Getting Mike Into Trouble
What fun.
Mike accidentally emailed me information about the NOT-A-RACE half marathon in St. Stephen, NB. It was today at 11am Canadian time. In hindsight, I believe Mike actually intended for me to miss the non-race because he tried to convince me that 11am Canadian time was noon U.S. time. We all know that 11am across the St. Croix is 10am on the American side - and I arrived on time.
This ghost of a race was a small gathering of local runners out to enjoy thirteen miles of Canadian countryside. There was no fee but we still got numbers and even laminated course directions to carry with us. There were two water stops at mile 2 & mile 11. What a wonderful time. The weather was a little chilly and I dressed a little too warmly. The sun came out and we all started off at a pleasant jog at the whistle.
Mike's mistress had lectured him earlier on the need to go easy and he positively declared his intention of not racing at the not-a-race-just-a-few-runners-running event. She had misgivings about his fidelity to LSD and quite rightly so.
I trailed him for a mile at an 8:00 pace (his promised speed) when he good naturedly looked back, and stopped a moment to let me catch up. Off we went chatting incessantly like it was a Sunday long run. The course was marked perfectly with bright orange cones at the intersections requiring a turn. And the organizers followed in cars to assist at crucial turnings.
As we ran along, I found this little jaunt was just what I needed. I hadn't run since I ran with Marc in Lewiston last Sunday. A down week for me and I needed a little lift of the spirits. This was fun and I was enjoying myself immensely. And to add to this enjoyment, it's always fun listening to Mike say:
"Let's dial it back, Andrew."
"She'll never know" I countered.
"She reads my blog..." Mike answered.
I knew he was thinking of the trouble he'd be in if he showed up too soon at the finish but I also knew that while he was trying to keep those horses in rein, each time we hit 7:30 he'd be right there stride for stride.
A little after mile 7 we caught the leader (Chris). To this point we were averaging a conversational pace of 7:46 per mile with most of the miles right at this pace with a couple faster (7:30's) and the first one slow (8:++). We ran with the leader and finally put down our first sub 7:30 and Mike was game. A 7:17 & 7:27 followed as the three of us put miles 9 & 10 to bed.
Into mile 11 we started up a little rise and I tried to tempt Mike with a little increase in tempo. He didn't bite and I gained a slight lead as mile 11 went by in 6:43. I wasn't sure where Chris was, and with 2 miles to go I decided to break for the finish. Mile 12 in 6:06 and a final .85 in 5:00 (5:54 pace). [Garmin says the course was short at 12.85 miles]
Average pace 7:21 and an average HR of 160.
While I felt great throughout the run, my HR was too high and is indicative of my time off this winter/spring.
Mike finished 2nd and luckily his wife was still out shopping. I said to him:
"Mike, you're in trouble. You ran too fast."
"No, no" he replied. "I finished early."
8:18
7:33
7:43
7:42
7:41
7:55
7:32
7:25
7:17
7:27
6:43
6:06
5:54 pace (.85 mile)
Mike accidentally emailed me information about the NOT-A-RACE half marathon in St. Stephen, NB. It was today at 11am Canadian time. In hindsight, I believe Mike actually intended for me to miss the non-race because he tried to convince me that 11am Canadian time was noon U.S. time. We all know that 11am across the St. Croix is 10am on the American side - and I arrived on time.
This ghost of a race was a small gathering of local runners out to enjoy thirteen miles of Canadian countryside. There was no fee but we still got numbers and even laminated course directions to carry with us. There were two water stops at mile 2 & mile 11. What a wonderful time. The weather was a little chilly and I dressed a little too warmly. The sun came out and we all started off at a pleasant jog at the whistle.
Mike's mistress had lectured him earlier on the need to go easy and he positively declared his intention of not racing at the not-a-race-just-a-few-runners-running event. She had misgivings about his fidelity to LSD and quite rightly so.
I trailed him for a mile at an 8:00 pace (his promised speed) when he good naturedly looked back, and stopped a moment to let me catch up. Off we went chatting incessantly like it was a Sunday long run. The course was marked perfectly with bright orange cones at the intersections requiring a turn. And the organizers followed in cars to assist at crucial turnings.
As we ran along, I found this little jaunt was just what I needed. I hadn't run since I ran with Marc in Lewiston last Sunday. A down week for me and I needed a little lift of the spirits. This was fun and I was enjoying myself immensely. And to add to this enjoyment, it's always fun listening to Mike say:
"Let's dial it back, Andrew."
"She'll never know" I countered.
"She reads my blog..." Mike answered.
I knew he was thinking of the trouble he'd be in if he showed up too soon at the finish but I also knew that while he was trying to keep those horses in rein, each time we hit 7:30 he'd be right there stride for stride.
A little after mile 7 we caught the leader (Chris). To this point we were averaging a conversational pace of 7:46 per mile with most of the miles right at this pace with a couple faster (7:30's) and the first one slow (8:++). We ran with the leader and finally put down our first sub 7:30 and Mike was game. A 7:17 & 7:27 followed as the three of us put miles 9 & 10 to bed.
Into mile 11 we started up a little rise and I tried to tempt Mike with a little increase in tempo. He didn't bite and I gained a slight lead as mile 11 went by in 6:43. I wasn't sure where Chris was, and with 2 miles to go I decided to break for the finish. Mile 12 in 6:06 and a final .85 in 5:00 (5:54 pace). [Garmin says the course was short at 12.85 miles]
Average pace 7:21 and an average HR of 160.
While I felt great throughout the run, my HR was too high and is indicative of my time off this winter/spring.
Mike finished 2nd and luckily his wife was still out shopping. I said to him:
"Mike, you're in trouble. You ran too fast."
"No, no" he replied. "I finished early."
8:18
7:33
7:43
7:42
7:41
7:55
7:32
7:25
7:17
7:27
6:43
6:06
5:54 pace (.85 mile)
posted by Andrew at 5:49 PM
5 Comments:
lol...lol. I think you two are just plain trouble. You don't need ot help each other.
Boston is Monday, right? Good luck, eh.
Trouble? You don't know how deep I'm in. She reads 'your' posts too! It was a great day though wasn't it?
Andrew, you can run but you can't hide! I'm going to hold you partly responsible now that I know that you encouraged him. Looks like closer supervision may be needed in the future :) Hoping for a great outcome next Monday in spite of the "non-race" the two of you had!!!
You two are hilarious.
Not only do you goad him into trouble, you also snitch on him in public. Some friend!
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