DW and I do something for the very first time . . .
It's been almost two years since the last post in this thread so perhaps there is some new running news that is worth sharing?
A couple of months ago: DW and I are both entered in a small, local 5k road race. I look around at the start and notice that the demographics seem to be skewed more towards the weekend warrior and the do the event for the charity type than the competitive runner. There is nothing wrong with that of course but what I'm really doing is scouting the competition. I don't see anyone that I know that can beat me and there are only a few really skinny guys in 6 oz. racing flats and they look younger so I figure that I have a chance to place in my age group.
I put my self in the second row of runners at the start. After about 3/4 mile everyone has settled into a comfortable place and it looks like I'm 7th overall. It is both a 5k and 10k on an out-and-back course so the 5k runners runners will turn around after 1.55 miles and I'll see all of the 5k runners in front of me as they run back to the finish while the 10k runners will continue. It turns out the I'm 4th at the turn around. Two guys are battling it out in front. I don't have a chance to catch either of them. Another guy is a considerable distance back and I'm maybe 100 yards behind him. I'll catch him if he fades but he looks strong and I'm starting to feel it. Shortly after I go through the turn around and head back to the finish I see DW coming the other direction. Crap she's practically right behind me! She's running really well. If I fade she might catch me! Everyone holds their position to the end and I increase the gap between me and DW a little but can't close on the 3rd place guy.
So what was new about this? For the first time in 30 years of road racing DW and I sweep our age group! She takes 1st in her age group and I win my age group! The previous best was a race where I was first and she was second.
A couple of months before that: I'm with DS and his high school cross country team running in a park in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains. There is a drinking fountain a little less than a mile from the starting/finishing point and everyone stops there for a drink.
Shortly before I get to the drinking fountain on the way back to the start I see DS and his group turn on to the main trail from a side trail and stop at the drinking fountain. It has been a couple of months since we have raced (see post #215 in this thread) and he has been getting faster and I have sensed that my opportunities for beating him are fading away.
I lead the slow group on these runs and it is a pretty slow pace for me so I'm still fresh. On the other hand DS runs with the fast group. They do more miles and a lot more hills at a much faster pace than the slow group. They usually run pretty hard and I figure that DS is tired. I sense an opportunity!
I pick up my pace and go by DS while he is waiting at the drinking fountain. I give myself as much of a head start as possible and then yell back to him that I'll race him to the parking lot. I don't know if he hears because I don't look back! The rule is that you never ever look back. For quite a while I don't hear anything and then with about 1/2 mile to go I hear him pull in behind me. He runs behind me for quite a while. Is he tired or just playing me? I'm red-lining it but he appears to be working hard to stay with me. Maybe I still have a chance? Then we hit a small bridge with a slight up hill and a sharp right turn and he goes by me in a flash. I try to go with him but I just don't have anything left.
At the finish my hands are numb and I have to control myself to keep from getting the dry heaves (Don't know how to spell it but you know what I mean.) He's very casual, playing it cool as if he doesn't notice me finishing. (Of course he is a teen-ager.)
A minute or so later a guy about my age comes up to me. He noticed that we were racing. He tells me that, "I thought that you had him and then I blinked and he was 10 yards in front of you!" I tell him that is difference between 52 year old legs and 16 year old legs.
But I haven't given up on beating DS yet! I just need to find a better way to cheat
Any new running news?