Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Lynn Woods Run

Another Wednesday, another tempo run in Lynn Woods and another mad dash through Boston’s rush hour traffic. I made it to the woods 10 minutes before the start of the race despite leaving work 15 minutes early. Sometimes I wonder if trying to run a race from work is worth the stress involved in getting there. Once the run starts I forget all about the horrendous drive so I guess it’s worth it, maybe.

There was another good turnout for the race (127 runners) including the Lynn Woods Crew and several folks from GAC. I thought I might see Michelle or Emily this week but they weren’t there. I did see Paul Y who had just finished up a 2.5 mile warm up. I was happy to catch up with him after the race. It’s the first time our paths have crossed since Northern Nipmuck in early April. A cool guy and a fast runner!

It was wet, humid and still misting when the race started. The eighth mile course was mainly on dirt fire roads with one extended section of single-track on Boulder Path. The footing was good overall and really not much mud considering it has been raining off and on for four days. I went out slow like I have in the past few runs here. I just wanted to run 8 something pace and not get caught up in racing other runners.

After passing several runners in the first 1.5 miles I found myself in no-mans land. There was a large group of runners about 50 yards ahead of me. Their pace was just slightly faster than mine and I considered pushing it hard to close the gap and then try to hang with them for the rest of the race. Notice I said considered. After I thought about it, I decided to just stick with the plan and run even splits even if it meant running alone.

I ran 8:50s most of the way and then picked it up for the final mile. There were two runners ahead of me that I could have run down but I resisted the temptation to go all out and just brought it home with a strong, steady finish. Next week is Tour de Lynn Woods II. I am going to talk with the RD to see if he’ll let me set the course. If so, you’ll be in for a real treat!

Hope to see you there….

5 comments:

  1. I hate no mans land but end up there way to often anyway.

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  2. Chris, me too, almost every race it seems.

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  3. I know what you mean....it is like no one runs my pace..or perhaps I am inconsistant

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  4. I plan to be there in 2 weeks (July 7th), traffic permitting. Ana

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  5. Lately, I like to settle into "no man's land" in a race. I could just skip the races all together and run alone, but then I'd miss all the socializing before and after!

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