I was doing this race because we were in town to visit my wife's alma mater for alumnae weekend. It used to be a really popular race and would bring out thousands. Now it is a lot less attended and there were 240 runners doing the 4 miler and another 400+ doing the premier event of the 10. Since I'm smack dab in the middle of the toughest part of my marathon training I did not think I had 10 miles at a race pace in me, so I opted for the 4, which would also allow me the opportunity to get my long run in on Sunday.

Everyone started together and I had thought that the 4 milers would turn at some point and then come back to the start/finish. I was about three rows back and trying to pay attention to the race numbers as the ones in blue were for the 4 milers and red for the 10, so I was trying to get an idea of who I'd be running against.

Gun goes off (a literal shotgun start) and we're on the road. I try to weave through traffic and settle in at a decent pace. I'm about 15th or so overall at this point and cruising. After the first 1/2 a mile we start going downhill, and going and going ...... first mile split was a 5:45, which didn't feel like I had just run that sort of mile. And we kept descending from there.

I knew we would have to go back up sometime, and of course we did. At this point I was probably 10th overall (I'm talking for both races as the only people I could see all had red numbers). I had no idea if anyone in the super fastie pack about 100 meters ahead of me had a blue number, but I knew at that point that I was well up in the 4 mile group regardless. Up started around the 1.3 mile range. And up and up and up ...... 2 miles clicked off at 12:07, so I had lost quite a bit of momentum once we started climbing. Ugh .... but I knew it was coming.

After the two mile mark and having a few more red numbered people pass me I started looking for the turn to go back. And it wasn't coming. We were approaching the 3 mile mark and I still had not seen any blue numbers pass me so I was freaking out that I missed the turn off. 3 miles came and went at 18:51, so another slower mile because it was all uphill (6:44). I yell to a volunteer, "Where's the 4 mile turnoff????" He ws like "What?" Great, even they don't know ......

Soon after 3 miles we make a hard right onto another street and there were crowds there cheering up on. At this point we were coming close to the 3.5 mile mark and I finally saw someone with a blue number pass me. A tall young guy who was keeping a good pace. So I mark him and try to maintain/catch him. He's staying about 50 feet ahead of me, and I'm pretty beat.

We pass a large sign that says "4 miler turn 1/4 mile." So obviously we aren't finishing at the start/finish area, we're just turning off at the 4 mile mark of the 10 miler. I look up and see my mark had sped up a little and I try to pace him. Another sign pointing left and "4 miler finish 275 feet." There's no hope of catching the guy ahead of me so I pay attention to finishing and glancing back to see if there are any other blue numbers. Nope ......

Cruise into the finish. "Congratulations, you're second place." What???? Damnit!! I was 19 seconds out of first!! The guy in front of me (a collegiate sprinter and jumper) passed me for first place in the last 1/2 mile, and neither of us had any clue that we were battling it out. The next person in was a whole minute behind me and was a 15 year old kid. And the next six after that were also all teenagers (a x-country team basically).

Not let someone pass me once I knew they were in the same field as me. Know the course!

Talked with the winner, ate a banana and drank some Gatorade. Walked to the shuttle bus and got a ride back to the start/finish, found my wife and played dumb as to how I di so she would be surprised. ;)


Not knowing the course. Ummmmm, 200 miles last month and 107 miles already this month for marathon training maybe??? ;)


Good tough race in a beautiful setting. Well run, but they ran out of t-shirts, so none for me.