Free beer, Columbia Point, and a million-dollar smile
I wasn't going do write a race report for this one, but then I read Reuter the Great's tips on how to make him read my blog, and was so moved by his elegant prose that my fingers just flocked to the crumb-filled keyboard like _ _ _ _ _ _ _
help me out here. my ideas were all too politically incorrect/ socially insensitive/just plain nasty to use, and I can't afford to drive away any more of my dwindling readership
This race was an evening affair, beginning inside Marina Bay, and looping around the Squantum peninsula before returning back to the complex. The last half mile was run over a tight harborside bike path with several 90 degree corners, and even turned to dirt for the last few hundred meters. 199 runners were listed in the results. Don't let the slow times fool you - this was a hard race. Despite being right on the water, the temps were pretty warm, in the 80's. The run out was flat on the Marina Bay access road, then turned onto the main road across the causeway into Squantum. With the Easton five miler from just four days prior in my legs, the plan was to go out easier than usual and see what happened. Several runners sprinted out ahead of me, including the carrot-top kid I've seen before, who took the lead, and ended up winning. At the entrance to Marina Bay, the police motorcycles and the leader took the long way around the traffic island, as did everyone else except one BAA guy who cut the corner and gained fifteen seconds.
I got to the mile one marker at 6:12, slower than I'd expected or planned for. Knowing there was a significant hill coming up though, I kept it steady. Turning onto Bellevue I moved up one spot on the quarter-mile long grade, closing in on a few others. By the top I was a few meters behind one guy who looked 40+, with another thirty meters to two more guys. Mile two passed at 12:23, so no change in pace. The middle of the course was all up and down along the perimeter road, with Wollaston beach across the water on our left. The pavement on this section was all busted up, making it even tougher. Descending back toward the main road for the run back, there was no mile three marker, at least not that I saw. I'd closed in on the first guy, and ran on his shoulder as he brought back the next two. This was the tightest race I've ever been in.
Turning back into the complex, all four of us were together. I was suffering. The others seemed better. Mile four passed at 24:56 or so, meaning my pace had not improved. I couldn't believe it, because I was dying, but I hung on to the group for dear life. Entering the bike path, the first guy surged ahead. Damn. The next guy went after him, but the youngest looking guy, an HFC Strider, hung back. I passed him at the half mile to go marker and tried to pour it on. Not. After a few turns, where it went back to dirt, he kicked and blew by me. I ended up on the losing end of the foursome, with a slow 6:26 last mile for an official time of 31:21 (6:16 average pace). This was the most fun I've ever had running though. I was in a race. My average HR was way up there, about 10 bpm higher than most of the races I've done this year.
Post race I did a good cooldown running around all the bars and restaurants next to the boatyard. Afterwards they had free beer, and for awards they had a grab bag of Reebok clothes. I ended up 8th overall, 3rd in my age group and still got a super-nice quarter zip pullover that probably would have been forty bucks even at the outlet mall. This was in addition to the best race t-shirt I've ever got, truly stylish, different, and high quality. All this and free Harpoon makes me excuse the crappy hot dogs they had for food. Put this one on your list for next year. Thanks for reading.
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