CARS (Capital Area Race Series) race #1 - SEA 5k

 Due to injuries I hadn't done the CARS the last two years.  I was looking forward to getting back to racing in the Concord area again this year.  The Kezar Lake squad (Ernie Brake's club) looked strong so this year I'd signed up with the Northeast Delta Dental squad.  The team scoring is based on the top 3 Age Graded points, so it should be a good competition.  I haven't been feeling great with the major concern being my ankle which is always giving me some pain.  Lately it has been quite bad and since it has been 2 years since I last saw my podiatrist it is time to go back.  Still, I'm training pretty hard and my mileage is solid.  My hope was to run around 19 flat (and hopefully under).

I got in a nice warm-up/course preview with Ernie, Scott Clark, and Tim Cox (and his youngest son Broden).  It was nice catching up with the guys and commiserating about getting old and so many injuries and niggles. Right before the start Tom Raffio (NEDD) gave his prerace instructions and a birthday shout-out for me. In my honor, he also bought 250 donuts from Brothers for everyone to have after the race.  I also got a nice gift basket (in a Nike shoe box) from Kara and her girls with a bunch of gift cards (donut related) and a box of Capn' Crunch!  Sarah also gave me a big cookie and got Governor Sununu to honor my birthday with a proclamation and a flag flown over the Capital Dome!

Now I had to race!  I went out in 10th place and by 440 yards in I'd moved up to 9th.  Ernie Brake was a half-step behind as we hit the mile in about 6-flat (Garmin split).  Ernie pulled around and really accelerated at 1.7 miles.  I lost a couple of steps and thought the race was over.  We had a bit of a headwind at that time and Ernie tucked in behind Max Goupil.  I got back up to him at 2 miles (12:10) happy with the split and that it was a RACE.  By 2.5 I had a step on Ernie and we'd dropped Max.  I had visions of beating Ernie but he had other thoughts as he eased by me with 440 to go.  I had no reaction and struggled into the finish 4 seconds behind Ernie in 9th place running 19:11.  I knew Ernie would be me in the age graded as well as he is 2 years older than me.  I was disappointed with the time but happy that I gave all I had on this day.  I'm hoping to give Ernie a good race in 2 weeks when the next CARS takes place at NHTI.  Onward!