This was race 6 in the Track Shack race series. It was worth double points. Going into the race I was 2 in my AG with no chance to take over the top position unless that woman failed to appear or ran so slowly she got no points. So, my goal was to try not to lose my place. The series only awards the top AGer, so I wouldn't get anything but satisfaction for 2d place.

While waiting for the race to start I saw a woman who I know is in the series and who I thought was in my AG. In fact, I thought she was the 3d place woman. I had not paid close enough attention to the points to know whether there was any scenario where she could move past me. However, I thought that as long as I finished high enough in the standings to earn any points, I'd maintain my spot. So, I wasn't too worried about her.

The horn went off and 3139 runners (2049 of them women!) took off as one big mosh pit. As always within the first few hundred feet I was passing people who were walking or otherwise running really slowly. Rant coming. Why or why do these people seed themselves so high? They ignored the pace signs and all the announcements to place themselves in the appropriate location and then they get jostled around by the tons of runners who are much faster and who are trying to get out of the craziness of the start. It's dangerous for everyone. Rant over!
Once things opened up a bit -around the mile mark to start and then it got progressively better, but the race is a crowded one the entire way, I started to settle into my pace. Around that time the woman I marked before the race as 3d in my AG passed me. Damn it! I decided not to try to go with her, but rather just keep her in my sights and hope that she would either come back to me or I'd loosen up more and be able to have a nice negative split and pass her on the last few miles.
By mile 3 I feared my plan of her falling back was not a good one -even with her wearing long compression tights and a long sleeved shirt in hot and humid weather, as she was able to maintain the same and sometimes more distance from me. I also feared my plan to get faster was not working out either! Rats.
I was still passing people, but my legs just did not have the pep that I needed, so my new goal was to maintain my speed. That seemed to work out ok.
At around mile 4 or 4.5 there was a water stop and my nemesis stopped/slowed down for a second to grab some. This allowed me to close the distance a bit. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter we were back on brick roads and I run horribly on brick! So, I didn't think I could make up more time. But I started to, bit by bit.
Around the 5.25 mile mark I was on her. Now the decision was whether to pass her right then or hold up right behind her and get her in the last .25 mile or so. I realized that as big as this race is, there was a very real chance that she crossed the start line after me, so even if I finished right ahead of her, her time could be faster. So, I decided to pass her and hope she didn't see me. If she did see me I hoped she either didn't care, didn't know she was competing against me, or couldn't respond. I refused to look back once I passed b/c I didn't want her to see that I was worried. Plus, I'd probably trip myself doing that! So, once I passed her I just kept moving, trying to look strong.
In the last .25 mile I tried to sprint and brought myself to the verge of puking, so I knew I was giving it my all. She never passed me! Yay!
But, in an all too brief time after I crossed, she was with me thanking me for pacing her to the finish! Double Damn! I had no idea where she was, but it was not that much behind. So, placement would all come down to when she crossed the start line.

After finishing, I waited for Susan to finish. I knew this was not going to be a good race for her as it had gotten so hot and she gets sick in hot weather. Especially since we went from 40-50s to 80s without any time to acclimate. She was in first place in her AG for the Series going into this race, so I just hoped she could hold on enough to maintain her position. Based on her finish time, I knew she had to resort to a run-walk strategy, so this was going to be interesting.
We don't wait around too often for awards -we generally go to breakfast :), but since it was the Series and it came with $$, we decided to wait.
First were the race results. I did not place in my AG. My nemesis took 3d!! She beat me by 3 seconds. Oh well, I did what I could on the day, she was just better.
Finally the Series awards came. Much to my utter amazement, I won! How the hell did that happen? I wasn't really even paying attention, just was expecting the woman with 1st place heading into the race to get the win. Turns out, she didn't show up for some reason. Even with that, we were tied in points, so I ended up winning on the tie breaker -who had the higher placement in the 10k! So, I received a neat plaque, a cool backpack type thing and $50 gift certificate. Sweet!
Unfortunately, Susan's blowing up cost her !st place by 3 points. So, we stayed for the awards because we thought she was going to win and instead, I won. Weird.
Also as it turns out, my nemesis was not in my AG for the Series. She aged up for the last race which is why she was able to steal :) 3d place from me, but she started the series in a younger AG and you stay in that AG for the whole series. So, I wasn't trying to keep her from overtaking my Series placement!
I need to enjoy this season's Series' win as next season I will not be so lucky!


This race was my 3d race in 3 weeks. I may have had a bit more in my legs without so many races. But, that's ok, they've been fun.