Redemption!
Well O.K. maybe that's a bit strong but, after the disappointment of the performance at the Hat Run and the feeling that the 2008 season was dead before it began, this weekend was likely to set the tone for the rest of the year! Oh Yeah pressure!
Clyde's 10 k (30th edition) on 20 April 2008, I've run this race twice before, and put in reasonable efforts. But this year with serious doubts about my fitness level and with 12 hours of Lodi Farms only two weeks away this race had significance beyond it's 6.2 mile distance.
Preparation had actually been pretty good - right up till Saturday night! SWMBO was out of town competing in the Nemocolin Adventure Race (more later) so I had a night to myself. On top of this the British (O.K. Welsh) fighter Calzaghe was figthing Hopkins in Vegas. So all things being equal it should have been a night of drinking too much beer and watching the fight. Two problems (i) couldn't actually get the fight on pay per view, so ended up "watching" via text updates on the web and (ii) the bloody 10 k race was the next day! Compromise - the art of making nobody happy - prevailed, couple of beers and too late to bed. So woke up not hung over but mildly jaded.
Up at 6:30 for breakfast with Child #3 (Child #2 at a sleep over - Cheers Mona) and after dropping her off at friends (Cheers Running Sean) the day is my own. Weather is absolutely bloody perfect, bollux! This means there's no excuses. I'm actually stupidly nervous, to the point that I am seriously contemplating never running another 10 k race ever, I just don't enjoy the pre-race period any more.
Race starts at just after 8:15 and the first mile is pretty much all up hill, not steep but draining. Lots of human traffic but by the right turn just at the mile mark things are thinning out. I end up running behind two guys with no shirts, both look like they know what they are doing so I decide to tuck in and try to relax. The next mile is fairly flat and instead of trying to push the pace I sit back and relax knowing that there are some, not huge but challenging, hills ahead. At about two and a half miles the next challenging section begins, bareback man #1 has dropped off the pace but #2 is looking strong and looks like the guy to tow me to the finish (and so it proves). Past the golf course on Columbia Road, toward Rt 108, is the hardest but least talked about section of this course - everyone moans about the hill on 108 but this is only bad because of the hill past the golf course.
On Rt 108 up the hill I realize that this is my last chance to get rid of bareback man #2 - it's apparent that he is faster than me on the flat but is hurting on the hills. I try but can't break him and at the top of the hill I am resigned that barring a heroic sprint effort at the end he has me. One benefit of our little tussle is that we catch and overtake one other runner (looks to be a HCS). Miles 4 and 5 pass in a vaguely nauseus blur - trying to keep some kind of form, this section has a net downhill (so I'm told) but has a couple of inclines that really burn tired legs. At last we drop out back on to Little Pautuxent Parkway and it's less than a mile to the finish. But the course hasn't surrendered yet - oh no - there is a nasty little incline that takes you to within quarter of a mile to the tape, and it hurts! I know that if I am to take bareback #2 I need to be on his shoulder, but I'm not and I have neither the will or capacity to try any heroics. So I settle for finishing behind him - thanking him at the end for towing me round.
After the race there is the usual great food and drink - open bar at 9:30 am on a Sunday!! Oh yes, three beers in but 10:00 am and the rest of the day is looking all fine and dandy.
Final stats - 37 min 56 sec, good enough for 17 overall and 2nd age group. Although this is the first DB podium spot for two years it is tempered with the realization that in 10 k races the age group places are a bit like the WBF boxing belts - for people not good enough to win anything more prestigious. This is rubbed in further when I look at the results and notice I am actually the 3rd runner in the 40-44 age group but that the first guy took the "overal masters" award (think IBF belt) meaning that me (#3) and 40-44 age group #2 move up to first and second. Hell, I'll take it though - it's not like I win enough awards to turn any down.
Mrs Bollux on the other hand comes away from Nemacolin with a "proper" award - 3rd Ladies Team!! Well done my girl.! the race started inside with competitive, head to head, climbing on a climbing wall (two people climbing at the same time trying to ring bells on wall first to score points) and then progressed to orienteering, night-riding and even obstacle courses in the dark.
After welcoming MLW home and a great family meal (with champagne to celebrate the Bollux-family sporting successes) I find myself at 8 pm on Sunday out in the road outside our house, in the pouring rain, catching earthworms!! MLW needs them for an Earth Day project at school - she is setting up a wormery! Fantastic- what an end to a perfect day.
Cheers
DogzBollux
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