Double Bridge Run

06 February, 2010
Weather - low 40's and slight tailwind entire way

Goal:
Originally I thought 6:20 pace would be an excellent goal. I've been struggling with my tempo runs (sub 6:10), and this pace would give me a chance to go a little slower than my tempo goal and see how long I could hold it.

Flashback - Last winter I remember sitting down with Paul to create a marathon plan to finish sub 3:10. He said my tempo runs should be at 6:20 pace. I couldn't do 3 miles at that speed, and tempo runs were as long as 4 miles.

I really wanted company, and I was hoping I could keep up with someone I knew. After talking with Jeremy and Steve, we concluded that a goal of sub one hour would be a good. I was happy that I'd have not just one, but two buddies to run with.

Pre-race nutrition was my standard bananas and Ensures. 2 of each if I recall correctly. No reason to change what isn't broken. Linked up with Steve and Jeremy at the start line, but I didn't have time to find any of my co-workers that were running. Next time maybe I'll show up earlier.

First few miles:
It seemed like we looked at our watches a lot at the beginning. We wanted to be around 6:24, and we were spot on. 6:23 and 6:22 the first 2 miles. Just like the entire race, Steve did a great job of saying things here and there to keep us focused without getting bored. After about 2 miles I was getting really anxious to pass people, which is probably why the pace went up just a bit to 6:18. Steven or Jeremy would notice the pace going up just a bit and say something.

Three Mile Bridge:
People were now spreading out, which made it easier to resist the temptation to speed up to pass. Before the hill in the middle of the bridge, Jeremy let us know that he did not want to go into debt at this hill. Steve agreed, and I thought it made sense. At we neared the top we could hear some nice relaxing music. Relaxing? It sounded like something they would play at a tiki bar on the beach as people relaxed on the hot beach with a cool drink. Not exactly motivating. I thought of mentioning something about Mark's music being better suited for this, even though we made fun of him listening to Boom Boom Pow in his minivan. However, I stayed quiet in an effort to conserve energy. As we finised the bridge it looked like a water stop was ahead, so I took my gel.

There was no water, just a crowd of people and a bad taste in my mouth with no way to wash it out. Splits were 6:19 to start the bridge, 6:20 over and down the hill, and 6:25 finishing the bridge.

Gulf Breeze to end:
10k done and still felt great. Not sure when, but I remember Jeremy mentioning that his knee was a little sore. We picked it up to 6:14 pace for mile 7. About half a mile later I was too tired to look around, but I asked Steve if Jeremy was still here, and he said no. He told me fatigue was setting in and I shouldn't let him hold me back. Right around this time he said we didn't have much time banked to reach our goal. That made me nervous, so I pushed to get to the top of the last hill with a little bit of time banked. Mile 8 was 6:12. Now only 1.3 miles to go, and all three little hills were done, and a little more time banked. In addition to that, Boom Boom Pow was playing at the top of the hill. Almost funny enough to make me laugh.

At the end of the second bridge I found Johnny. I said a few words and focused on finishing the last mile strong. Knowing that at least 2 people I knew were behind me, I wanted to keep good form and look like I wasn't hurting or tired. No idea why that's important to me. There were
footsteps close behind, which kept me from slowing down. I didn't want to look back, but I really wanted to know who it was! So frustrating. I maintained 5:58 pace for mile 9, which hurt. The last .3 was around 5:50 pace thanks to the sound of those darn footsteps pushing me. Found out that the person behind me was Johnny. When I passed him I thought I was going a good bit faster than him, but he said he didn't have a reason to push the last mile until I passed him, so he picked it up. Love competitive people. :)

Post race I was cold. Next time I'll have extra clothes at the finish. However, the food was good, the beer was good, and I found at least 6 coworkers that I didn't see at the start of the race. Looking forward to doing this race again next year.

Splits – 6:23, 6:22, 6:18, 6:19, 6:20, 6:25, 6:14, 6:12, 5:58 Total 58:37