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Williams Alumni Race

October 21, 2017 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Beautiful morning out in Williamstown for the Plansky Invitation/"Aluminum Bowl," a coed 5k held at Williams every year that serves both as real collegiate race against several rather weak local college teams and an alumni race for a good 60+ very enthusiastic Ephs, their spouses, and children (or even grandkids). About a dozen folks from my era were racing, and I succeed in both my somewhat sarcastic goals of running sub-20 and beating at least one person who was better than me in college. I also beat some All-Americans...from the 1970s.

I managed to surprise Julia Gunther with a "run good" at the starting line. The GDS kids on the men's team weren't racing (only some of the current team races this meet) but were very enthusiastic cheerers on the sidelines.

The race started out slow with many of us alumni chatting about how much better shape we'd been in just last week or how you should have seen us race a month ago before we got old. I even slowed down initially to talk with a couple teammates. After a quarter mile though I came to my senses and realized I didn't come all the way to Williamstown just got for a jog, and that despite having not warmed up at all and not feeling particularly fleet-footed, I did want to take this race at least somewhat seriously. I moved up considerably up after that until I was ahead of everyone who I'd been talking to, but then Aaron Schwartz caught up to me and passed me around 3/4 of a mile, followed by Ryan Ford at the halfway mark. I stuck with him though, passing Andrew Beaudoin, the 1:56 800m runner I'd once coached at Milton Academy, and the women from the Williams ski team who had somehow gotten ahead of me, and finally Ryan himself with a half mile to go. I then really turned on the heat, continuing to pass some more guys, and made a desperate dash for the finish. All in all, I'm somewhat pleased. I could have gone harder, and I wish I'd managed to break 19, and catch my teammate (Prof.) Lauren Philbrook, who won the women's division and finished only two places ahead of me. But I was glad to have finished right around Aaron and Ryan who were the keys I was vying with for a spot of on the second seven back in college, so it was good to know that even without being in top shape I was still holding my own. I think I could have gone faster but am just not used to giving 100% effort cardiovascularly. Marathons and half-marathons are a different animal (less lungs, more legs) and I honestly haven't been super motivated by to go all out in a race in a long time. Hopefully, if I get in shape enough over the next month and get back into the swing of racing I'll be ready to commit fully to an all-out effort at the BiggSteps 5k, the last race of my season, in late November.

1 Leaf mid-race! That's 5 for the season.