Re: Maine Runners Page 2006
Hello Maine Runners,
Wow, lots of activity here over the past few weeks...that is good and all the banter has been helpful and supportive.
Thanks for noticing my time from Disneyland Bob. What a race! Maybe this should be posted elsewhere, but here's my report:
We flew from Manchester, NH to LAX via Midway in Chicago on Friday afternoon. Traveling with two boys in wheelchairs is an "adventure", yet we made it. I did more lifting than I should and everyone survived. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing. Saturday I got up around 5:00 LA time and ran three miles easy. The remainder of the day we drove around the city and saw the sights. After dinner with the group of families taking part in the fund-raiser I am participating in, I got to bed fairly early for a 4:30 alarm (Not bad for me as I am still on east coast time!).
Race morning is around 58-60F, but I'm still cold. As it gets closer to 6:00 I am still cold, but have a nice conversation with a woman from Napa who tells me about many of the area distance races as I try to hug my legs to warm up. After the National Anthem and the obligatory Mickey Mouse appearance, the director begins the countdown. Just before six the fireworks go off as do the runners. I was able to get close to the front of the "A corral" which is just behind the "elite runners". It is still very dark as we run the streets of Anaheim to the California Adventure Park. I find I am passing people regularly, but they are spread out across the wide streets and I stay to the right side to avoid jams. I have decided to go easy to start and ramp up as I am comfortable and hit 7:09 at mile one.
In the parks we are greeted by Disney Cast and Characters, mile two in 6:58. The course winds in and around the park then into the Disneyland Park for more of the same. I really don't notice much of the sights as I am planning my strategy deciding to push harder. Miles three and four are 6:42 and 6:45 and we exit the park greeting the first "hill". Runners back off here and this is where my Maine training pays off as I am able to maintain an even pace, mile five 6:47. As we hit the streets of Anaheim again daylight is just breaking. This part of the race takes us back and forth through neighborhoods and a light industrial area, miles seven and eight are 6:45 and 6:49. We pass several marching bands and cheerleaders far too chipper for so early in the morning, but this is California...right? Heading east for the next half mile the sun is directly in my eyes and I am grateful for my cap then we turn onto the Santa Ana River trail, mile nine 6:49 hitting 1:01 total. Going through the Anaheim Ducks Coliseum parking lot there are about fifty hockey players rhythmically rapping their sticks on the pavement. Next we run through Angel Stadium with the announcer calling runner's names just before the mile ten marker near the exit, 6:50. Outside of the stadium I feel fine and begin to wonder if I can keep up the pace. Runners are really beginning to spread out and I cannot judge how I am doing against the rest of the field, but I am still passing two to three runners each mile. Between mile eleven and twelve we run under the I-5 highway and back towards Disneyland, 7:04 and 6:50. Just outside the parks a younger female runner drops off holding her left hamstring and I suggest she walk it off and try to finish. She yells she?ll try and I hope she does. Back in the park there are people lining the sides of the streets cheering and calling out "almost there", so I try to kick it with the last gear I am able to manage. I see my wife and two boys just before the mile thirteen mark and which gives me a little more gas to pick it up a little, 6:49 and cruise the last tenth .40. I hear my name called yet focus on my watch...1:29:58! I am tired, yet don't feel too bad and grab something to eat and drink then got a quick massage before joining my family. My wife told me I finished under 100 and I doubted it until I saw the results.
When I saw the final stats I was very surprised. My official time is 1:30:00, finishing 73 out of 9394 and I was 11 of 562 in the 45-49 age division. What I was most happy about were the even splits making this a nice early tune-up race in my marathon training.
After spending the rest of Sunday and Monday in the area we all fly back Tuesday.
So, in less than two weeks I do it again at the Maine Half Marathon. I plan to run that race more conservatively and really enjoy the course. I hope to see many of you there.
Brian
