Cow Harbor 10K, Northport, on Long Island, New York

Well, the fastest race I’ve done in a while was today. It was the Great Cow Harbor 10K. The race directors do a fantastic job of putting on a wonderful small town personal race. I’ve only just got back into training after the last month of races and wanted to run a consistent time. I went out planning on running 5 flat pace and if feeling good I’d pick it up. At mile 1. I was tied with 7 others in 7th to 14th place. We went through the second mile in 9:56 so I was right on pace. At the 5K mark I was in 13th or 14th place in a time of 15:30 give or take a few seconds. So far the pacing had been impeccable, I just needed to maintain. I felt lethargic, like I was running as slow as a snail behind the lead pack. That’s what happens when I have little speed work under me. I kept expecting a few guys in front of me to fall back but they were running well, not showing signs of breaking. I managed to maintain my mileage pace to the end and ran a solid 13th place in 31:14 or an average of 5:02 per mile. I can’t complain here… then again… I’m always happy with how I run. I don’t allow me to run in such a way as to be disappointed with the race. That would be a waist, and uncalled for. So, solid race, I know where my fitness level is and where I need to take it.

Imogene Pass Run 2009

I ended up driving down early to Ouray Saturday morning for the race. My plan was to go out, run solid, and not push the pace too much. I wanted an honest race but I also wanted to rest up a bit from the previous month of nonstop racing. The race started and the front group went out quickly. I just sat on the front waiting to see how it would unfold. Bernie Boettcher, Zach Crandall, Scott Drum, Michael Smith, and a few others made up the lead group. After a mile in I set an up-tempo pace and waited for the drama to unfold. Surprisingly I found Michael Smith going with me and reciprocating with the lead pacing. By 2 miles in it was evident that we would be dog fighting. I kept the up-tempo pace going rarely relinquishing the lead but only maintaining a short lead. At 4 miles we were still neck and neck but I could feel the tension mounting. I knew at mile 5 the terrain got rougher and therefore planned on dropping the hammer once I got there.

I took the lead and slowly inched my way forward. I still felt drained from Leadville and Italy but knew my body could handle it. By Upper Camp Bird I had a 49 second lead and by the summit I still only had a 52 second lead. I started the decent intending to make up some time and distance. I figured I had only had about a minute lead and knew I need to improve on that. Then about 1 mile down I started cramping up in my left calve. I knew instantly it was because I had not been taking enough electrolytes during the run. Luckily I had just taken some Gatorade at the last aid station. I quickly downed the 2 goos I had on me jogged to the next aid station (which was another mile down the road) and got even more Gatorade. I was finally feeling like I could race again and slowly picked up the pace. I figured I lost 2 minutes because of this debacle yet I still could not see Smith so I assumed he was just behind the previous bend. I kept the pace going and surprising, to me at least, I finished in 2:15:06 a solid 3 minutes faster than last year and 2 minutes in front of Smith.

4 Races in 5 weeks: 138 miles raced, 3 first places, 5 countries… tiring, but good season so far.

World Mountain Running Championships

Hosted by Campodolcino, Madeisimo, and Chiavenna, Italy:

Been quite busy as of late so I’ve had no time to update this. I thought I would give a slightly better update on Italy. Results are here: http://www.wmrc2009.org/results/File_Iaaf_SM.pdf

Indeed I was 48th. The race consisted of 3 loops of about a 4.33 K loop. I went out solid but not overly hard as I knew I’d be running for about an hour. Actually my time was 1:01:38. Sometime after the first lap I knew I was about in 55th place. By the second lap I had dropped to 61st place. This was simply because a few people went too hard on the second lap and as I anticipated they came back on the 3d and last lap. For the 3d lap while others were dying out there I was starting to feel in my element and I started passing people. I moved up to 48th. Coming into the last ¼ mile of the run I started dry heaving. Yes! If you are out competing at this level you better enjoy pain and dry heaving… one of these days I’ll explain why it is PIVITAL.

For any interested in how I felt overall after running with only a 2 week break from Leadville: Overall, my body does feel drained from all the travelling and racing I’ve had in the past month. I know I ran well as I was with 3 other Americans who I’ve raced periodically. So the question could I have raced better if I did not run Leadville? Well, I suppose if I had put all my eggs into one basket and trained only with worlds on my mind and I had a good day and… that is way too many variables. It was a solid race either way. I’m looking forward to getting back into a set schedule for training. Sorry for the short synopsis but I’ve got a lot of work to do, so until next week after Imogene…

Preliminary Results 25th World Mountain Championships

For all you die hards out there that may be wondering about results for the 25th World Mountain Championships here are some unofficial results from the top of my head. Andrew Benford was 13th and ran solid, well done! Joe Gray was 16th, also solid. Then our pack came in: Matt Byrne was 44, Zac Frudenberg was 46, Ricky Gates was 47th, and then i finished up the team in 48th. I ran all three loops fairly consistent. Can't complain here as i did not die yet was dry heaving with 1/4 mile to go. Thats good! Well, it at least means it was a solid pace. I'll write a full review when i get the chance... hopefully later today.

Arrived at last

I finally made it to my destination in Italy. 37 hours of travelling. And one more life long dream acomplished... I hitchhiked here in Italy!