Today, the anticipation had been brewing for a week, other trail runners catching wind of Testosterone Tuesday, other runners talking smack about how they were going to drop the hammer, put me in my place, show me what 5:45 pace would be like for the final few miles etc.
The clump of runners that joined in on the frenzy was certainly larger than last. Ken changed his weekly trail running schedule to fit the Tuesday runs in, he dragged two more with him. We had a couple more ladies that were going to supposedly help their star runner take me/us down and rename the run "Estrogen Tuesday". And a few other men joined in for the relatively fast paced intial miles. 7:30's became the easy pace from the get go, then slowly got faster as the run progressed through the maze of the route.
All the contenders kept together flexing their muscles from time to time, taking a few dozen feet leads, taking off early at water stops etc. But by the time it was all said and done, contenders quickly removed their veils and showed their pretender faces as some dropped off to run the shorter Hello Kitty distances, some purposely dropped the pace as they're tapering for races, and then as soon as we hit the rolling hills west downtown, the rest were simply put in their place as they fell apart one by one as the pace picked up on the climbs.
That's right. Eventually, there were only 3, the "slow ass trail runner" and two roadies... then Ken heroically fought his way back to our front group for the final 2 mile push.
The pace had steadily been around 6:30 for a while, and stayed that way till about 1/2 a mile to go when i told the guys it was time to go. We flip flopped the three and the zero, turning the pace into a 6:03 until we called it a day to get a nice few minutes of cool down.
So now we have 2 "slow ass trail runners" up front, waiting for the day that the roadies step up to leave us in the dust. It's lonely up front, guys.... Time to add some hot sauce to your diets, or maybe you should come run some trails with me?
14 miles
7:20 average pace
6:03 final pace
BOOM!
7 comments:
All I notice is the avg 7:20 pace. Still seems pretty pedestrian.
That actually looks like my 14 mile trail pace. You need to pick up the pace earlier! Don't give me the big austin hill excuse either. Keep up the good work and see you in Boston.
603 for 1/2 mile? how cute. you were off the back from the get go. and when we hit the hills, you & your crew were nowhere to be seen. granted, i only went 12. but do you honestly think i could not of held on for two more miles? i would made the last two miles miserable for y'all & you know it, homie. let's go 12 next tues & see what happens; we can do 2 or 4 beforehand so adequate mileage is achieved. deal?
i can't wait til you run w/ us full time come Feb. :-)
Dustin, come back and talk to me when you decide to run more than 70 minutes.
Damon, yes it was cute. almost as cute as when you turned off for the short option.
who knows if you could hang. Maybe, maybe not.
being off the back by 20 yards in the first 5 miles is meaningless. you know, i know, dustin knows it. then again, after 70 mins, dustin would be done with his long run for the week, so maybe that's "off the back" for him.
; )
Fair enough.
he's alive!
2hr56min
9hrs01min
3rd overall
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