hardware

Today was the Greenbo Challenge 5K, and it was cool and cloudy this morning, a decent day for running. It is lovely out there - we saw deer and the trees are probably as pretty as they're going to get around here this year. All the dry weather has taken a toll, it seems like the leaves are dropping as soon as they turn color. So I will brag a bit, I finished 2nd place in my age division, women 45 to 49, and I was immensely pleased with my time. I finished in 28:23, and it was a rather hilly course. The first mile was mostly downhill, part of it somewhat steep. The second mile was some downhill and mostly flat. The third mile was mostly uphill, killer. The last about .3 miles was level, but I didn't have anything left for sprinting to the finish line after the hill. I was hoping to finish in under 30 so when I heard my time, I was ecstatic.

So, the first part of the race, a younger guy was pacing himself with me, he passed me on the downhill and we ran side by side pretty much through the second mile. I lost him, for some reason I thought he got out ahead of me, but really, he dropped back. Then I was running side by side a woman who I thought was my age. She got in front of me on the hill, then get this, she slowed down and kept crowding me. I was trying to pass her and she kept moving so I couldn't. Can you believe that? It was just us two on the road, nobody close ahead or behind. I still find it hard to believe she was intentionally trying to keep me from passing her. Anyway, I slowed down to drop back where she couldn't see me, then charged around her (above her because it was on a curve and I took the higher part of the road). I got in front of her. She sped up and then we were shoulder to shoulder, she was crowding me - we had both lanes of the road to run on and she was so close I had to watch the ground to make sure I didn't step off the road into the gravel, that's how much she was crowding me. Finally, she pushed about 15 feet ahead of me on the last of the uphill and I never caught up with her again. I think she finished about 1/2 minute in front of me. Doesn't matter, apparently she was younger than me and she didn't place because they didn't call her up for a trophy. The woman who won my age division finished in like 22 minutes and some seconds. I will run like that in my dreams some day.

The next race for me will be on Thanksgiving, a 10K. I have been running 6.8 to 7.3 miles several times a week for a month or so, I think I can do it. I think it's a fairly flat course too, along the river. It should be a great run if the weather isn't brutal.