Trolley Run

This race day started out much the same way as last December's marathon in Dallas: rain, wind, cool. Everyone huddled in storefronts prior to the race to stay out of the rain, and I was there, too. Finally, at 7:25 I ventured out so I could jog a mile to warm up.

By that time the rain had let up quite a bit, and I managed to get about 1.25 miles in at a pace of something like 11 min. I really wanted 2 to 3 miles, but I still felt good after the short warmup. I always feel like I need a significant warmup before a short race like this or I risk injury.

I slipped into the shoot at about 7:40, and accidentally found myself right at the front of the green wave, which was my wave. After the wheel chair racers took off, and then the blue wave, they moved us up to the starting line. It suddenly occurred to me that I'd never started a race with my toe on the line, and I had a rare opportunity to do that. I was about 4 deep, but edged this way and that until there was just a short Platte County middle school kid in front of me (he was there with about 30 other classmates). There was really no good way to squeeze into the front row without being a jerk about it, so that's where I started. Close, so close.

When the gun went off I had two thoughts: don't push it so hard you cause an injury, and don't let a single Platte County middle schooler beat you. I also noted that the rain had stopped completely, although it looked like it could open up at any moment.

I was surprised and impressed by how long some of the kids hung in there. I think I saw my last one around the 2-mile mark. By then I was actually catching up to the slower runners in the wave that went off ahead of mine - another new experience. I spent the final two miles working my way through a lot of the blue wave. It was crowded but didn't really affect my race except possibly to help me keep my pace down so I wasn't spent too early.

I didn't check my splits at all during the run, preferring to regulate my pace by how I felt. I tried to stay just below all-out, and I think I succeeded.

My opening mile was 7:54, then came 7:39, 7:30 and 7:25. My official time was 30:30, for an average pace of 7:38. Out of 85 men in my division, I placed 9th. Not a bad run.

By the time I got home it was raining steadily, and still is almost 5 hours later. -- Rob