Friday, August 22nd.
"oh, yeah... i'll be leaving Canandaigua around 1 pm and get into Philly around 6 at the latest!"
That was Nathan "last thursday" Rychlik. When reality finally set in, I was on my way to Philly between 4 and 5 pm. Saddled up in a little red convertible, bike in the back, gear in the front, with my ipod and 5 pieces of Orbitz Mojito chewing gum, 5 hours from my destination, the weekend began.
About 6 hours, 2 pieces of gum, every Gavin Degraw song ever released, and countless construction zones later, i finally arrived to good ole Philadelphia.
It was great to see Eric and Adam, my generous hosts, and just plain weird to see Wendi waiting on their couch. I felt like we should be back in Florence at Luna Rossa, listening Italian music and drinking a cappuccino. Who am i kidding... it was great seeing her too :)
We all went out to dinner where i proceeded to be a glutton and eat a spinach artichoke dip, french onion soup, and a large burger and fries... still famished after downing it all.
THREE CHEERS FOR A FAST METABOLISM!!!
Saturday August 23rd.
Slept in. After loafing about for a while, Adam, Eric and I meandered to the race site to pick up our packets, shirts, and timing chips. A trip that was supposed to only take a half hour or so took much longer and an hour + later, we arrived.
Yadda yadda yadda...
Hours later we were at a restaurant eating enough food to feed a small country. Back to the apartment for some olympics and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and asleep by, ohhh 2am.
Sunday August 24th. RACE DAY.
Up at 5 am... still full from the night before. Despite that, managed to eat some oatmeal and a banana before we loaded up and headed to the race site. I spent most of the ride with my ipod blasting and getting into the "Zone" if you will. I was just antsy. After working out every day and then taking 3 days off to rest of a race, I just wanted to run.
Even with having left some 90 minutes prior to race time, we barely made it by 7:30 am. The logistics weren't exactly worked out by those in charge (good job Lance,) and parking was hard to come by. Luckily, Adam has a PhD in parking, and he slid in nicely by a bus... risking that perhaps he would block it in. Oops.
Walked to the race start line and waited. Waited. Waited some more. After the 100 mile bike group, the 70 mile bike group, the 45 mile bike group, and nearly an hour after our scheduled start time, the race began. Immediately there was a problem. 1,000 people crammed into a rather small space and a start that was not conducive to those faster runners to run to their potential. I definitely got the short end of the stick.
Adam, Eric and I all started together well back in the pack. Ducking, weaving, hurdling babies, soccer moms, and old women in wheel chairs, I tried to get clear of the slower people to get to where the race was. So frustrating. I spent more time on the grass than i did on the pavement during the first stretch.
My first mile was a mediocre 7 minutes and my mind got to thinking what could have been if I hadn't been held up for at least a minute and a half with the slower participants. Continued to pass people and made it a point to never be passed myself.
At least I achieved that goal.
No one passed me throughout the race and I ended up finishing with a time of 21 minutes flat. Unbelievably, that was good enough to place me 12th out of 659. The winner ran in with a time just 30 seconds faster than my personal best, and I think that if i had been running with someone to push me, i would have been able to win in the home stretch.
Yes, i'm disappointed in my performance.
When i crossed i wasn't out of breath and had this "meh" feeling since i knew it was a lost cause from the start. I guess its reassuring that a bad race of mine is still 21 minutes.
The whole team got together and we grabbed some lunch and beverages before the jaunt back to Philly. Oh... and the post race provisions were provided by Pizza Hut and Michelob Ultra. Weird.
The drive home was faster and the day culminated with a short hour nap and the drive back to New York.
Yeah... i kinda got sick of writing here at the end.
In summary:
LIVESTRONG 5k - COMPLETED
PLACE - 12th out of 659
FEELING - mediocre at best and can do better blindfolded hopping on one foot.
REALITY - pretty great that i finished that high, but it frustrates me when numerical results don't accurately represent what i'm capable of.
Next up: Finger Lakes Triathlon.
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