Sunday, April 22, 2012

Weekend Results

Results trickling in from weekend races...

GW Parkway Ten Miler:

MEN
Ban - 6th, 53:23 -- almost a minute PR!

WOMEN
LTO - 3rd, 61:04
Woodall - 8th, 63:11
Kirby - 9th (1st master), 64:48

In Toledo, OH -- Brian "Breezy" Young ran 2:53:01 at the Glass City Mutual Marathon.

More from Dirk on his race at Mt Sac:

Brief synopsis: Training had been good over the past 4 months, nothing really special, but lots of longer stuff at 5.10 mile pace (at 7000ft altitude) with short breaks. I knew this could maybe be my final shot at 30 minutes. I knew I could have done it in college, but never ran a 10k then, and as work and life gets busier, you realize how few chances you may get at these things. 
 
With a seed time of 30.25, I was right in the middle of the start list, with the fastest seed at 30.10. At our late start time (11.10pm), the weather was on our side: very little wind and 60 degrees. When the gun went off, an Adams State guy opened a gap right away (he went on to win by 15sec). The rest of us followed and settled at laps of 71. Slowly but surely I passed one guy after another. After about 8.55 for 3k, we slowed ever so slightly to just around 15.00 at 5k with maybe 12 of us in the pack. I still felt comfortable. I had told myself to get to 10 laps to go and then take it one at a time. Our pack continued to thin as we rolled along in 72s and 73s. We hit 8k with 7 guys left in our pack at 24.03. I knew with a good last mile, sub 30 was in my reach. At 9k, we were at 27.05 and we were slowing down a bit. Dutch Paul and Tex Paul were at the 200m yelling at me that this was the time!! We hit 600m with 1.44 left, I knew I had to move soon. With the bell lap, we had 67 seconds left. At 300m, I passed four guys coming out of the curve and with a last 200m of about 31, I had just made it: 29.59.04 for 4th. Looking back, I actually wish I had gone for broke at 2k or 1 mile to go, but after 4 years of no track racing, I felt almost inhibited to make a move. Regardless of whether I will ever run a competitive race again, I am happy and grateful for this race and can strongly recommend Mt Sac!! And couldn't have done it without the support of the Paul's!