races and it's the only race I've run every year since I started
running. Our town is an old-school small town just outside of Philly.
Picture 1920s houses, kids walk to school, small downtown, that kind
of thing.
The race winds in and around the town so I know the roads and the
course like the back of my hand. They have been running it for almost
20 years now.
The turnout is just great. I don't know how many people there were -
but it was easily 300-350 people. I was joking with a neighbor that
we probably knew half the field. That's only a slight exaggeration.
We run a team every year just from our street. Go Team Hillside!
It's a big event for our town. Kids come out with handmade signs,
people sit out on the front lawns to cheer, it's a blast.
So have I talked you into coming next year?
My brother's girlfriend was around to watch the kids, so Jen and I
went over to pick up numbers and warmup around 6. It was still warm
(low 80s?) but waayyy better then it was over the weekend. I was
happy to see that the guy who co-owns the local running store was
running it. He is an excellent runner so I knew there would be
someone to chase.
Warming up was fun, and I did a little bit of it with Jen. They had a
DJ warming up the crowd and when it was time to head for the line he
played the Chariots of Fire theme. Now that's knowing your audience!
I felt loose and ready to go.
I lined up front with the running store guy, a bunch of guys from the
running store team, practically the whole HS XC team and as many other
people who we could squeeze up there.
Things started fast as they tend to do when there are a ton of HS
kids. I let them go and just stuck off he shoulder of the running
store guy. By the half mile it was me, him and a guy in a backwards
hat.
The first mile of the course is almost entirely downhill. There's one
stretch with a pretty good downhill for about 4 blocks. I settled
into 3rd here - I really need to work on my downhill running. It was
still the 3 of us ahead by a bit but I could hear an enormous pack
thundering just behind me, so I was running scared.
I hit the first mile at 5:15. That would be a great split for me
right now for a flat race, but it worried me a little since what goes
down....
Mile 2 is rolling, but generally downhill. Here running store guy
really started to pull away and hat guy was slowly opening a a bigger
gap. Every time we hit a downhill he would add another meter or 2.
Jen told me later that there were all sorts of people we knew out on
this stretch cheering, but I honestly don't remember seeing any of
them.
I could totally feel the burn starting around 1.5 miles. Right at the
2 mile mark, you make a hard left and it's pretty much all uphill from
there.
At this point hat guy had maybe 15 meters on me and running store guy
was a good way up the hill.
I have really struggled in the 5k with making moves late in the race.
When I am running so close to the red line it's just mentally and
physically really hard to get it together and hunt somebody down.
As we started up the hill I thought about settling for third (I was
third last year). Then somehow I decided that I have run that hill
too many times to settle for third. 15 meters became 10, which became
5. About halfway up the hill I finally pulled up on his shoulder,
then pushed past.
I'd like to think that I hammered it hard and put a gap on him, but I
think the reality is that we were both dying and I was just dying
less. Maybe that's the same thing.
Once you hit the top of the hill, it's kind of deceiving. There's
about .75 left and you think it should be flattening out, but it's
still just trending uphill.
Once I got past hat guy, I tried to focus on just turning my legs
over. My hamstrings were totally starting to tighten up.
I pushed as hard as I could over the last .5 mile but the gap on
running store guy was too big for me to close at that point. He ran a
16:35, I was second in 16:50. The kiddos were at a playground and
there is nothing that can get you to hammer like hearing "GOOOO
DADDDYYYYY!!!" Hat guy was about 20-25 seconds back so I had put a
decent gap on him.
After the finish I was just obliterated and my legs were shredded. I
headed back out onto the course with the best jog that I could manage
to cheer on the neighbors coming in and look for Jen. When she came
by I hopped out and tried to run with her a bit, but she was going too
fast so I just gave a big cheer and walked over to meet her at the
finish.
Overall, I'm very happy with the race. I said yesterday that I would
be ecstatic with anything under 17 on that course, and I am. I'm
really proud of coming back to close a gap and beat somebody - I have
never done that late in a race and have sometimes doubted that I
could. Plus it was a 25 second improvement over last year on the same
course.
Grace and I after the race:
5 comments:
great job Tom. good reeling in of hat guy up that hill- as you said, sometimes it is so easy to settle for the position you are in when you are suffering! but if you guts it out and keep pushing, just maybe the other guy is suffering more than you- which was the case here!
FYI - This is only the 3rd year that the Sunset run (as it is now called) has been in Jenkintown proper. It used to be called the Harvest Classic, run in the Fall as a very dull out and back on the Fairway. At that time it was run exclusively by the Jenkintown Kiwanis not the JCA.
Fabulous race! You are speeedy. Congrats!
Great race report and congrats on your finish. You're right in that at the end, its a race of attrition.
Lets get some runs in this summer.
Great race report, and well done on your second place. I can only aspire to that speed!!
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