I did it!

I ran 13.1 miles in 2:06:46. My pace was a 9:41 mile - that sounds slow but I was actually shooting for a 10:00 pace. I beat my pace by almost 20 seconds per mile. I think the course helped me. It was extremely flat. I finished 595th out of 805. Within my age group I finished 117th out of 143. Again, not impressive but I am still very happy with my performance.

The course was a double loop. We started in front of Lowell High School and ran parallel to the Merrimack River. The weather could not have been better. It was the first sunny day in weeks. The temperature was very comfortable. The river was so high from all the flooding that it was actually on the road at some points. I found myself looking at the river and being in awe of the power of the river. We crossed the Rourke Bridge and ran down the "Boulevard" towards the UMass campus. At the end, we got to run the warning track at the Lowell Spinner's field (Red Sox AA team) and cross homeplate as we finished. My dad suggested that I should have slide across the plate for a big finish! Why didn't I think of that!

The two hours flew by. I set my watch to "pace" mode and did not bother with looking at an overall time. I am glad I took that approach. The race felt like a 10K to me, i.e. it was a little longer than I am used to running but it was nothing too long or too hard. I found myself in with a bunch of runners at my pace. That seemed to help with keeping focused. The one negative I can think of is that my new spandex running shorts kept cropping down (nice visual - huh?). I have two huge chaffing burns on the insides of my butt cheeks (again - great visual!). For some reason, the shorts were pushed down by my Camelbak. I did not take the time to "arrange" all my gear carefully. I will not make that mistake again!

As I entered LaLaCheur Park, some pony-tailed yuppie woman sprinted by me. I still had 200 hundred yeards or so (at the time, I saw that as a LONG way) but I'LL BE DAMNED if someone is going to burn me that close to the finish! I sprinted from left field all the way around first to home. EAT MY DUST PONY-TAIL!!! I could see the fire in her eyes as I passed her. I am sure the few people watching thought we were moving in slow motion (remember this was a 9:40 pace) but I felt like I was in a sprint to the death! I crossed the line first yet the chip timing shows our time as identical... Doesn't matter - I WON! We both caught up to the person in front of us.

And why do people actually wear their medals? Not sure if it was post race confusion but I could not find my out of the stadium :-)

I also got "on-the-board" at Half 2 Run. Half 2 Run is a club where participants try to run a half in half the states. 1 down; 24 to go!