Race for Pace

I ran in the Race for Pace this morning. I decided since this was, in all likelihood, going to be my last race of the year, I should "leave nothing on the field" as Hines Ward says. So from the get-go, particularly since the beginning has a slight downhill, I started off at a pretty nice pace. Within the first minute and a half or two, I ran up to one of the seventh graders that I sub. I think he runs (or at least ran) cross-country, and I did notice he started the race at the front of the pack, something that "good" runners tend to do. When I reached him, I asked what his pace was, thinking if it was around 9 minutes, maybe I could run with him. He told me he had no idea, and I realized that I was slowing down a little to talk to him, so I left him in the dust, never to see him again until after the race.

So how was the race? The course has some up and down hills, nothing as steep as what I normally run, as well as some flat sections. I did my best to pick up speed any time I went down a hill, which helped with my timing. The unfortunate thing was there was no one shouting out times or mile markers, at least not when I ran by, so I had no idea how far I had run at any point during the race.

During the last just over 1/2 mile (or thereabouts), a woman behind was saying to her running buddy that they needed to pick up the pace going up this last hill. Personally, I was really struggling, having given it pretty much my all so far, but when I heard her say, "We run 10-minute miles normally; we run 9-minute miles for races," it seemed as if she was talking to me. So I decided to push it as much as I could, which was not easy. I also looked at my cell phone stopwatch at that point and was both surprised and excited to see I had been running for just over 21 minutes. Even though there was a good crowd at this race, I started to believe I could finish it way under 30 minutes and maybe even place.

I gave it pretty much all I had as turned the corner into the long driveway to the school, and I crossed the finish line at what I remembered as 26 minutes. Unfortunately, as I later discovered, I actually crossed the time clock at 27 minutes; no idea why I remembered it as 26.

I ended up finishing in 5th place in my age group out of 15 and 138/300, at a time of 27:01. For comparison's sake, when I ran this race in 2002, I finished 1st in my age group out of 8 and 75/195 at a time of 26:20. I am pretty happy considering I am eight years older than when I last ran this race, I had to run with an extra 100-plus people, and I ran only once this week, on Monday, and no times last week thanks to being sick.

Do you hear that sound? It is I, giving myself a high five and a pat on the back.

Rudy Marecic 5K

For two years (2000 and 2001), some friends and I ran in the Rudy Marecic 5k, in West Mifflin, which is near Kennywood Park. I have no idea if that race still exists; I cannot seem to find any recent information about it. But at that time, it was one of my favorites to run.

What I recall most vividly about my first Rudy race is my brother, who lived in NC and was visiting for the weekend, running with us. My friends and I were struggling during the first or second mile. And there was Joe, running backwards, grabbing us water, not even breaking a sweat. I asked him to stop running backwards, and he said not to worry, that he was fine. I told him I was not worried about his falling; I and my two girlfriends pretty much just wanted to wipe that smile off his face. And maybe trip him. Joe was someone who ran regularly; keeping pace with a couple of gals in their late 20s was child's play for him. I was surprised he did not run back to the beginning of the race and then catch back up with us. But, yes, I was glad he did get us water. And it was kind of cool to run a race with my faraway brother.

There were two other things I remember about the Rudy Marecic race, the prizes and the placement. My brother and friends all won something (I think Joe ended up with some raft). I, alas, was prizeless. But I got something even better--my first running trophy! I placed second in my age group (25 to 29). My time was 27:28 (thanks again, Google).

When we ran it again next year, then knowing there was a killer hill and having more experience under our belts (well, running shoes), I was able to knock more than a minute off my time. Still ended up in second place. And with another trophy (ah, the things that make me smile).

That is the beauty of small 5ks: you don't have a lot of competition. I highly recommend running in a few of those if you are interested in ending up in the top spots of your age group.