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Road Race on Cape Cod

October 3, 2010 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Drove out to Harwich on Cape Cod with John Biersteker and some of his Reach the Beach pals. Most of them did the half marathon, but I elected to do the 7.3 miler. First one off the line which felt right, but looked stupid, since I was soon caught by a bunch of older runners when I eased up after 200 meters. I gradually let them pass me over the first mile, deciding it was more important to find the right pace than to be part of a pack. Most of them were doing the half-marathon as it turned out, but that was small comfort and 2 other guys caught up to me, ran with me, and eventually dropped me in the first three miles, my shin muscles feeling quite sore the whole time. Then all of a sudden around mile 4 just after 2 other guys had caught up to me, I felt fresh. The pain in my shins eased up and my legs told me they were ready to run. I turned up the tempo, dropped the guys who'd caught up to me over the next mile, and was closing on another guys who'd passed me miles back. Then I turned onto the bike trail at mile 5 to head to the 7.3 mile finish and found myself entirely alone, the only guy ahead of me nearly out of sight. Ran strong, but lonely, along the last 2 miles, picking up really well in the final mile and half, and kicking it in with a sweet sprint at the end. Felt like I still had more energy afterwards, which I didn't mind since I wasn't focused on trying to get a PR, only on training for October 31. Still, I took the race seriously while I was in it, and was proud of myself at the end. Got first in my age group and second overall.