September 21, 2007

I finished reading my book about the 4 minute mile (The Perfect Mile), and just in time. The big race is tomorrow, rain or shine.

It's a shade over 13 miles. I haven't run more than 6 in any of my training sessions.

Almost had a tire go down on my last run, so I decided to just shut it down it until it counts. You can't win the race if you crash during qualifying.

Goals are to beat 3 hours and also beat Martin (who claims to be injured, but I think he's been training in secret).

Current lines:
Time for Calvin to complete race
Under 3 hours -140
Over 3 hours +115

Head to head matchup
Cal -115
Martin +110


Half-marathon update:

The competitive division had 3 competitors: Me, Martin, and Dave. Dave actually got to the start a little late, so we started without him, but because of his performance in our previous marathon, I kept looking over my shoulder expecting him to catch us at any moment. Martina and I started off together at a nice pace, but I soon fell behind. I stayed about 100 yards behind him for the whole first half of the race. It is always more fun to be the hunter than the hunted.

I got to the halfway point about 1 hour 15 minutes into the race, well ahead of the 3 hour pace. I was mixing in some walking with light jogging and running, so I was pretty fresh for the second half. But then disaster. A little past the 8 mile mark, as Wayne had predicted, I blew a cylinder. Something in my left knee was giving out, and running became a physical impossibility. But since I was given a generous time to beat of 3 hours, I calculated I had run enough and I could walk the rest of the way back and still cover the bet. And so I did. I even caught up to Martin while walking. I cruised to the finish line a few minutes behind Martin, clocking in at 2:53, which isn't very impressive, but still good enough to win a steak dinner. Dave never caught up to us, as he walked the majority of the race as well.

Those who completed the course in the non-competitive division finished about 3 hours later.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The tribe has spoken.