Huntsville 30K Road Race

There is something I like about racing. From the time the gun goes off, to the time I cross the finish line, my mind is clear of clutter. As long as I am racing, even during bad races, nothing else matters. There is one task and one task only, to get to that finish line in the quickest way possible. Last Saturday, I was reminded again how much I like racing and entering that single, clear, mind-set.

It was easily the coldest morning in a long time. Ice was covering the puddles and the smell of frozen vegetation was in the air. "What happened? Last weekend was in the 80's." The race was about to start and deciding whether or not to run in my warm-ups was getting me all worked up. No time to think, off went the warm ups and the race was on.

I let the pack do their usual thing of going out fast and settled into what I thought was a good pace. We passed the first mile and it was a little on the slow side, but more importantly, not on the fast side. I tightened the effort screw just a fraction and started inching my way through the groups.

The sky was clear, the fields were green, and the road was wide open. We passed old homesteads, horses, and beautiful lakes. My legs, lungs, and body were disappearing leaving my mind free and flying five feet off the ground. Each mile became quicker and quicker and soon, I had run my way into a group of four behind the two leaders.

We started creeping up the long 4 mile hill and I was hesitating. "Should I go now, or wait?" At mile 8 I felt as patient as I could possibly be and decided to tighten the effort screw again. It was commitment time and from here on out there was no going back. Second place was looming closer and closer which made my job easier. Who doesn't want to chase a carrot. Now that I think of it, he had on a bright orange shirt too. Anyway...I had been holding close to 6:00min/mile pace since I opened it up and that was good enough to close the gap on second place by mile 13. But now I was all alone. Five miles to go.

At three miles to go I tightened the effort screw as far as it would go. My subsequent last three miles were the fastest of the race. I finished second to Ben Van Beekum (who was rumored to be a 2:20-something marathoner) so I was very happy. I gave Brianne a big ol' sweaty kiss and then plopped down to stretch my legs.

Unfortunately there were no free shoes at the end of this race. But fortunately, there were boxes of free doughnuts and hot chocolate which I took full advantage of.

So next race is scheduled to be the St. George, UT Olympic Triathlon in three weeks. I'm eager to test out my new triathlon fitness. Hopefully my mind and body can stay healthy and be ready to roll when the time comes.

And don't forget to smell the flowers, they're wonderful this time of year!

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