wind for a mile and a half while the girl drafted on me the whole way. I was pretty sure that I could beat her and so I stretched it out nearly 20 meters with a mile to go. I was running strong and was plenty ahead. I was at the point where all I wanted was to see the finish line and give one final effort to finish strong. However, the Ethiopian girl had a different idea in mind. She made a run at me but with about 100 -150 meters to go, I poured out all I had left and beat her by a mere 3 seconds. That was enough for me. I was completely satisfied.
I was very happy with the results on this particular Sunday. I had placed 2nd in the Bass Pro' Cohick Half Marathon and was awaiting my wife who would quickly come in just a few places back also in 2nd place and with a new Personal Best! Both of us had intended to have better times at this event but were struck by illness the two weeks prior to the event. Thankfully, we were able to recover enough to perform at high levels and are both looking forward to our next competition that will most likely be on November 20th! It's another Half Marathon/5k event.
Today is Tuesday November 8th, two days after our recent half marathon performances and I know our bodies need the rest so we have decided to take a few days off. We might not even run another step until Thursday!!! Unfortunately for me, I'm already getting antsy. Sitting still and not exercising is like torture!! I just hope that my left Gastrosoleus/Achilles tendon complex will heal up and be ready for some more grueling training!
I look forward to writing about our return to the world of running obsession as soon as it gets going!
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