My goal was to improve last year's time (1:34:51).
I started a bit fast, banking time :) (First mile was 6:30 according to a fellow runner). My GPS watch broke last week so I had no idea what my pace was. Miles were marked but no one was calling times and I did not carry a stopwatch.
I got passed by my friend Michele early on and by a couple more guys during the race, but overall there were not many people and soon a large gap developed between the guy in my front and the guy in my back, so basically I was running alone. That’s not very good for pushing the pace.
The course is a real torture, good for building character. All roads. You go up, then down, finish one loop, and then repeat for a second loop. When finishing the first loop, the thought that you have to repeat this is a bit demoralizing, but you soon get over it.
Michele was the leading woman from the beginning to the end, so she got first place with a time under 1:30. She is 47 and a great runner. Here is a picture of her that I snapped during the race (I was running with my Fuji 3d camera):
I crossed the line at 1:34:30 (7:13 pace), barely improving my time, but happy with my effort. The big surprise is that I got a 3rd place award! I have been running the Spring and Fall Classics since 2005 (11 races total), and I have NEVER EVER won an award. So I was double happy! :)
My wife (Liz), as expected (remember, she "owns" this race) won first place in her age group at the 5K. My daughter (Lea) was 4th in her age group.
Here is a picture of all the happy runners with their awards:
From left to right: George, Liz, Lea and Andrew. Andrew is Lea’s friend from Toledo and won first place in his age group at the 5K.
There is another race (5K) next week and then the Hermes 10 miler the week after. This is the year of the races! Next long race is the Cleveland Marathon in May.
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