Fall racing 2009

My goal for the 3k this winter was to be 10:15, so in the Brown Running Club outdoor mini-meet, I ran 2k at the same speed. Well, that was my goal; I ended up running a little slower than that. Excuses: it was dark and windy; I was running alone. I went through the mile in 5:34 and then did one more lap. I was supposed to run 6:50, but it was more like 6:56. (results)

Then we ran the Li'l Rhody Runaround (results). I was not running this race hard, on the theory that doing a hard 8-mile trail race would be counterproductive to my larger long-term goals of running fast miles and 3k's. So I let the leaders go and settled into third place. I traded places back and forth with a few men, but I never saw another woman during the race, so I ended up third. Somehow I ended up with a gold medal for this effort, the overall winner being taken out of the age groups and second place being in a different age division. Whatever! I also got a subscription to New England Runner, because they said "does anyone want a subscription to New England Runner?" and I said "Yes!" The winner of this race, Renee Knapp, finished two and a half minutes ahead of me. I would later race her in the 3k in January. Alan got outkicked for third place and ended up fourth.

Then we ran the Andover Country Club race, which was maybe 6k, maybe 3.5 miles, who really knows? (results) When I saw Erin Dromgoole warming up, I knew I could not win. Then I saw Melissa Donais on the starting line, and thought that I might be able to race her (considering that I beat her at Tufts). As it turned out, there was also another woman, Jen Lee, and all three of them managed to get in front of me and stay there during the course of the race.

About halfway through, I was passed by a woman in sneakers and a longsleeve. As with people who make a lot of noise breathing, and people who race in skirts, I refuse to be beaten by people in sneakers and longsleeves. I let her go, but I kept her as my goal. I eventually surged and reeled her in, and just ran on her shoulder. I had no idea how long the race was (it was a bunch of loops on a golf course, and the course had been changed since the previous year) so when we ran up a hill into a bunch of houses, I thought the finish line might be just ahead, so to be safe, I surged to leave the woman behind. It wasn't the finish line. We ran down a hill through some parking lots and then approached the finish line -- but then there was another loop! "How the heck much longer is this race?" I shouted to Alan. He said something. I powered through the loop, which was about a minute long, and finished without being challenged by this sneaker woman. She ended up finishing safely 28 (!) seconds behind me.

I talked to my college teammate Lisetta after the race. There was a long awards ceremony, because they went very deep in each age group (12 deep in the open division) and everyone got Pilsner glasses. Here are Alan and me with our prizes:



Now if that's not the cutest picture... Alan now has four Andover Country Club race Pilsner glasses.