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Race Result

Racer: Steve Smith
Race: Philadelphia 8K
Date: Sunday, November 24, 2002
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Race Type: Run - 5 Mile / 8 km
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 0:28:39
Comment: Ouch



Race Report:



A great weekend in Philly for meeting new folks and catching up with friends. The Mina household gallantly hosted a handful of strangers with aplomb, feeding us, entertaining us, and shuttling us about. Big big thanks to St Lynda and Bob for their graciousness. Finally met the hysterical Dave Jones and his wife Lisa (Canadians do say 'eh' quite a bit), and was able to again match the wry smile of ESW to the witty email posts from NYC.

Sunday morning we met on the Rocky stairs (in front of the art museum) and gathered a few more Deads: Michael Parente and Dave Decker. I think there was a conversation, but I was watching three lovely ladies lather themselves in Vaseline ... and that's all I'll say about that.

Anyhow ... where was I, oh yeah, the Dead 'thoners headed out for their 26 mile journey of fun, and I ambled about for 30-minutes before the 8k. I was doing this race for fun, and instantly realized this was NOT the attitude of the first 100 people or so. DAMN this was a strong field: finisher was 22-high, and the first TWENTY people went sub-25 (that's 5 sub-5 miles).

I ended up following/pacing the 5th place female. I noticed this young lady at the start, bemoaned that she had dropped me like a rock, and was pleasantly surprised when she passed me at 2.5 miles. I pushed a little harder to keep up; we ran for a bit, she seemed to fade a bit, or I felt stronger, so I ran beside her or just ahead of her for the last 1.5 miles. They announced "Here comes the 5th placed female," I figured this wasn't me and she sped to finish line while I just kept the pace we'd been doing. Seemed silly to out-sprint her at this point. Finish time: 28:39 or 5:45 pace. I'm pretty happy with that; the course (the 8k and the 'thon) is quite beautiful.

I found a nice long-sleeved shirt on the side of the road, watched my roommate pass at 14 miles, and then jogged down to the 15-mile mark to wait for ESW. He ambled along, and I jumped in to run miles 15 to 25 of the marathon. I'll let Eric fill in the details, but I was glad I didn't get punched in the nose :) I'm not sure about our splits, but my HR was VERY consistent from 15 to 22, and Eric followed my fresh legs until the Manayunk bypass broke him. Mentally he'd faded earlier, asking me to go ahead, suggesting it again, but it wasn't until here that his pace actually faltered.

I ended up running a hard tempo for the last 2.5 miles (on the path next to the river (kinda rude to pass people at 24 with fresh legs) and finished my 11-ish miles on a glorious fall day in Philly.

A shower & a Philly Cheese steak and some good conversation before heading home for the day.

Thanks again Mina's, and I look forward to the other Reports. Sheesh, now I'm gonna have to hire someone to provide such quality service when Hurricane (and Lynda!) visit for the Reston Triathlon next year.