Last year around late March/Early April I made the decision to get back into decent racing shape. I was no longer playing Australian Rules Football or even Ausball after my ankle injuries. I feel like I spent 2001 to 2008 in terrible shape, but that might not be completely true. I did the 2008 Executive Stampede for my new company in a 21:30, somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 minute pace after an active summer and fall. But the next year I was not so lucky and struggled to a 23:53. The next several races I did were a couple of 5ks also in the 23/24 range. Pretty pathetic for someone who went under 17 as the peak of a above average high school country career. So the goal was to get back to respectably through a lot of work. But it was an inauspicious start as I ran the Cylburn Arboretum 5k with a couple of huge hills in 28. My friend also ran and we figured it was about 4 extra with the hills, so still in that 24 minute range. I wanted to get into the longer distances with an eye towards the Baltimore half (and sometime in May I made the impulsive decision to pick a marathon and train for it). I think a basic active.com search landed me on the MCVET 10k memorial day weekend 2011.
It was hot last year, probably around the same conditions it would turn out being this year. I did a 7 mile training run the previous week around Dundalk and home and was convinced I was ready for the race. I was pretty much not ready for the race. So I showed up not quite sure how the schedule was arranged. It was a 5k and a 10k, and the 5k went first. I was warming up and completely unaware we had to wait until the entire field finished the 5k (around here folks walk in 5ks and the stragglers will finish in about an hour). I kept warming up and pretty much had done the race before the race by the time we made it to the starting line. I still felt confident and started out in an optimistic 7:30 pace. I held something decent until the turnaround, but the exposed course was getting to me as it was after 9 and shade was scarce. I just fell apart after mile 4 and shuffled in walking and running to finish in an awful 54 minutes flat. Quite a bad experience and I was forced to pound little orange juice cups to stay with it. But I stuck with the training and finished the year strong with my marathon and the next races after. I did a couple of 10k's later in the year running 44 in the short Too Hot To Trot race and 45 in an ordinary Veterans Day 10k in November (which I didn't do as much as take a day off in advance).
As I rolled into 2012 I looked forward to being able to run some repeat races and marveling at the improvement as I had lost more than 20 pounds from the beginning of 2011. I was now running 6-7 days a week and spent 8 weeks with an average over 50 miles in March and April. Unfortunately the Arboretum race was the same day as Cherry Blossom and I was looking to improve on a time from 1992 (age 13!) so the choice there was obvious and no regrets as I ran the peak race of my season. In fact, the 42:42 or so at 10k would be the fastest 10k of the season if it was a race by itself. So that left the MCVET 10k on Memorial Day weekend. And it was probably the best choice since last year's result was so bad on paper. I though I could easily take off 10 minutes, and possibly take off 13 or 14 minutes with a great race under the right conditions.
Knowing the schedule this time around I didn't even bother to arrive before the 5k. I walked up to the War Memorial Building to get my number and shirt and my fast friends had already finished their 5k (winning time was 15:42) and I did a modest warm up and lined up to start behind the fast folks in the front. Really there was nothing special about the race. I went out fast and couldn't hold it. Slipped about 10 spots and was passed by 2nd and 3rd in my age group. Took to dumping water on my head at the water stops. I was back on Lombard Street around 40 minutes and I was worried I wouldn't hit 44 minutes to make the 10 minute improvement that I wanted at a base level. But I efforted up the hill and by that point I could tell I was going to be around 43:30 and I came across tired buy happy. I then stood around for the awards and then went for some more miles after because I thought I needed them.
Next up - Bel Air Town Run for fun and to get some points in the MDRRCA grand prix in case I have a chance to out participate my way to a shot at the age group award. Will try to go under 20, though.
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