I wanted to give back, so my race plan for the XMAS themed Good Times race was to pace Fil to his own PR, which would also likely mean his first sub-19 5K! Well, that was the idea anyways.
(Naughty Bui got a lump of coal)
Even on a crummy night, weather-wise, 245 runners still showed up for the weekly series!
Tim B. was back, and so was Jim H. Frank was there, along with Kara. And lo and behold, is that RickyB?! Holy Guano! It is! I guess he was just waiting for me to run another marathon before pouncing on my hapless body.
The rain started to fall as we all lined up near the boarding house, due to some more construction on the original Good Times course. We were once again running on the "longer" alternate course. Fil was in for a PR challenge tonight.
I intentionally stayed back with the pack at the start, and made my way up to Fil as we rounded the first turn.
By the time we got down to the S curve and first straightaway, I was holding onto about 15th place, with Kara, Frank, Mark C. Keith O., Scott O., Jim H., Rick B., Joe M., and a few others in front of me. Eric, Tom, Fil, and Matt were only a few seconds behind me.
My legs were feeling pretty good considering what I had accomplished two days prior. I caught up to Jim H. as we crossed in front of the ULowell dorms.
I looked back to see if Fil was still within range and noticed that he was running with his own pace posse. They were making good time, so I figured I'd see how much more I could stretch out my legs.
UPDATED: I kicked EJ's ass around this part per his comments below:)
I managed to pick up some momentum on the VFW stretch and eventually caught up to the Frank/Mark/Kara group near the end of the highway. I passed Kara and Rick on Aiken St.
It was interesting to see a lot of these runners from behind and be able to run with them in a race for the first time in awhile. I didn't realize it right away, but Keith was about 10 seconds in front of me after the water stop. I eventually knew it was him based on his familiar stride. He was definitely on PR pace, and I wanted to give him an additional push as we got closer to the finish.
I eventually caught up to Keith about a quarter mile to go, and I told him, "just like track" as I passed him. He acknowledged me and we both sprinted into the finish, giving himself a well-deserved PR of 18:33! His hard work at the track over the winter and early spring was starting to pay off! Nice job, Suzie!
Speaking of PR's, Fil got under 19 for a 18:56 PR on the tougher of the two courses! That translates to at least an 18:50 on the old course, so I see another PR in the very near future. Thanks to Eric and Tom for pacing Mr. Faria! I wish I could learn how to do that!
Nice job to everyone else that showed up tonight!
Merry XMAS in May to all! Let's all try for another PR next week!...
"Resluts"
Thanks for not pointing out that you passed me too, you fast little bastid. My money's on a 16:xx before the summer series is over.
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