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Accidental victor

June 11, 2016 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: 70s and humid and sunny (beginning of a hot day)

Comments:
A month or two ago I was asked to join Team Tracy to run the Purple Strides 5km in honor of Don Tracy father of two former hopper track stars. I haven't trained for this and have barely been maintaining base fitness over the past two months. Assumed I'd just runs steady with Marc or Jeff or one of the large number of Team Tracy folks. I tried hard not to engage in any pre-race rituals... I even affixed my number at home to my race T-Shirt (Can't get any more scrub than that.) Drove to 14th and I and found parking at 8:00am. Jogged 4 minutes to Freedom Plaza and located the staging area for the Tracys. Talked with Don and Debby and Eve Stern and the boys, etc. Did one set of high knees and butt kicks (during which a passerby noticed my car key bounce out of my picket... Oops) and some leg swings. That was it for warm up over the full hour of standing around. At this race I saw current hopper Jacob Green who ran impressively well in only his 2nd run back and Former hoppers Simone and Tim Patch as well as the Tracys and Jonathan Shehann and Bill Solers and Lizzie Sadoff.

Couldn't hear much about the race, but I did slip away form the Traceys who were mostly walking and joined T-Patch as he walked towards the start. I eventually went ahead of him and squirmed my way up to about 30-40 meters from the start by the time the race began. I walked to the line and started my watch as I crossed the mat about 8-10 seconds behind the leaders.

Spent a minute or so dodging folks and then found a rhythm. Pace felt controlled, but it is still fun to be passing dozens of people, even in the first 1200meters of a race like this. By the time we turned across the mall near the capitol, I was 5th or so. By the time we turned onto Independence just after the mile mark, I was second, and took a measurement to determine I was 13 seconds back. That lead hovered right around 11 to 13 for the next mile and a half. Coming back up Pennsylvania Ave in the final 1200meters or so (I missed the two mile mark if there was one, but my first mile was 6:00) I couldn't really find much motivation to go after the leader. About 1km from the finish a young teenage boy jumped from the walking group southbound to the leaders's shoulder northbound while he friends laughed. Annoyed by this pathetic kid, feeling obliged to give the leader a chance to race head to head with me rather than have my chip time beat his without his ever having seen me, and honestly motivated by Don Tracy's willingness to fight Pancreatic cancer for two years, I realized I could fight a lot harder than I had been. I began to close the gap and with maybe 400 or 500 meters to go, I passed the kid (telling him "You can stop now.") and then the leader. He latched onto me for 10-15 seconds or so, but I kept surging and left him. I could feel the gap open, but I realized I'd kicked way too soon and too hard for what I currently have. I thought of my GDS teams at that moment, thought of the way they race the 4x400, thought of William's advice about keeping knees up and arms swinging... and I kept the leg speed as best I could. Finished with the lead and felt good and wiped out for a good long time afterward. 18:23.0 for the chip time and first place outright. It felt good to know I'd made the Tracy's proud... even if I knew that all the other good DC runners were at The Lawyers Have Heart 10km.
Waited for the first few Tracy's to finish and chatted with them, but after walking back along the course for many blocks, I gave up home of finding Marc and the rest and jogged to the car. Nicely tired and a bit head-achy as I write this in the afternoon. Pleased that I could hold a 5:55 pace (although a bit dubious about the measurement... but there were various turn-arounds which indicated it had been measured well. I know I finished it hard and I believe I could have been 20 seconds faster on that final mile. It is reassuring to know I can do this off f minimal training, but it gets me wishing for some good training so I can go sub 18 again in a meaningful race... Maybe the Haverford alumni run in September?