Victory by any means

Yesterday I ran the DC Roadrunners annual Burke Lake 12K. This was the 5th time I have run this race and I definitely have a love/hate relationship with it....mostly hate! The course is a trail around a large lake and has many small turns and dips. Usually, the course is quite muddy or even icy at this time of year. I must say, the condition of the course yesterday was almost perfect. It was about 40 degrees when we ran so the ground had thawed some making it just a little soft. But thankfully there was very little mud.

Last year I ran the race basically by myself and without any competion to push me I ran a pathetic time of 1:43:44, finishing dead last. I looked at my times from previous years and I thought a decent time for me at this stage would be anything under 1:30:00.

I took off with the pack at the start and found myself winded within 3 minutes. I took a quick walk break on an uphill and was passed by just about everyone. I took a quick look behind me and saw a group of women gaining on me so I started off again.

At around the 1 mile mark, the 4 women passed me. I was able to stay close the last of the women though and actually passed her about 2 1/2 miles into the race. At 3 miles I was surprised to be passed by Sharyn Gordon. She must have really started out slow (or did I start way too fast as usual?) Sharyn and I almost always run similar times. While I am faster than her, she has more endurance and is a slow and steady runner who never takes walk breaks. I knew if I could stay close to her I could have a decent chance of breaking 1:30:00.

As we approached an earther dam about 1/4 mile from the turnaround I saw Bob Gurtler about 300 yards ahead. I call Bob (not to his face) Old Red because he is in his 70's and he usually runs wearing a red singlet. One of my goals coming into this year was to beat Bob in a race. Bob is a very prolific runner as he runs over 100 races a year. I have probably raced against him close to 100 times and I have nver beaten him. Well, I had never been so close to him this far into a race before. That definitely inspired me to pick up the pace.

By the turnaround I was about 30 seconds behind Bob and about 15 seconds behind Sharyn. After retracing oursteps over the earthen dam I had cut those times down to about 20 and 10 seconds respectively. Then Sharyn unexpectedly pulled over once we entered the woods to get some stones out of her shoes. I fully expected her to pass me again as I was really starting to feel the effect of pushing to catch Bob but I never saw her again until the finish line when she finished about 2 minutes behind me.

I felt like I was tracking an animal in the woods as I chased after Bob. I would lose him in the trees and the many turns in the trail and then I would spot his yellow singlet (where was his red shirt today?) As I pulled closer I could see him periodically grabbing at the back of his left leg. Ah hah, that explained it. He was battling a hamstring cramp.That's the only way I could get this close to him 5 miles into a race. I briefly thought about slowing down since beating him today would be tarnished. Thay didn't last long, as I decided I have to take opportunities like this when I can.

I surged past him with about 2 1/2 miles left. I put about 100 yards between us before pulling up for a walk break. I was beat. But I couldn't rest long as he was like a Terminator that just wouldn't quit until completing its mission. After only a few short seconds I could hear his heavy breathing, as well as his footsteps coming up from behind me. That was my sign to start running again. I would run for a few minutes and then be forced to walk when would repeat the process. This continued for about 2 miles.

Finally, I broke out of the trees and began the last 1/2 mile on a road that cuts through Burke Lake. This last half mile is quite hilly...2 big uphills followed by 2 big downhills. I knew I couldn't run the uphills so I needed to 1)have a decent lead over Bob as began the first uphill and 2)push myself hard on the flats and downhills. I looked over my shoulder as I began the walk up the first uphill and saw Bob coming out of the woods about 30 seconds behind me. That was a decent lead but I wasn't sure it would be enough. I couldn't see him behind me as I crested the hill so I stuck with the plan and pushed myself hard on the downhill. I felt like I was going to be sick but I pushed on until the last uphill. As I trudged up I looked back and saw that I had gained a little ground on Bob. I now knew that as long as my wheels didn't fall off I would finally beat Bob.

I began running again as I crested this last hill. I could see the finish line. I checked my watch and saw that I was going to break my goal time. Now it was just a matter of making it official. As the timer cheered me on, I ran through the finiah in a time of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 40 seconds. No world record for me but this nearly as satisfying. Bob finished about 1 minute later. Sharyn finished perhaps 90 seconds after that and the woman who I trailed early was about 1 minute behind her.

The bananas were gone by the time I made it to the post race refeshment area so I grabbed a bagel which I learned was rock hard after 1 bite. The only beverages that I saw was powdered gatorade. I had a sip and thought it was pretty bad so I went to my car where I had a cold bottle waiting for me. I then returned home and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast made by my supporting wife Dori (who ran on the treadmill downstairs while I ran the race). Then it was time for a nice nap on the couch.