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| Photo courtesy: Ashley L. Conti, Bangor Daily News |
The race has a good history behind it, falling on Independence Day every year for over 30 years. I hemmed and hawed about whether to run it with Kate or "race it"... or at least as much as I could given that I just ran the Pemi Loop last week, did a tempo run the day before, and other than that have done practically zero speed work and I'm still ramping up my mileage. Naturally, I decided to race it.
The first mile is all downhill. Talk about recklessly fast. I managed a 5:45/mile split which in a way was kind of discouraging because... well, I was going downhill. I quickly reminded myself that I'm not in race shape so I should just shut up and run.
Right after that first mile we were heading into Bangor over a bridge, which features a slight uphill. The gear change was noticeable. We then turned right on to Main Street where the crowds were super thick, thanks to the race being the precursor to the big Fourth of July parade. That was pretty neat.
Another series of right hand turns and we looped around towards the finish. We crossed another small bridge going over a canal right before the end and I found enough kick to easily pass a group of other runners, beating all but one of them. I crossed the finish line in 11:06, good enough for 39th place overall and fifth in my age group. All aforementioned things considered, I was quite pleased.
Kate exceeded her own expectations and crossed in 15:26. Her elation turned to frustration when she later found out she was just three seconds away from winning an age group award. I love it when she gets competitive.
Good day. As much as I don't like these shorter races, I wouldn't mind doing this one each year if we can.
Worth noting: This was my first road run since Boston.
w/u: Ran 2.1 miles @ 8:52/mile pace.
Race: Ran 1.9 miles @ 5:58/mile pace.
Overall place: 39th out of 568
Age Group (M40-44): 5th out of 26
Paved roads.
Slightly hilly.
Lower 70s, mostly cloudy, very humid.
Saucony Virrata, shorts, sleeveless shirt, cap.
1 comment:
Oh, you're the one who was listed as a female at first when the results were posted, giving me heart failure. I thought that there was no way a 4o-something year old woman could run that fast!
Walter Hunt is a fun race, come down to Bangor more often and run some races.
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