So I start off my stepback week with a couple of great things …. first, i weighed in at 191 pounds this morning, meaning I shaved off almost another pound this past week. I was really concerned that I wasn’t eating the best this past week and that it would affect my weight, but I guess not! The second great thing is that I placed for the first time in a race (yep, 2+ years of racing, first medal!) … I ran the Knights of Columbus Labor Day 3-miler this morning in record time. According to the official results, I ran it in exactly 20 minutes … my watch said 20 minutes, 15 seconds, but i’ll take their time. Thats FAST for me!
I came in 20th out of 78 or so runners, and even though there were only 2 people in my age group, it felt good, you know why? Because that guy who’s ass I love kicking (stud boy), lost to me again. You remember the guy (check out Fourth of July race, or Memorial Day … or even the Valley Great 8 .. yep, this time he had the shirt off, warming up like a stud, looking all fat and everything, thinking he’s something he’s not.
As to be expected, he was right at the starting line .. shirt off, ready to race .. he sprints out, and was actually beating me for the first mile and a half until we turned around, when I saw how close I was to him. I thought he had me this time. Well, as to be expected in mile 2 he died. Since the race was along the dyke (which I run all the time), I made up time on the hill up under Pierce St. and then he was within passing distance as we started up under Market St…. thats when I passed him, boy it felt good. Well, he thought he could catch me with about a quarter mile to go, I heard him behind me speeding up, and I kicked in the jets, he didn’t stand a chance. I was concerned about coming down the hill from the dyke to the finish line since he is liable to pick up speed down the hill, I just jetted down and hit the finish line. Beat him by 3 seconds. Smoked again …………… I love it!
Regardless, I was sucking wind pretty bad, felt like my chest was going to explode, but I really needed the competition and the atmosphere with Steamtown only a month away. Overall it was a great thing, I didn’t even look at my watch at the end, because i didn’t care what my time was, all i cared about was beating that dude.
So with my weight in line, I’m getting rested, and a new PR (and a medal) … the week has started pretty good. I hope it continues….
Official results are either here or on my completed races page.