Tuesday night my phone started buzzing like crazy. I picked it up to find a group text about an entry to Park2Park 13.1 on Saturday. A friend and her boyfriend both could not race and wanted someone to take the entry they had. After the others deferred and some subsequent hesitation, I took it. Why not?
So Saturday morning I woke up early and got myself out to Holland to transfer the entry and loosen up. After foam rolling in the back of my Subaru, I put my feet up and contemplated the race. Should I just go for a "jog"? Should I shoot for a PR? Should I try to break 1:30 for the first time? I decided that because I have a ton of fitness "leftover" from IMWI that I should just try for a PR and make a call based on how I feel after the first few miles. I haven't been doing much speed work and the last couple weeks have been stressful. Not the greatest run-in to a race, but admittedly, I wanted a little validation after being disappointed at IMWI two weeks ago.
I lined up near the front, said hi to a few friends, and found myself pretty relaxed. There weren't many lining up ahead of the 7:30 pace group, so I stuck there. Not really having anything on the line helped a lot. Soon, the gun went off and I found myself flying around the track in the top 10. I looked down and saw 6:00/mi pace. Whoa. Slow down. After backing off, I still was well under 7/mi pace. I decided I'd see how how many miles I could get under 7 minutes.
The first couple miles I found a guy to break the wind and stuck with him. He eventually slowed and I stepped up to keep the pace under 7. Next, I caught the 3rd place female. She was moving and definitely did not want me to pass her. Each time I broke even with her, she would put in a surge. This continued for a mile or two, then finally another guy caught up and slowly passed. She let him go. I decided I was going to match him and put in a dig to catch back up. I then paced off of him for the next 2 miles. At the Holland State Park, he stopped at the aid station. I slammed my Berry Blast PowerGel, grabbed my cup and kept running. He'd have to play catch up.
Halfway and still well under 7's, but now the course turned back into the wind. It was going to be a tough battle from here. I ran into a couple walkers who were taking up the entire path and before I could get around there was one of those comical stand-offs where each person goes the same direction and you keep running into each other. After that, my companion had caught back up and he let me return the favor by pacing back for a bit. We finally turned out of the wind and I dropped him. I would make a couple passes, but I was way into the red at this point. Of course, I started doing math to distract me, but in doing so realized that all I had to do was run four more 7 minute miles and I would break 1:30! From there it was a literal countdown of miles. "I can do anything for 4 miles, for a 5k, for 3 miles, just 18 more minutes, 2 more miles, 10 more minutes..."
In the final mile it was just a sheer struggle. I had hit my figurative rev-limiter. At 0.9mi, the mile pace was over 7 minutes still. With that, I made the turn into the fairgrounds. A little lift (and a turn out of the wind), and I gave it all I had. It wasn't much, but my watch lapped at 6:59 for that mile. Then, back on the track for the last tenth. I enjoyed seeing the clock with over 30 seconds to spare as I smiled crossing the line. I knew I was 10th overall for men, but figured there were others ahead of me in 30-34. I grabbed some food and went back to my car. I was cooked.Once at my car, I pulled out my phone and searched for the results. I was shocked. First place in my age group! In a running race! With #hoogiesteps! Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. It was a great race, paced very well, with little specific training for that intensity and distance. Gives me a lot of hope for Riverbank Run in 2016. After the race, Kristin and Sully showed up, and Sully got to go to the beach!
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