Today may have been one of the more interesting low key races I've run. It was a 5 mile course that actually ended up being 5.4; it was slightly altered due to icy conditions on some parts of the course. Temperatures were in the 30s at the start with moderate snowfall. This did not stop me from running in shorts and a t-shirt
Despite the conditions, I was hopeful that the course would have good footing and that I could still hit a decent time. Well I must say, I was quite mistaken!
After we started, I quickly took an early lead, and probably went out way too fast. The race started on Lake Montebello in Baltimore and took us on some of the surrounding roads and paved trails in the area. After turning off the lake we hit quite an uphill. To make matters worse, it was quite slippery. For reasons that are extremely unclear to me, I seem to be significantly more negatively affected by bad footing than other runners. This is why I avoid trail races. Runners that I easily beat on roads just fly past me on trails while I'm sucking wind and slipping all over the place at paces I should be able to handle.
Regardless, I had built quite a lead on the 2nd and 3rd place runners. I kind of knew I had gone out too fast but figured if the footing stayed reasonable for the rest of the race, I could pull out the win and still get an ok time. After leaving the main road, we ran on some of those paved trails for a little while. Of course, they were completely snow covered and everytime my lead foot would land, my rear foot would slip and I would lose momentum. This continued to happen on every section that had snow on it. I wasted a ton of energy trying to maintain my pace on these slippery sections.
Once we hit some roads again, I was able to pick it back up. I could tell other runners were hot on my tail. As I passed course marshals directing me, slowly, I could hear them again more and more clearly as the runners behind me started to catch up. After just a bit more road running, we hit the slippery trails again and I was finished.
My pace kept slowing on those snowy sections and I just could not get myself to stop slipping all over the place! I got passed by the 2nd place runner (who has become quite a rival these days) and decided I would at least try and stay in striking distance and get back to him on a road section. We only hit one very short section while he was still close and though I caught back up, as soon as we hit the snow again, I fell back.
This continued for what seemed like an eternity. I eventually got passed by another runner to fall to third place. This was someone else I had seen at races before and was feeling quite pissed that I was so helpless because of just a little snow! However, I knew the last 0.75 miles of the race were going to have to be on pavement since it ended on the lake. So I decided that no matter how far ahead that second runner was, I was going to catch back up and beat him when we hit the pavement.
I got my wish....
After finally LEAVING THE SNOW BEHIND, we hit the road. Technically, we were supposed to run on a sidewalk rather than in the road but there was no snow on the road so I ran there (I guess that means I'm going to running jail). I was just so sick of slipping everywhere. I caught up and ran alongside my foe as we arrived back on Lake Montebello. With the finish in site, it was an all out duel.
He picked it up, and I answered by pushing the pace more. We went back and forth a few times until we were both running quite hard. I threw down one more surge and finally the other runner had no answer and I was able to pull away. After dealing with all the snow there was no way I was getting beat on my favorite running surface! I ended up crossing the line in roughly 31 minutes and change (I think), I'll have to wait for the results to confirm.
Obviously, I could not expect a really fast time in those conditions, though I still maintained a sub-5:50 pace. However, this race has stirred up quite a rivalry.
I have mentioned in passing a few times that I run with "Back on My Feet." The organization is basically a club that runs with people in the various homeless shelters through Baltimore. They have chapters in a handful of cities and overall, the program is well organized and is really making a difference. In the first half of 2010, there was one other runner across all the Baltimore teams that was faster than me. Thanks to my massive increase in speed, I was able to catch up to him by the end of the year.
Before the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler, I was 0-2 against him and he completely blew me out of the water in those two races. However, I returned the favor on that day to improve to 1-2. I think our rivalry officially started when he told me the score after that race! Of course, this same runner ran in this race today and when I took the early lead, I figured I had another win in the bag to even the score. After my disastrous middle race though, the score now stands at 1-3.
I declared that I wanted a rematch on real pavement, not this snow covered junk! So I must say, I think I've found at least one runner to duke it out with this year and look forward to the extra motivation to train just a bit harder!
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