2008 Running...

Hey that was quick. Well, got things off to a decent start with a 5 mile PR at the Bristol, RI Hangover Classic, with a sixth overall 29:55. This is a certified course, back at Colt Park. It was a bit chilly on the water, with some windy spots, but the rain held off. I was a bit overdressed, but again I got a positive comment on the orange shirt, and I think at the RI races I'm pretty much known as "orange shirt guy" now. This time the comment came from a guy, who turned out to be Jim Dupont, promoter of the Frostbite 15k in a few weeks. Maybe it will be cold enough to wear it again.

My run only got me third in my age group. Off the start, only one guy ahead of me looked to be over 40. The problem for me was, of all days, today I could have used a warmup, but I didn't get one in before the start. Still feeling Sunday's Millenium Mile effort in my hamstrings, the cold weather wasn't helping me. Neither was the drive down in a car with no heat! Despite bundling up, I was shivering when I got there, and of course running a bit late, so I got about a 200 meter jog to the line and that was it. Other than my legs, I felt OK, but if there was a one mile marker, I didn't see it. Staying about 15 meters behind the guy, I had footsteps right behind me too when I took the mile two marker at 11:42. In the third mile along the seawall, footstep guy, same kit as the first guy, drew alongside, and luckily he did not look 40. He turned out to be 39... Sadly though, another runner (Jeff Mutter, a stellar triathlete), clearly 40 but not 50, raced by both of us, and drew in the other Tuesday Night Turtle I was chasing, and ran away from him too.

I stayed on the heels of the 39 year old Turtle, as we had a headwind. The original guy stayed just ahead of us, but Mutter just forged ahead out of reach. Mile four ended up taking 6:12, and any hope of winning my age group was gone. Now I was just trying to break 30 minutes, which meant I had 6:06 in which to run the last mile. I dropped the 39 year old guy, but the first guy hung tough and I did not close the gap at all. He was a nice guy and I'm sure we'll be mixing it up again soon. The cold rain started right after the run, but I cooled down two miles then grabbed a donut while browsing the results. The ride home in the rain with no heat and no defrost was interesting. The squeegee got a lot of use. Good way to start the year, thanks for reading.