Angie and I woke up around 6:45am on Thursday to a cloudy, cool morning. By race time (8am) the clouds were gone and the temp was already in the low to mid 70s. The 4 milers were released first and I was near the end of the group. I tried not to pay attention to how fast (or slow) people were going around me and run at my pace and ended up doing just that and ran the first mile in 8:32. The second mile was a bit more uphill and I ran it a bit slower, 8:45. The third mile felt like it was never going to end and it was on a trail far removed from any trees or shade. I got it done in 8:50 and started wishing my race was a 5k (3.1 miles) rather than a 4 mile. I was getting pretty tired during that last mile until the strategically placed "Gonna Fly Now" started playing in my ears. In case you don't know the song by the title is is also known as the theme from Rocky. I defy you to listen to this song and not want to alternate punching your arms in boxing motions. Anyway, the song came on and gave me a boost and I pushed hard the last half mile and ended up doing the last mile in 8:18. Unfortunately when my running app (Map My Run...which I love by the way) told me I had completed my fourth mile, I noticed that there was no finish line and no fans cheering me on. As I had suspected (because I mapped the course last week) the race was actually 4.13 miles and not 4 miles as advertised. I guess the "Erie Firecracker 4k/4.13" just doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, I sprinted as fast as my tired legs would carry me for the last .13 miles and finished with a total time of 35:20. This put me on an average pace of 8:34 which I am very happy with. My time was probably 5 - 10 seconds faster but the race used a gun start (as opposed to a chip start) and I didn't bring my stopwatch to get an accurate time. Either way, I finished under my goal of 37 minutes. I finished last place in the "Male 30 - 39" group although that doesn't mean anything to me because the 1st place (24:51) and second place (25:14) finishers were in my group. My overall finish was 18/39 which means I didn't finish last!
After I crossed the finish line I grabbed a water and chatted with my parents (who came over to watch us finish) for a minute and then headed back out on the course to finish with Angie and the girls. I didn't have to go too far as Angie was coming up the hill that was near the finish line. I grabbed the stroller from her and we ran to the finish line. Angie ended up finishing up in 39:01 for the 2.48 miles which was well below her projected finish time of 45 - 50 minutes. Again, her time was probably 10 - 20 seconds faster due to the gun start. She finished 94/107 which I think is great considering she was pushing the two little monkeys, stopped to get a drink (and give the girls drinks) at the water stop, and isn't able to run much because of her knees. Great job Angie!
I lot more happened this weekend but I'll write about that in a separate post tomorrow.
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