Don't worry, I'll get some kind of 2009 year end summary up soon, along with a few other posts that some of you might find mildly interesting. But first things first, today is the first and I ran a race. This wasn't in my original plans for the weekend, as instead of racing I would have preferred another long run to get ready for Derry. The snow that fell locally kind of messed that up. Not that I couldn't have run; this was just a nuisance storm, and with the holiday the roads wouldn't have been so crowded, but it also would have been easy to bag out if I started to get wet and miserable. Besides, in reality Derry is just a training run anyway, with an oddball distance, difficult course, and unpredictable weather/road conditions. So why try to peak for it?
My choices for today were few, but with Bristol RI being on the south coast, my hopes were for less snow, more rain, maybe just wet roads. No such luck. It was a touch warmer and maybe a tiny bit less snow on the ground, but the issue was that the middle three miles of the five mile course run through Colt Park, which had not been plowed or salted at all. Oh well. I got there late too, only having time to pick up my number and then run for five minutes on the opening stretch of the course, which was a public road featuring clean pavement. Around 200 runners took the start, with a bunch from the Tuesday Night Turtles club, as well as a few college kids congregating at the front.
My plan was to make this a speed session, running as fast as possible on the clean pavement, and then just trying not to slip and fall on the rest of it. I think just about everyone else had the same idea, as the start was fast. At least I think it was, although I was right up there in the first five or six, so the pace couldn't have been too severe. After only a half mile, we're turning into the park and the surface turned to packed snow. Where the tire marks were was almost icy. In between was some packed but slightly soft snow offering a bit more traction. My feet were still slipping on every pushoff though. At this point I was still right behind TNTurtle Dave Schaad, who I expected to be the first master. Sometimes I can stay with him, but he almost always has beaten me in the past, and I know he's been running well lately. He groaned about the conditions but then opened it up on me, and another guy came around me too.
To my surprise, one section of the park had been salted or something, and we went back on wet pavement. My first mile split (which included about 1/4 mile of snow) was 6:11. Then we went up the hill back toward Rt 114 before u-turning over the snow covered median and running back the way we came. The road stayed clear to the rotary where we headed right along the water, and it was very slippery packed snow again. Mile two was 6:22. I couldn't tell how I was feeling, but my right quad was a bit tweaked, probably from all the slipping. Two more guys passed me. I tried to stay with them but I was struggling. My glasses got dark from the non-existent sun (don't ask me how), making it more difficult to see where there might be traction. Mile three took an eternity, coming up in 7:15, even though it was flat. Mile four was almost all snow, with one slippery corner. Two more runners caught me just as we turned back on to the clear road we ran in on (but further up toward the farm from where we'd left it). Immediately I was able to surge, and the marker came at a 7:05 split. Now it was flat and just wet pavement all the way back.
I still did not feel great, but I ditched the other two anyway. I was gaining a bit on the two who'd passed me earlier as well, but they were far ahead and there was no way I was going to make up the ground. Near the end a club marshall told me "you're in 14th, 200 yards to go, nobody near you." Once the clock appeared I thought I might be able to break 33 (yes, pathetic, but it was slippery!) so I kept pushing but the guy called out 33:01, with a 6:09 split for the final.
Already knowing my placing and time, I walked back to my vehicle, put on a hoodie, took a gulp of water and headed back out up 114. I stayed out for 43 minutes, so on the day I probably managed over ten miles, not the fifteen I'd planned on, but sufficient I guess. Two of the miles were good quality pacework, and all five in the race were still faster than I can make myself train. Not much for social aspect this time, as I never even went in to the race hq or even talked to anybody after the race. I know, running race reports are riveting... Thanks for reading.
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