Lumberjack Days Re-Cap

Lets start by saying this is the fastest year that I can remember for the the Lumberjack Days 10 Miler. Five guys running under 51 minutes?? That's great to see. It was a good day to run, as most of the summer has been. 70ish degrees, a nice wind from the NW, the sun did come out at the start, and there was some humidity, but for July 25th...I am not going to complain. About as nice a day as you could have for July. Which made not being in good shape for this a bit disappointing...but that is/was the plan for the year.

The start was moved up the hill from previous years...must have re-measured the course. Last year there were very few people who wanted to line up on the front line...this year it was packed on the front line. It was nice to see a bunch of the bright yellow Run N Fun jerseys, and to see those jersey's on some younger, good runners. I joked with Kelly, after seeing who was there for the team, that we would look like Team Astana.

The first few miles were alright...struggled to find a good pace or rhythm. I found my rhythm around a mile and half and worked my way up to Pete. Kelly caught up to us at 2 miles, and the three of us hooked up for a few miles, trading off little surges. I crashed down the hill before 3 miles, Kelly kept flying as we bottomed out on the hill. I thought he was pushing it a little too much for that early, and Pete seemed to agree with me as we looked at our 3 mile split, and he yelled something at Kelly. Shortly after 3 miles, we grouped up again, and ran together past 4 miles, up the short hill after the railroad bridge. When it finally leveled out again, Pete put in a move that Kelly or I were not willing to cover. One of those moments when you are mentally weak, and kick yourself later for not trying to cover. So at that point Pete was gone, and Kelly was pulling away. Went through 5 miles in 26:55.

As I reached 6 miles, Pete seemed to almost catch the group in front of us, and Kelly was not pulling away anymore, and I knew when the big downhill started just before 10k, that I would be able to blow by him during that stretch...and it was my hope that I could crash down the hill fast enough to catch Pete again. If I was not confident in my fitness, I was confident in my new found ability to run down a hill at a fast pace. I did catch and pass Kelly with ease, but I failed to gain any ground on Pete and pack he was catching. As we bottomed out just past 7 miles I could feel someone catching me, and it wasn't Kelly. Mike went by me just after 7 miles and put a quick 10 meters on me before I toughened up and decided to go with him. My thought for the next 2 miles as I chipped away at him, was that I would catch him in the final mile, since I know the turns and layout very well. The only problem that occurred...was that I ran out of steam in the final 1/2 mile. I was able to muster an average kick when I knew I had to hustle to get under 54.

With my current state of fitness, I was pleased with this race. I ran only 20 seconds faster last year, and ran the exact same time two years ago. Two years ago I was getting ready for Chicago, and last year I was in better shape. The only difference is that I was fried the previous two years, and each step felt like a struggle. This year I am feeling a bit more fresh, but I am in a little worse shape. So maybe you can call that a wash?? For myself, fitness is more a confidence type of thing, and I had very little confidence or toughness in me on Saturday. The Como Relays start in 10 days, and so does my "real" training. So running 53:59 in a down segment...I will take that. Now I need to work on racing as well as Pete does.

Song of the Day: Computer Camp Love - Datarock