As it actually happened... (Harry's Spring Run-Off race report)

Turns out I'm not much of a fiction writer (please read companion piece posted earlier today).
I wasn't too far off from my invented post. Just about everything I predicted would happen, did happen. One major change to the fantasy post was my finishing time: a new personal best of 51:49.4 (previous 53:24.6, set in 2005)! I'm not sure why I'd said 56+ minutes in my pretend post, just a number I picked out of the air with no thought to what I'm now capable of. I dressed about perfectly for the weather today: a sleeveless shirt with a long sleeve on top (which I'd take off and wrap around my waist at the halfway mark when I walked through the Gatorade station).

As much as I complain about hills, this course is challenging, yet enjoyable, especially if the weather was as perfect as today's (5C, no wind, all sun). The first hill just before the 3K mark sucked. I think I was still partially distracted by the poor start. I just tried to remember to keep my head up, pump my arms, and just keep going. I hadn't thought about a race strategy, a pace, or even reviewed the course before showing up. After 4K I was a new runner. I had much better focus, better breathing, and frankly, I felt invincible. By the time I hit the 6K mark, I was really warmed up (this is typical -- it takes me at least 3 miles to feel good about running). My stride became surer, stronger. I reached the 7K marker and I quickly glanced at my watch. It read just over 44mins. All that was left was 1K and it included the legendary hill (maybe 300 metres?) to the finish. I charged ahead. It was time to leave it all on the floor. A lot of people were starting to walk up this hill. Easy pickoffs. I felt pretty light during the first half of the hill. It started getting tough, but a great song was blaring in my ears, and I forged ahead. Saw Arcane and Yumke at the top of the hill. Only 100m left. All smiles, high-fived Yumke and made the turn towards a personal best.

Everyone did real well. Fitz placed 10th in his category; Tommy, who just started running in January and has lost 70 pounds in the past year, almost cracked the Top 100 5K finishers. Unsurprisingly, Yumke PB'ed. And Arcane, in his first 8K race, was hot on Yumke's heels, coming in microseconds behind him.

And as a casual observation, this is probably the first post-race meal that I've ever eaten that did not -- !DID NOT! -- feature heaps of bacon. Maybe because it was well after noon by the time the four photogs found each other. I ordered a burger, but the waitress told me the pub was not serving these sandwiches today. Something about the meat being fine but no matter how the kitchen cooked it, the burgers still came out looking raw and each one had already been sent back. Uh, no thanks. So I chose a side of multigrain toast to go with a lovely iron-rich spinach salad with pears, blue cheese and candied walnuts. I ignored the tomatoes.

Three things I learned:

1. Don't pick up race packet on race day. I was so unprepared this morning. I left the house, realized I'd forgotten photo ID, returned home to get ID, and then run to the subway. Train ride was uneventful but I kept staring at my watch, trying to will time to slow and/or make the train go faster. I got to the park with 15 minutes before gun time. The packet pickup (nice swag by the way) was not where I'd remembered it to be. By the time I got my chip and checked my bag, I was dashing back to the start line, and someone said "30 seconds!" I was still pinning my bib to my shirt as I was trying to get to the line! I began to wonder if I'd pay for this unnecessary expenditure of energy during those messy hills. I've already run 1.5K for my tardiness. I joined the back of the pack and it'd be another 2 minutes or so before my foot would cross the chip activation mat.
2. Don't eat a pound of wings the night before a race. This requires no explanation. Yumke might add, "don't eat a pound of hot wings the night before a race". If it weren't because it was monthly Dinner Club night, we both would have eaten something else, but it's Dinner Club and we love Dinner Club. At least I had spaghetti carbonara for lunch.
3. My iPod loves me. Put it on shuffle and it's like the songs knew what I needed. Started off with, curiously, Sir Mix A-Lot's "Baby Got Back", which was fun because I was passing all sorts of butts .... and ended with John Parr's "Man in Motion", which is my ultimate Power Up song, and again passing all sorts of butts (going back to the days when Frankie and I would do spinning class on Thursday nights and this was the song that got us through some long hills.)