Easter Feaster

3/23/2008

by Scott Wadle

So this weekend was too short, but which ones aren’t ha. I’m looking forward to an exciting week at work, with a huge presentation about the status of the PROS Plan. It will also be a big week because it will allow for some down time between the races.

Racing this weekend was fantastic in many ways. This weekend was the annual 10K and 2 mile Easter Sun Run. The race has some of the biggest purses of any road races in Kansas and attracts lots of talented runners from all over. Past winners have included collegiate runners from Kansas State and Oklahoma. Overall, you’re pretty good if you’re able to place in your age group.

The race conditions were unusually plesant this year. We had cool temperatures and virtually no wind to start (this was a huge relief since there was no ice like last year and no rain like three years prior). The course was also new for both races, generally a huge improvement over the past ones.

The 10K race was scheduled first at 9:00. About two minutes into the race things finally started to settle down, and you could see that two different packs were beginning to form. At the front were the five-minute guys and following was the pack of six-minute folks. I was able to settle in with the second group and I hung with them till about the 5K mark.

From about the 3K to the 5K I wrestled with my self to stay calm and to stick with the group that I was running with. Although it hurt to hang with them, I could tell that I could keep up that pace for quite some time more. Although my body was saying yes lets keep rocking, my mind kept looking for things that might be going wrong or questioning if I was hanging things out too fast and too early in the race.

It was tough going there, and got tougher as my friend Jason passed by. Right before, and after he passed by I could feel that something wasn’t quite right in my stomach. The 9.5 inch pizza I ate the night before wasn’t going down without some revenge thralls. I got a side stitch. The cursed thing was so powerful I considered dropping out of the race. Maybe it was physical manifestation of the tension and self doubt clawing at my mind during the time, but in any case it hurt like hell.

I soldiered on through the 6K and the 7K, eventually running through the stitch. Although by that time I was at least a minute off the pace. It was all I could do to hang on and hope that nobody else passed me. By the last two kilometers I was charging to make up time. At the finish line I saw that my time was 28:40. It was a great time and I’m pleased that I was able to run that fast with the side stitch.

However, I was out of the hardware when it came to the awards. With two of the the top three male finishers taken out of the age 25-29 bracket, there were just enough remaining fast folks to put me in fourth place. Jason got first, someone second, and Mike got third. Overall it stunk to run so fast and not to place, but it’s awesome motivation for the next round of races.

The two mile was a lot of fun. I got up to the line to avoid the little kids at the start (yikes) and ended up starting in third after the gun and finishing in about 7th palce overall and second place in my age bracket (by about two seconds ha). The race was a blast and the 11:50 something time was actually a pretty good workout, extending the race mileage to 8 miles racing.

After returning victorious from racing, the rest of the weekend events have mostly focused around church and family activities. The annual Easter egg hunt with the Goltry’s is always a blast. I’ll try to upload some photos soon.

Gotta run and get some studying in.

Happy Easter 2008!