Harvest Days 8K Fun Run Report

**Ironman Coeur d'Alene Race Report is still in development!!!  Stay tuned!!**

July 22, 2012
Harvest Days 8K Fun Run
Battle Ground, WA

Time:  42:58 (8:38/mile)

This is the first event since completing Ironman CDA June 24th.  Earlier this week I did a short jog of about 2.7 miles which felt weird at first, but eventually I relaxed and enjoyed the run.  The legs felt a bit wobbly.  Then the next day I rode my bicycle to work.  Felt good to be back in the saddle.  Legs were really tired after all that.

I had toyed with the idea of doing the half-marathon today, but decided to stick to the 8K (4.97 miles) to avoid injury. 

Started out nice and easy trying to just remain steady and focus on proper form while running.  First 2 miles were really easy with times of about 9:20 and 9:15.  Then I decided to step it up and make a good showing through the finish. 

From this point (about mile 2) I wasn't going to let anyone pass me.  I started picking off runners.  I would find a runner several yards ahead and then try to catch them.  Then after blowing by, I would pick another runner.  It was really awesome blasting by people.

Then at about mile 3.2 an old man goes blowing by me, just before we got back into the town of Battle Ground.  He looked like he had the same strategy as me.  He looked fast and in command of his race.  Ok--game on!

I tried to keep up with the old man but he was too fast at first.  As we cleared a hill, I noticed he wasn't going very fast down the other side.  I lengthened my stride and stretched it out, catching up to him.  I tried to stay close to his rear bumber and save some energy for the finish.

As we continued into town and with about 3/4s of a mile left, he started increasing his speed.  This is way early for me to kick it.  I might have about 4/10s of a mile kick if I am well trained but anything over that and it is pretty hard.  But I thought, "what the heck.  Let's do this!"  So I kept pace with the old man.  Just as I started gaining on him, he would kick it up a tick.  I would then answer with my own uptick.  We kept doing this over and over.  Both he and I were blowing by other runners.  As we rounded a corner with a lot of spectators, they could see that I was giving chase.  They cheered wildly.  This boosted my drive.

With just 200 yards to go we were both in a dead sprint.  I tried to focus on good form, arm pump, foot strike... everything I could think of to gain more speed.  But he matched my every move.  We cruised into the finish with him beating me by less than a second.  I congratulated him for an excellent race.

Whew!!!  OMG!  Finish time of 42:58 (unofficial) which crushed my previous 8K PR by 8 minutes.  What an amazing race!