Race and Train Weekend

Ed -

Had a blast this weekend running the Colony Lost and Found 5K in my adopted hometown of Manteo, NC.  This is easily my favorite race.

It's only a few minutes from my house, a bunch of my friends run in it as a speed workout for the Outer Banks Marathon or Half coming up next month, the course is pretty flat but runs through some nice trails and out to the water, and the awards are done at the outdoor theater where they do the Lost Colony play every summer.

The atmosphere is casual, friendly and fun.

And the shirts rock.  Long sleeve, heavy cotton with a cool logo on them.

This year the weather was perfect: clear skies, 60 degrees, and only a light breeze of about 10 knots.  That's light for the OBX.  There's a reason Orville and Wilbur came here to fly.  It's windy every freaking day.

As far as the actual race went it wasn't bad since I've tapered off my speed work and have been doing mainly long, slow distance.  I covered the 3.1 miles in 21:00 and didn't really push all that hard the first or second mile.  I did get a little motivated the last mile because this young guy wearing a bright orange jersey almost exactly like mine was about 75 meters ahead of me and I decided to catch him with a mile to go.  I got on his shoulder with a half mile left and we both began to really steam.  My stomach was tightening up and while I knew I could take him, I also knew it was probably going to mean I'd puke at the end.

I was asked once by a friend why I do that so often.  I think part of it is that I can definitely push myself past that pain threshold when I want, but the other part is the fact my salivary glands don't work all that well.  After 15 minutes or so of breathing through my mouth it gets pretty bone dry in there and makes it very hard to swallow and I have to concentrate just so I don't choke on my tongue sometimes.  So I'm thinking that has something to do with it.

Anyways, I really didn't want to go into the dry heave fits at the end of this since there were small children around, and besides it was going to be a slow time for me.  Who wants to look like they just gave it all they had when they really only kicked in the last half?

With 50 to go he kicked (and it was a good kick; the guy flew) and I just hung back.  He beat me by two seconds.  Nice finish dude!  Here's his pic:

The young woman standing next to him is Jessica.

She's fast.

Funny story:

My first ever 8K was a couple of years ago and I ran it hard.  Even had my best 5K time when I hit that split.  At the finish I was dry heaving when my buddy Shane came up to me and said, "Nice run, Ed!  You almost beat the pregnant lady."

Jessica looked over at me while I continued to gag and said, "Good times, Ed.  Good times!"

Here she is today along with the little girl who beat me while in utero.

That shirt is so last year, Jess....

I may have been blown out of the Female Age 25 to 29 group but I got first in the Male Age 45 - 49 group!  Thanks in no small part to the fact that Keith, who's only 47, won the whole thing and placed out of the division.  That's him in the middle there.  Look at this guy's legs!

A cool little tidbit happened here.  A couple of my friends and I finished 7th, 8th, and 9th overall and each one of us won our age group!  We were high fiving and taking pictures at the awards ceremony like we were watching our own kids at graduation or something.  So adorable.

That's Pete getting his medal while Shane was taking his picture.

There were trophies for the top finishers, both male and female, and when Jessica sat back down in front of us with her trophy her husband pointed out the person on top of her trophy was a guy.  That's about when Keith came over and showed Jessica that his trophy had a girl on it.  They traded and laughed.  We figured every one's trophies might have gotten confused so Shane yelled over to Adam, the third place male and asked him, "Adam!  Does your trophy have....ummm...boobs on it?"

Adam's wife hollered back, "Yes I do!"

Thanks again to the Outer Banks Running Club for putting on such a great race.

The next morning I was up at 4:30 to run 13.1 miles with Shane, Pete and a bunch of other Running Club members.  The stars were incredible and the run was a blast.

I ended up throwing a couple of half mile or so fartleks in there, including the half mile UP the bridge at mile 10.  Shane was revving up the group as we approached it.

"There it is!  Are you READY??!!"

I got pumped up and took off for it.  I could hear Shane behind me saying things like, "there he goes...he wants it..."  I accelerated more and he started yelling, "Ed eats hills for breakfast!!"

I drove up that thing with absolute authority and it felt SO good.

We all finished up together with Shane and me talking about how each one of us had inspired the other through our cancers and now our running.  Shane's off to do a 200 mile relay with 5 other runners and then he's doing a 62 mile Ultra next spring!

Such a beast.  And a wonderful guy.

He and I are both inviting people out to the Outer Banks next May 18-19 for our Relay For Life event.  Shane is putting on The Cupcake 5K as part of that weekend and I'll be using that race as part of my 50th birthday celebration.

Mark your calendars and join us!