Plotting The Course

On Saturday, Margaret and Jesse and I ran a 5K at Bates Middle School. It started with one lap around the track, and I went out hard. I was towards the front as we headed onto the streets, and I passed a few more runners in the first mile. Eventually a group of about six pulled off ahead, paced by the bike that was leading the race, and a second group of three coalesced behind the leaders. I dropped Jesse and a guy who looked like Carrot Top and caught up with the second group. Around the end of the first mile, I settled in behind them and we cruised along at about a 7:30 mile pace.

The leaders had gotten away from us quite thoroughly, but we four were making good time: me, an older guy, a ten-year-old with incredible stamina, and his dad. No one was close behind us as we came in on the halfway point. We were just over eleven minutes, so we were moving fast, but I was feeling good, and I was pretty sure I could run away from them on mile three. That would set me up to finish in the top ten, and probably under 23:00. We cruised through the water station at the halfway point with no trouble- I swigged some water without missing a stride- and moved on up West Street. Now no one was visible behind us.

As we approached the traffic circle, I glanced back again. We were really moving. I couldn't see anyone behind us at all...

Almost twenty minutes later, as I ran down onto the track towards the finish line, Jesse jogged up. "Did you get lost?" he asked.

"NO. I just really wanted to tour downtown Annapolis before I finished the race..."

Jesse finished in 24:30, Margaret hit her 36:00 goal with a 35:55 and one of the most badass bits of racing I've ever seen,* and I (and my new friends) jogged around for almost an extra mile before we found the course again (the water lady was supposed to tell us to turn) and finished in just under thirty minutes. Always download the course map, I guess. Fortunately this should not be a problem at Broad Street.

*She didn't stop running til the finish line, where she promptly hit the ground and puked. And she took almost six minutes off her previous time, and it doesn't get more badass than that.