- 10 AM start
- Oldest 8k in the State
- Long Sleeve microfiber shirt
After that, I was excited to see how I stood after only a few runs, and over a month off of no running.
I was very judicious with my time in bed, as I tend to be, and as a result didn't leave much time for error. I arrived at my destination via my GPS cooridnates right in the middle of the campus at 9:40 and parked. Where the race was, and where the joggers were I was not sure. All I did know was that I was told I had until 9:45 to pick up my race number, and that that location was in a gym. I then began jogging around the campus looking for a gym, or signs of participants, but my immediate luck was not. After 2-3 minutes, I found a human and she told me it was across the street. Once I started looking across the street, I saw a few joggers, and then they were able to tell me how to get to the gym. I picked up my race numbeer at 9:50, and was very glad they didn't decide to close down shop any earlier.
I stashed my bag, gave Ryan Woods a hello, and headed to the start line. I could tell that the race wasn't as large as I anticipated, but given the perfect weather I was excited to get going. The gun was off, and so were we. My goal was to break 34 mins, thinking I would be around 6:45 pace. I could tell the first mile was going faster than planned, but I decided to go with it and see what the split was and adjust from there. I clicked through in 6:08, and while I was not feeling as comfortable as one should after the first mile in an 8k, I was mentally ready since it was only 4 more miles. My mentality is still on marathon mode, so I knew I could push through it.
As soon as the second mile started so did the courses first large hill. I didn't mind the hills during the course, and in fact I found the windy conditions to be more of a struggle. After the hill climb, we turned off the main road and cut through a neigborhood that let out on a country road. I splite 6:26 definitly feeling the fall off.
Again, at the start of the third mile another hill awaited, and on we went. I could still tell that I was slowing some and I prayed that it wasn't drastic and that I wasn't going to wallow the last half of the race. I split 6:36 here and, while it was slower again, knew I was way in front of my 6:45 goal pace by a comfortable margin, and figured I could get in 2 more miles without completly dying.
Another new mile another new hill. Once I crested this third hill, I was approached by an older runner. At first, he kept his pace as I was slowing still, but that's when I woke up. Since the first mile I had been slowing and slowing, but as soon as he got on my shoulder I decided to try and go with him. As soon as I matched his stride, I was able to find a rythm with him and soon get back in front of him. He didn't seem to mind, as he settled behind and drafted off me - dodging the wind from my large frame. After a little bit of this I began to get annoyed, and slowed to see if he would make a move. He was reluctant, but if I insisted he would, and then I would work with him. He and I played this little back and forth cat and mouse game until around 600 meters left of the race. Working with him, and fighting him, definitly is what I take away from this race in terms of not giving up and actually RACING. Even though my fitness and wheels were not there, I was encouraged with the fight I put up.
During the the last half of the last mile I was able to break away and started my kick. We were let into the college track "stadium" to finish with a lap. This was a nice touch. I was able to see the clock tick as I crossed the line well under my goal. I was handed a notcard with a 22 on it, indicating my place, and immediatly worked on getting my wits back about me and didn't bother to do anything with the card except ball it up and throw it away. I dont remember getting instructions when I was handed the card, but looking back I should have known better. Since there was not a chip for this race, they were scoring manually - and having run many cross counutry races with the note card system, I missed out on being officially included in the offical results. Once I realized this, I emailed the race director, and he said he was going to correct the situation. Maybe he will, maybe he wont. (He did, sort of - you can find me as Daniel Eggert - Results
Place: 22 out of 260, 4th in age group 25-29
Time: 31:38
Pace: 6:20 (splits: 6:08, 6:29, 6:36, 6:26, 5:58)
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