The Leg it for Life 5k starts off at the East Lansing soccer field and then goes into the wooded trails for the next 2 miles and finishes at the soccer field.
Three weeks ago I had run a 20:22 at Ele's Race and comparing the 2006 Ele's Race times to the 2006 East Lansing Leg it Race times I came up that todays trail run produced an average of 42 seconds slower times than Ele's Race.
So I was already conceding that 20:00 was out of the plans today. I was going for place and my time goal was 20:30 although that goal seemed rather lofty.
After I ran a 15 minute warmup (which felt good) in the wooded trails I said hello to poster KahKah who was in the parking lot. He asked me "Are you going to do it today?" I knew he was asking if I could go sub 20. I didn't want to be pessimistic and give excuses for the course so I said "I will run hard today how does that sound?"
It had rained in the morning and the grass was wet. About 33% of the course was run on grass and about 50% was run on dirt trails. At least the rain kept the temps down and the sun was behind the clouds. The temp was around 72 degrees.
I lined up further back in the pack than I normally do because I got to the starting line rather late. My buddy Derek (who had run a 35:52 effort 2 months ago) was here to run his 2nd race and was hoping to crack the 30 barrier today.
The horn sounded and we took off around the soccer field grass for the 1st half mile. I started at a moderate pace and began to pass runners at a steady rate. We ran around the soccer field and started into the woods at about the half mile mark. To this point I estimate I passed about 20 runners. I wasn't running hard and I felt pretty good. As I went into the woods I was surprised to noticed Jim (a 59 year old) who usually is 15 seconds ahead of me in the 1st mile was just a few paces ahead of me. I pulled in behind Jim to pace. I wondered to myself whether he was having a bad day or if I was having a good day. His pace seemed just about right for me.
Occasionally Jim would throw in a surge but I managed to keep within a couple seconds of him the whole time. Now we came to the mile mark and I hit my stopwatch which showed a split time of 6:29. I was running smoothly and was very pleased with this time. Remember I was thinking 20:30 would be a great time today and I was ahead of pace for that. Soon after the mile mark I saw another familiar runner Gerard (54 year old) who had run a 19:54 at Ele's Race 3 weeks ago. My original plan today was to stick close to Gerard and now I had a great chance to do so. Gerard led me and Jim by about 10 seconds. I started to think about the water stop that should be approaching soon. Should I take a drink? I decided against it as it wasn't too hot and I didn't want to slow down to grab a cup. Jim was just ahead of me and he cut left to grab a cup of water while I went right and we were neck and neck for about 10 strides but then I pulled ahead of Jim. At around the race halfway mark a girl was calling out times "9:55"....still I felt good and wondered whether a sub 20 may actually be possible today.
I was now pulling away from Jim and focused on Gerard who was the same 10 seconds ahead. We pulled out of the woods and onto a quarter mile stretch of pavement. The pavement felt hard after the soft trails and I started to tire for the 1st time.The 2 mile mark was approaching and I passed it in 13:17. A little dissapointing as I didn't think I had slowed that much in mile 2 with a 6:48 split.
Now we went back into the wooded trails for half mile.
The 1st 2 miles were almost a breeze but now it was starting to become a grind. I was not catching Gerard as he still held a 60 meter lead but I wasn't losing much ground either. I kept thinking I had run 122 miles in the last 3 weeks so I should be able to cut the 27 second gap that Gerard had beat me by at Ele's Race 3 weeks ago.
Out of the woods now and I passed an18 year old guy named "Dylon" as that is what the cheering section called him. My breathing was becoming louder but I noticed it was a nice rythym. My time was 16:30. Still a little over 1/2 mile to go I thought so still to early to go to the next gear. We ran onto the grass at the edge of the soccer field and as I followed the white paint line I saw Dylon taking a huge shortcut route across the grass. This deflated me a little but I held close to him. Only 3 minutes left I thought as I read 17:30 off my watch. I shifted into a higher gear and went past Dylon. The next turn (2nd to last on course) I pulled a Dylon and pulled off a nice shortcut of my own. I soon learned why there was no cone on this turn though for my shortcut was leading me to a steep uphill. I had to veer back to the left back to the paint line.
I was trigger happy with the stopwatch now peeking at it like it was a box of doughnuts. I passed an older gentlemen who was cheerleading at the 18:30 mark. I wondered if maybe he was at the quarter mile to go mark. I only had 90 seconds left to finish in sub 20. but it didn't look too far to the finish. About 800 feet ahead then a right turn and maybe another 800 feet.
I was catching a fit looking girl as we got to the final turn and thought she looks pretty tough.
As I turned the final turn I checked my time which was 19:30. I can definately beat 20:30 so I had my goal. I told myself "I am a good finisher" and passed the girl who didn't try to stay with me. I remember looking at my watch again to see exactly where Iw as when 20:00 went past and I tried to will the finish line to me. It looked tantalizingly close but was still about 400 feet away.
I had a final gear for the last 100 meters but it wasn't quite as powerful as the last few races. I rolled over the finish mat in a time of 20:24, eleven seconds behind Gerard. This was good for 2nd place of 9 in my age group and 27th of 225 overall. A small race it appears the rain kept people at home. Again analyzing some race results the average time this year for individuals who finished near me was about 17 seconds slower than Eles Race.
My time today was 2 seconds slower than Ele's Race so I estimate I gained about 15 seconds of fitness from my last race which I ran a time of 20:22. Getting closer and closer and here are my last 3 race times.
July 7... 20:17
July 22... 20:22
August 12... 20:24
Mile split times today
6:29
6:48
6:30
0:36 last tenth.
Oh yeah....my buddy Derek finished in 28:49.
And then lost his breakfast over by the fence.
If only I could take some of that passion into my racing huh?
http://This message has been edited by MichiganFlyer2 (edited Aug-12-2007).
Three weeks ago I had run a 20:22 at Ele's Race and comparing the 2006 Ele's Race times to the 2006 East Lansing Leg it Race times I came up that todays trail run produced an average of 42 seconds slower times than Ele's Race.
So I was already conceding that 20:00 was out of the plans today. I was going for place and my time goal was 20:30 although that goal seemed rather lofty.
After I ran a 15 minute warmup (which felt good) in the wooded trails I said hello to poster KahKah who was in the parking lot. He asked me "Are you going to do it today?" I knew he was asking if I could go sub 20. I didn't want to be pessimistic and give excuses for the course so I said "I will run hard today how does that sound?"
It had rained in the morning and the grass was wet. About 33% of the course was run on grass and about 50% was run on dirt trails. At least the rain kept the temps down and the sun was behind the clouds. The temp was around 72 degrees.
I lined up further back in the pack than I normally do because I got to the starting line rather late. My buddy Derek (who had run a 35:52 effort 2 months ago) was here to run his 2nd race and was hoping to crack the 30 barrier today.
The horn sounded and we took off around the soccer field grass for the 1st half mile. I started at a moderate pace and began to pass runners at a steady rate. We ran around the soccer field and started into the woods at about the half mile mark. To this point I estimate I passed about 20 runners. I wasn't running hard and I felt pretty good. As I went into the woods I was surprised to noticed Jim (a 59 year old) who usually is 15 seconds ahead of me in the 1st mile was just a few paces ahead of me. I pulled in behind Jim to pace. I wondered to myself whether he was having a bad day or if I was having a good day. His pace seemed just about right for me.
Occasionally Jim would throw in a surge but I managed to keep within a couple seconds of him the whole time. Now we came to the mile mark and I hit my stopwatch which showed a split time of 6:29. I was running smoothly and was very pleased with this time. Remember I was thinking 20:30 would be a great time today and I was ahead of pace for that. Soon after the mile mark I saw another familiar runner Gerard (54 year old) who had run a 19:54 at Ele's Race 3 weeks ago. My original plan today was to stick close to Gerard and now I had a great chance to do so. Gerard led me and Jim by about 10 seconds. I started to think about the water stop that should be approaching soon. Should I take a drink? I decided against it as it wasn't too hot and I didn't want to slow down to grab a cup. Jim was just ahead of me and he cut left to grab a cup of water while I went right and we were neck and neck for about 10 strides but then I pulled ahead of Jim. At around the race halfway mark a girl was calling out times "9:55"....still I felt good and wondered whether a sub 20 may actually be possible today.
I was now pulling away from Jim and focused on Gerard who was the same 10 seconds ahead. We pulled out of the woods and onto a quarter mile stretch of pavement. The pavement felt hard after the soft trails and I started to tire for the 1st time.The 2 mile mark was approaching and I passed it in 13:17. A little dissapointing as I didn't think I had slowed that much in mile 2 with a 6:48 split.
Now we went back into the wooded trails for half mile.
The 1st 2 miles were almost a breeze but now it was starting to become a grind. I was not catching Gerard as he still held a 60 meter lead but I wasn't losing much ground either. I kept thinking I had run 122 miles in the last 3 weeks so I should be able to cut the 27 second gap that Gerard had beat me by at Ele's Race 3 weeks ago.
Out of the woods now and I passed an18 year old guy named "Dylon" as that is what the cheering section called him. My breathing was becoming louder but I noticed it was a nice rythym. My time was 16:30. Still a little over 1/2 mile to go I thought so still to early to go to the next gear. We ran onto the grass at the edge of the soccer field and as I followed the white paint line I saw Dylon taking a huge shortcut route across the grass. This deflated me a little but I held close to him. Only 3 minutes left I thought as I read 17:30 off my watch. I shifted into a higher gear and went past Dylon. The next turn (2nd to last on course) I pulled a Dylon and pulled off a nice shortcut of my own. I soon learned why there was no cone on this turn though for my shortcut was leading me to a steep uphill. I had to veer back to the left back to the paint line.
I was trigger happy with the stopwatch now peeking at it like it was a box of doughnuts. I passed an older gentlemen who was cheerleading at the 18:30 mark. I wondered if maybe he was at the quarter mile to go mark. I only had 90 seconds left to finish in sub 20. but it didn't look too far to the finish. About 800 feet ahead then a right turn and maybe another 800 feet.
I was catching a fit looking girl as we got to the final turn and thought she looks pretty tough.
As I turned the final turn I checked my time which was 19:30. I can definately beat 20:30 so I had my goal. I told myself "I am a good finisher" and passed the girl who didn't try to stay with me. I remember looking at my watch again to see exactly where Iw as when 20:00 went past and I tried to will the finish line to me. It looked tantalizingly close but was still about 400 feet away.
I had a final gear for the last 100 meters but it wasn't quite as powerful as the last few races. I rolled over the finish mat in a time of 20:24, eleven seconds behind Gerard. This was good for 2nd place of 9 in my age group and 27th of 225 overall. A small race it appears the rain kept people at home. Again analyzing some race results the average time this year for individuals who finished near me was about 17 seconds slower than Eles Race.
My time today was 2 seconds slower than Ele's Race so I estimate I gained about 15 seconds of fitness from my last race which I ran a time of 20:22. Getting closer and closer and here are my last 3 race times.
July 7... 20:17
July 22... 20:22
August 12... 20:24
Mile split times today
6:29
6:48
6:30
0:36 last tenth.
Oh yeah....my buddy Derek finished in 28:49.
And then lost his breakfast over by the fence.
If only I could take some of that passion into my racing huh?
http://This message has been edited by MichiganFlyer2 (edited Aug-12-2007).
