At 7:15 things got a little more real as a good size CMS group got together and headed out on the Rockingham rail trail for a warm-up. It was nice to catch up with the guys, at least for the first mile before they got moving a bit quicker. I headed back to the car for a quick change into racing gear and then went out for another easy mile. It was getting warm, but not hot. The course would be shaded so it looked like a decent day for fast times.
I seeded myself in the fourth row (I finished 60+ 2 years ago so based on that 4 rows seemed right) and caught and elbow in the first 50 meters. Some dick who seeded himself improperly then felt it would be fine to push his way out. There is always at least one in the crowd. It would be a long way to run and I was in no rush to blow my race in the first 1/2 mile. I hit the 1/2 mile in a step over 3 minutes. Dead-on what I'd hoped to do. There were a lot of familiar faces out ahead of me but I didn't really care, good luck to them if they could keep up that pace. I could see a few teammates up ahead and I had the company of Charlie Bemis (WRT) so I was pretty much where I should be. I hit the mile in just over 6 minutes and was feeling good. I set my sights on the group up ahead and focused on staying relaxed (that was my mantra for the first 5 miles - "Stay relaxed").
I passed a few fast starters in the next couple of miles and was a bit surprised how hard some people were taking the early "minor" hills. I caught up to Kasie Enman just before the hill at 4 miles and latched onto her. She worked the hill a bit harder than I wanted to but I caught back up on the downhill. Fellow 50+ CMS teammate David Principe had fallen back a bit and I caught up to him as we reached the 5 mile mark (30:38). I was a bit disappointed as this was only 2 seconds faster than 2 years ago, but I felt I was going as fast as I could. Seeing my sister (Rose) at the 5 mile waiting to do her relay leg buoyed my spirits. The out/back section was right after the 5 mile mark so we got a chance to see the competition (and they could see me). I hadn't seen Charlie since the mile but he was right there. I saw Tim Van Orden up ahead but couldn't pick out any other 50+ runners.
I tried my best to "rest" on the way down the biggest downhill, the looming 3/4 mile long uphill from 6.7 to 7.5 was weighing on my mind. I didn't want to run out of gas and I was already feeling a bit dizzy. I gulped some Gatorade at the next water-stop and that seemed to help a lot. On the long uphill I lost contact with Kasie as she just motored on her way. I pulled ahead of David P and saw that good friend and long-time CMS teammate Al Bernier was not having a great day. I caught Al at the top of the hill and we ran together for the next downhill and flat. I felt like I was losing it but still managed to pass a couple of guys. The final kick-in-the-nuts uphill was tough and I kept thinking Charlie would go flying by (like he did 2 years ago). I hit the top and it was "just" a mile of downhill and flat to go! That last mile seemed to take forever. Finally I could hear the announcer at the finish and then saw my other sister (Denise) cheering on runners. I tried to muster a kick but mostly just tried to not come to a complete stop.
I was truly surprised when I saw the clock was only just over 1 hour as I made the turn. I couldn't quite bring it in under 1:01 but did get a chip time of 1:01:01. That was over a minute faster than 2 years ago with all of that being in the second half. I could not have been more pleased with the time and taking 3rd in the 50-54. My CMS 50+ teammates also had a great day as we put five in the top 7!
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