With that in mind, I opted to run the Fast and the Flurry-ous on Saturday this week. This is a 4 mile cross country race put on by the Boulder Running Company to support EXPAND Boulder. This particular race also boasts the largest cash purse of any cross country race in Colorado, which I believe was increased this year. The added competition this year saw the Boulder Track Club take on the Boulder Running Company team in a team competition. All this together meant that this year's running of The Fast and the Flurry-ous was the most competitive so far. It also made this a great chance to test my general fitness while contributing to a great cause.
Considering that I was going to race on Saturday, I took the latter half of the week pretty easy. I did not let myself get caught up in the speed games at the Wednesday night BRC run, choosing to hold back after the hill workout I did the previous day. I took Thursday completely off, and Friday consisted of an easy three or so miles with Matt and his dog.
Saturday started out cold. Cold for Boulder, any way. I woke up to a temperature of a balmy 15. This steadily climbed up until the race started, and I would guess the temperature was 30 or so, with a decent west wind, heading into the first lap.
I had tried something new in my approach to this race. I opted for the first time to pop a gu about 15 minutes before the race, to see if that would give me a little extra staying power. Perhaps it did, but it also definitely made my stomach more than a little unhappy.
I went out too fast. The classic mistake. I glanced down at my watch (a mistake, as it later turned out) and it claimed I was hitting 4:55 pace. I consciously slowed down, settling in to a pace that was just on the near edge of forcing me to lose my breakfast.
The first mile marker passed at about 5:50 according to my watch. Still probably too fast, but I was settling into my rhythm now, and felt good. This was the first race of mine that my girlfriend has attended when she hasn't also been in the race, and on the first time by the finish line I caught her eye and stuck out my tongue. Even if my stomach felt less than happy, it was great to have her there and seeing her face flash by every lap and have her waiting at the finish line.
My watch, as it turns out, seems to be a little off. At mile 1 it said 0.98 miles, and it dropped from there. It also showed me a slower pace than I was going. This made my somewhat low mental state lower, and I had to work harder as a result not to give in to the demons saying "Stop!" and keep pushing it through till the end.
Around the last bend to the finish line, I decided it was time to throw it in, and possibly throw it up. My old sprinter's legs came out of the dusty corner where they hide during my long runs and propelled me past three runners in the last 100m, proof enough that, had it not been for my stomach, I could definitely have thrown more into the earlier miles and lowered my time significantly. I have always been proud of my kick, but that day it was too easy.
I did lose at least my gu at the finish line (after the race volunteers screamed at me to "Slow Down" in the finishing chute, like I was going to careen into the person 10m in front of me). Fortunately my girlfriend had correctly taken my wave to mean "step back. "
As it turns out, the race did not go as badly as I had thought from glancing at my GPS the whole time and the feeling in my gut. I came in at 25:36, for a 6:15 pace. My watch gave the same time, but a total of 3.95 miles and 6:35 pace.
Not a time or a pace to wave around, perhaps, but I felt good with the result, given how poorly I had felt throughout the laps. It says much about my fitness that I can have a bad day and still run the fastest 4 miles I've run since getting to Colorado (unless my 10k a few years ago was better, I don't recall). And it was on grass. All in all, a valuable experience with a few lessons learned for the first time, and at least one learned once again.
That said, I hope to see significant improvement over that pace in the next several months.
I will write more about my run today at another time (with pictures included, of course). For now, I will leave you with the group I saw at the Boulder Theater on Thursday: Ladysmith Black Mambazo. You might know them from their work with Paul Simon starting in the 80s, or from their appearance singing the "African Alphabet" on Sesame Street. But I like their own music the best: it's there that their joy and energy in singing best shines through. I have never before seen a 70 year old kick his foot above his head.
What I love most is the obvious joy they put forward on stage, combined with the occasional goofiness that shines through. The most memorable quote might just be "no kissing on stage," after one member of the group repeatedly, and mischievously, kissed another on the cheek during a song.
No comments:
Post a Comment