Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Skeleton Run 5k 2010 Race Report (Amherst)

The weather was almost perfect, certainly as nice as you could ask for in late October for a 5k.  Luke and I warmed up by walking / jogging the last 2/3 of the course.  Add in some long sprint-outs and I had about 2 miles in when I got to the start line.

None of the kids (besides Luke) came along so this is the first year in a long time I've been able to warm-up properly, usually I would be watching the kids races.

I was in the top 10 from the start.  The course goes out about a quarter mile and turns left.  I caught just a couple guys that went out too hard.  My mile split was 5:29, just about right.  Josh Park, a local 8th grader caught me in the first mile.  We ran together through the park trail section.

2 guys in front of us started to go left at the split and Josh called out "right", very impressive and self-assured for a kid of his age.

Ben Spurlock, the Rock N Roll Runner caught us before 2, Josh went on with him and I fell back.  My 2-mile split was 11:24 so that mile was 5:55.  This is a little slow but it is a rolling section of the race with some turns.

Another guy caught me on Lincoln, I passed him back on the way into the track, but then Don Henderson passed me right at the line. I wondered, shouldn't he be running high school cross country still?  He is in the Hermes Road Race Series and I'm sure that him passing me will affect my place in the standings.

My time of 18:03 was my 2nd best time of the year, and a nice come-back from the Towpath debacle 2 weeks ago. Third mile was 6:03, I sure thought I picked it up a little to finish but apparently not enough to matter.

I grabbed a banana, bagel, and some water and did a 2-mile cool down before the awards.

My overall place was 9th of 559, my age group place was 2nd of 28 men 40-44.  Complete results are online.  Next race is the Run With Scissors double-marathon on 10/31!

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