Saturday, October 23, 2010

Wow, A Win?!?

I ran a local 5 mile race this morning called the Huntington Beach Distance Derby.  The race starts and finishes at the pier with a out-and-back route along the strand.  It's a pretty low key affair and since it only cost $25,  I figured it was a way to get out the door early plus get an official time for my trouble.

Even though it's low key, the city does a great job putting it on - there was enough of a vendor expo at the start/finish line to have something to do while waiting around, it's professionally timed and there are plenty of volunteers with a great aid station.

I didn't even plan on writing about it.  What was there going to be to write about?  I was going to get up, drive downtown, line up at the start, start running when the horn went off and stop 5 miles later.

But then a funny thing happened.  I won my AG and came in 16th overall.


To be fair, the deck was stacked in my favor similar to how Boise State's fooball schedule is stacked for them.  That is to say that in my case, there were not too many lithe, natural born speed demons there today.  You know who I'm talking about - runners who can effortlessly hold a sub 6 minute pace mile after mile.  And what's funny, last year it wasn't like this.  There must be something else going on this weekend.

Still, a win is a win, right? 

What happened was that I got off to a good start, and within the first mile the race was split into 4 groups - the guy who won was out front, another 20 or so runners who were holding a pretty quick pace came next, then me and 2 or 3 others and then everyone else.  And from there, I managed to get away from of the runners I was with and passed a few from the pack ahead as they dropped off.

So that's how it ended up.  I crossed the line in 37:22 with an average pace of 7:28.  I was actually hoping to best a 36:21 time I'd done on my own, but today my splits ranged from 7:20 to 7:35 per mile.

Of this first victory, I must ask one thing my friends...HOW?
I was planning on going straight home after the race, but I knew I had done OK based on the amount of people I counted ahead of me at the turn around.  So I stuck around.  I knew I had a top 20, but I had no idea there was no one in my AG ahead of me.  I was definitely surprised when they posted the results.  I now know the taste of victory - it's just like the strawberry smoothie I had my face jammed in when I looked at the leader board.

The interesting thing about the results are that a guy who beat me by about a minute to get 13th place only got 5th in his AG, which was 50-54.  Those guys where on fire today.

36 comments:

Ransick said...

Congrats!

Kathleen said...

A win most certainly is a win!
Congratulations!! :)

Unknown said...

yay! congrats!

Barbie said...

How cool is that. Congrats.

Diana Tries-A-Tri! said...

Killer work!

valen said...

oh.... you're so casual about it... ha ha ha.
good stuff!!!

ajh said...

Nice job on the win!

Raegun said...

Way to go! It's nice to see that getting out there and just running a good race for yourself can pay off. Congrats!

Pahla said...

Woo hoo!!! An excellent race and congrats on bringing home hardware!

Tri-James said...

Congrats! What would you rather have – that PB or the AG win?

Caratunk Girl said...

HEY that is awesome!! Congrats!

Jason said...

Congrats. That is awesome. Amazing how after we do well we look around for a rationale as to why we did as opposed to accepting the fact that you ROCKED it.

Way to go.

Lindsay said...

dude a win is a win! i would count it even if i was the only one in the age group :)

congrats patrick!

Christi said...

Congrats on a great victory!

DRog said...

YES!

did you get something other than finishers medal for the Victory?

Johann said...

A win is a win for sure, well done!

KovasP said...

Great validation of your training! That's a great pace.

Unknown said...

Awesome! Congrats!

Jill said...

Congrats, Speedy!! That's so cool that you went in with zero expectations and walked away with an AG win!! Small surprises are sometimes the best! :)

track coach and adorable wife said...

Nice Job! I take any win I can get and you earned this one with your killer speed!

Chris K said...

Hell yeah a win is win. Your time was awesome. Congrats.

Anonymous said...

Collect your bling! Congrats. Excellent time.

abbi said...

Congrats!

Bryan S said...

Woo hoo! Congrats! That's a solid race!

Aimee said...

Woohoo! Congrats on a great race and an AG win! Yay!!

J. L. said...

Woo-- wait a minute, I was so excited for you as I started reading and then I saw the Boise State comment. Youch, this BSU fan still says Congrats, though. A win is a win is a win...

TRI714 said...

Great pace man !! congrats!! It was a little damp and muggy out there. I should have went with you, I blew off the bike and opted for the run. more on that later. Great flippen job !! stoked for you.

Big Clyde said...

You are amazing. That is so awesome! Congrats. How rock-star is it to roll out of bed and casually race to end up first in AG and 16th?!?

Nice.

Rae said...

Awesome job! Congrats!

Lucas R. Tucker said...

STANDING OVATION RETURNED!!!

Rad Runner said...

what what! Cograts baller shot caller! Thats awesome!

Tye-Dye, me in anything bright goes...

Oh and those other cupcakes? they are on a diet...

Big Daddy Diesel said...

Congrats, you had the same expression of shock when I got my first win.

Emz said...

YAY winner!! winner!! weinner!! wait sorry --- winner!!

YAY you!!

Andrew Opala said...

AG wins are the only wins that matter!

Glenn Jones said...

Cool Patrick! Congrats on the bling. Yeah - my age group sucks.

Adrienne said...

two thumbs up! Nice work.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails