Staking a Claim

I do not really know where this idea came from, but once I had it in my head, it was too hard to get out. I wanted to run both the Eastwood 5 miler and double up the 5k and 10k at the Burn Run. I live right on the Burn Run course, and I often use it for tempo miles, and when I run from my home and I want to run hills, I run to Eastwood. So although I do a large amount of my training at Green Lakes, I also hit my local roads often, and I love where I live, so I wanted to go and help support my local races as well. To be honest though, my ultimate goal was to stake my claim on the area that I train in. I wanted to win the races, instead of earning the Strava Local Legend title, I wanted a more physical representation for my home roads.

            The first step in achieving this goal was making sure that I was recovered enough from Berlin. Eastwood was three weeks after, and my first two weeks after Berlin were rough, so I waited until the last minute to sign up. I was able to do a minimal workout the week of, so the Friday before I signed up. Now I just had to win the race.

            I had to pick up my bib the day of the race, so I grabbed, said hi to my dad, who came to support me, and then I went out for a quick two mile warm up and some strides. I had gone through all the people that had signed up for the race, and I did not recognize any names except for a few friends, like Dara and Brayden. So I did not really know what to expect from the competition, but I also scanned the previous winning times, and I felt confident despite deep set fatigue in my legs that I could run fast enough to run a winning time. Before the race started, people were just milling about, and it did not seem like anyone really wanted to be on the start line, but I wanted it, so I stood there and awaited what was next. I was ready to get it over with. Racing is fun, but also brutal.

            What I was not expecting was to run a 5:02 the opening mile. If this was a 5k or the downhill mile of the Shamrock run, I would have felt good about it, but this was a five miler, and the hills were coming, and even more surprising, I heard foot steps right on heels.

            The course was open to traffic, so there were cars driving throughout periodically, and right after the first mile, we were going toward traffic on a one-way road with the police car leading us, so a small line of traffic formed on this residential street, and all of a sudden I heard something unexpected. Unhappy yelling. I had never been heckled during a race, but there I was getting yelled at by an old lady to get out of the road, because she had to go to church because it was Sunday morning, and that we should also be at church.

            I am not one to judge people’s religious beliefs, but as one of my friends put it, I do not think Jesus would have wanted her to be yelling angrily at people. That is probably not the best way to get people to come to church. Also the race was at 10, so for all she knows, we all could have gone to 8 o’clock mass and then started our race. Plus the money from the race goes back to the community. Her yelling at me, did not make me mad, but instead it made me laugh and put a smile on my face, because let’s be honest it was a little ridiculous.

            Mile two was fine, but right after that, the hills finally began, and they did not end until the end. The third mile was a gradual climb, but it felt like it went on forever. Like steep climbs at least get over quick, but this just kept going. I was ready for that to be done. The steeper hill, which came at mile 4, I actually zoomed up and was surprised at how easily I handled it, but I have run many times on local jaunts all the way from the bottom, so starting most of the way up the steep hill made it much easier. Once I was up that I went into all out mode for the last mile. There were still some gradual hills that were zapping my energy, and it felt like my arms were swinging so much harder than my feet were willing to go, but if I was going to win, I wanted to give it my all, and there is only one way to find out what your body is capable of.

            I sprinted down the finishing hill, and I stopped myself quickly in their small finishing shoot. I won by 2 minutes, and I had the second fastest time on the website. I went back and looked through all the winning times from previous years the night before, and someone had my time bested by about 20 seconds. Maybe if I was not so close to Berlin, I could have beat it, but I will take my win and be happy, and I got a $75 gift card, which once registration fees is taken out amount to about a $40 victory, and I used that gift card to sign up for the Burn Run!

            Step one was complete, now I had to win two races in the same day. The closest thing I can compare this to is running Seneca 7. During that race, which I have done a couple of times, I had to run multiple legs hours apart. For the Burn Run, I would have less than 45 minutes in between the 5k and 10k.

            Before the race, I had a couple people ask me if I was going to win, which is always a weird feeling, but I told them that that was the plan. Much like Eastwood, the start to the 5k was unceremonious, and people were standing well back from the start line. I am not scared of the start line, but there was a sign to the right saying start, and no actual line, but no matter. After the 10 second count down, we were off. There were some kids at the start line, maybe around 10 years old, and as I shot off, I could hear them say catch him! I think they just wanted to be in the front for a couple of seconds, which I do not blame them.

            The footsteps behind me receded pretty quickly, but I paid no mind to that. I had goals that I wanted to achieve. I wanted to run 16:40 for the 5k and under 34:00 for the 10k, which I felt like were obtainable goals, but that they would be tough. My first mile was a 5:02, oddly the exact same as my first mile of Eastwood. I had the same thought again, that was too fast, especially considering that I had a whole other race to run. So I slowed down, but I slowed down much more than I intended to do. My next mile was a 5:22, which is a sizable increase, especially in short race, so after drinking my shot of water, I picked it back up and finished strong with a 5:11. I completed part one of my goal. My time was 16:21, which was good enough to get the course record on the Strava segment, which is always cool, 19 seconds ahead of my goal, and a one minute and 21 second victory.

            Now was the weird part. I had about 43 minutes until the next race started. So I ran to my car for some snacks. I had a honey stinger waffle and drank a .5 liter bottle of water mixed with electrolytes, and then went back to the finish line to hang out with my dad for a little bit. Then less than 30 minutes to the race, I took a 30 mg caffeinated gel, ran another half a mile, went to the bathroom, and before I knew it, I was back at the start line.

            This start was even weirder, and I saw a couple people show up for the 10k that had not been there for the 5k, so although I was going in with the mindset that I was going to win, I was a little curious to see what happened at the start. The start was a smaller line right on the corner of the street, and again I took off after the ten second count down. The footsteps receded into the distance much quicker this time, but again I had goals to achieve. Part of the way down Franklin Park Rd., I saw someone running towards me, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was Dara! I saw her two more times along the course, and she stopped and cheered for me each time, and at the last part, she took some pictures of me. It was so nice to see her out there, and I am very appreciative of her cheering, especially towards the end when I was getting tired.

            I got water again at the water stop a little over a mile in, and I was worried that it was going to be the only stop along the way, because once I have a little bit of water, I just want to have more after that, but thankfully there would be more eventually. I ran past the starting area again a little after 2 miles, and my dad was waiting there for me cheering, and after he took some pictures, he put his hand out for a high five, which I readily accepted, and I shouted boo yeah as I ran away. We had talked before about how much I love to give high fives during a race, and how despite the theoretical slowdown in momentum, the positive energy return helps me so much more, and it made me very excited to get my one and only high five on the racecourse of the day from my dad. (There was a little girl, who had her hand up for high fives when I was warming up for the second race, so I gave her a high five too.)

            The only hills of the day came a little after halfway point in the 10k, but halfway I was at about 16:50, so I was on pace to achieve my goal. First, the gradual uphill came. Thankfully part of the way up the hill, Jared was there, and he took a great video of me and having someone next to me, even if it was only for like 20 seconds was so invigorating that I was able to speed up some. Then I turned the corner, and at the bottom of the only actual hill was the second water stop, which I had been hoping existed, and I got my water and powered up the hill.

            I told myself that I really needed to push on the downhill, because the uphill of course slowed me down, and I ran my slowest mile of the day at a 5:32 going up. So I did just that. I slammed down the hill to the best of my tired body’s ability, and eventually took the turn back to Kirkville, where there was a random spectator on the corner, which was cool, and shortly after that, I saw Dara for the final time. So With a little over a mile to go, I had some crowd motivation, but once I got past the two of them, my body started to think about slowing.

            I do not know what it was. My right glute was super tight before the race, and I was really feeling it now, and it was pulling hard on the top of my hamstring, but other than that my body felt great. My legs were not feeling fatigued, my breathing was at times labored, but when I became conscious of it, I was able to slow it down, but my mind felt exhausted. It just kept telling me that it was okay to slow down. I had six minutes to run the last mile to be under 34 minutes, but I did not want to slow down. I grimaced and kept going. It was so odd to feel so labored, but for my body to feel relatively fine, but I just felt like I was physically uncapable of running faster (maybe I should have eaten another slice of pizza the night before for more energy?). It was a tough mental battle, but ultimately the angel on my shoulder won out, and I pushed as hard as I could to the finish, and I ran a 33:27 over 30 seconds under my goal, almost four minutes ahead of second, and somehow a PR.

            I have no idea how I PRed for the 10k considering the fact that it was my second race of the day, and it was just me out there chasing myself. I clearly had not held back on the 5k, and I checked on Strava on the race where I thought I had my 10k PR, and this was faster. I am still trying to come to terms with this surprising accomplishment. It put the cheery on top of a great day, but so did the BBQ and donuts after the race.

There is only one way to find out what your body is capable of, and I went out there and pushed it hard, and despite running mostly solo in all three races, I achieved all of my goals and then some. I can say that I earned my local legend status of my stomping grounds quite literally, and despite that being an oddly egotistical goal for myself, I am proud of it. I can look out the window of my condo and see Kirkville road, and say that road is mine! More dream chasing to come do not worry!

Again, I could not do it without the support of so many others. My dad came out and cheered me on at both Eastwood and the Burn run. I had friends from running groups at both that I got to hang out with after the races, and I even had multiple Miles & Macros teammates at the Burn Run. After the Burn Run, I got to hangout with Paige and her family while eating BBQ and donuts, and her dad gave me $20 as a winning bonus, which was surprising and awesome! I even had Dara running around the course to cheer for me! All the support does not go unnoticed, and it is always greatly appreciated!