MV20

This was one windy race and since the course winds around most of the island, we got it from all directions. Gusts were 20-30 mph. It's hard to evaluate the cumulative effect but I'm guessing it helped a little. There were more moments of feeling that I was being nicely pushed along than there were of consciously fighting against it. But when it was a headwind? Yeah that sucked. Right before the start I went outside and the chill convinced me to make a last minute change and wear my plain cotton long sleeve tee. Other than that it was shorts, lightweight gloves, no hat, Adidas Rockets.

I give the race four stars for these reasons: It started on time, turns are clearly marked, the course is accurate, and hills aren't a major factor. That is all I ask for in a road race. Everything else is window dressing. The start was a refreshing change because there was no anthem and zero chit-chat. I like it that way, I'm just not used to it because virtually every other race is preceded by dopey speeches and "thank yous to so-and-so!" and blah blah blah. All business here.

Mile one, 6:04. Way too fast but I cut myself some slack because the wind made it impossible to judge the pace. I dropped out of the lead pack, watched them spread out, and settled in for a long haul. Miles two through ten was essentially a lonely, extended tempo run and I hit the half at 1:01:48. Still faster than planned but, as most runners know, races tend to assert their own identity.

Soon after the halfway mark I notice two things. First, my sore left knee wasn't bothering me at all, which is a good sign. It hurt afterwards but apparently a hard twenty didn't exacerbate the problem. Second, around mile 12 or so, I formed painful blisters on both feet... I have no idea what the fuck that's all about. My mileage for a full month has been low fifties, including an 18 and a 20. I shouldn't be getting blisters but there they were. And it was a problem.

I slowed to the point where I got some company during mile 13, and this guy clearly knew his shit. Nice even rhythm, giant quads, Whirlaway singlet. Why did I wear that dumb long sleeve again? I thought maybe if I could focus on staying with him it would distract me from the blisters. This actually sort of worked. We ran together through three plus miles of variable headwind and I was even able to slide ahead and draft for him a couple of times. I figured he would probably pull away eventually but I was determined to share the work and not just suck along behind.

Near the end of mile 17 we take the sharp right and a younger guy floats past. Decision time. I move up with this new companion and we absolutely crush it for 2/3 of mile, running in eighth and ninth. This was easily the most enjoyable part of the race. I don't know what the pace was but it felt fantastic. Mile 19 arrives and I come crashing back to earth. That was too fast. Then another guy cruises by, also young looking, and my new buddy goes with him. Now I'm wallowing in tenth place aka self pity land. I checked their ages afterwards and those two combined (45) are still younger than the Whirlaway dude (51) who is looming somewhere behind. I was suffering again but that was the idea going in -- run the first 18 fast enough so that I could practice stride deterioration over the last two.

Finally, one mile to go, and I'm all sorts of bad: Blisters are screaming, I have a side cramp and, worst of all, I feel those scary jittering calf spasms that usually only come during marathons. Now I'm desperate for this shit to end. When the finish line appears I steal one glance back and mercy mercy mercy he isn't close enough to force a sprint finish. Overall time 2:05:56.

I spent the night dreaming about 1500m track races.

# Div/Tot Div  Time       Pace Name      Age
1  1/34 M3539 1:54:52  5:45 Chad Carr 35
2  1/22 M3034 1:57:20  5:52 Ryan Aschbrenner 33
3  1/18 M2529 1:59:15  5:58 Timothy Catoggio 25
4  2/22 M3034 1:59:42  6:00 Kevin Gravina 32
5  1/43 M4044 2:01:02  6:04 Jonathan May 42
6  1/5  M2024 2:02:33  6:08 Thomas Fagin 22
7  2/34 M3539 2:04:08  6:13 Jon Chesto 39
8  2/5  M2024 2:05:02  6:16 Jake Marcus 21
9  3/5  M2024 2:05:32  6:17 Evan Williams 24
10 3/34 M3539 2:05:56  6:18 Zachary Laidley 38
11 1/23 M5054 2:06:16  6:19 Chris Spinney 51
12 4/34 M3539 2:07:44  6:24 Chris Schulten 38
http://coolrunning.com/results/11/ma/Feb19_Martha_set1.shtml