Columbia River Classic and Birthday Challenge Invite

Sometimes motivation runs out quickly. Sometimes it’s not my fault, but I should try to fight it more. I had a good plan in ending the racing season a little early, shortening the usually long break, then starting up with a serious plan when it’s normally pretty weak early on. The problems came when my schedule started to change. As of today, I’ll be on my fifth different schedule in less than three weeks, which covers literally every hour of the day.

The Columbia River Classic was a good test of fitness. I ran its 10.08 miles in 57:17. This year I wanted to run it under 57. I had good competition in Tom Pileggi and Evan Sims, so I wouldn’t be running alone off the front. In fact, a few other fast guys showed up, including Jacob Puzey. His brother whooped me this year in the Aquaman, which is a run dominant event.

The weather was perfect for a fast run, so I decided to set the Garmin for 5:40 and run at or slightly below it until mile 7. My only concern was having pretty tight legs following the Turkey Trot. They were tight when I woke, but they loosened up a bit. I just hoped they wouldn’t come back to haunt me later in the race. With the fast guys pushing the pace Evan took off with them, excluding Jacob who was just too fast. With all the battles against Evan, I figured he’d run with me, but he’s too much of a racer to hang back early on. My plan was to make him pay for it. After a couple miles, he started coming back. Tom and another guy were holding their own further ahead.

At mile 3, my calves started to seize up on me, but it wasn’t too bad. I was catching up with the faster starters, working my way from 8th to 5th. In mile four and five, I closed the gap significantly, but my calves got so tight that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it back if I kept pushing it. The turn around was at mile 6.7 due to a loop at the start of the run, so after mile five, I wasn’t on my way back. Un fortunately, I had to ease up or I’d end up having a long recovery period leading into the Birthday Challenge, which is more important to me. It seems odd to me that I run two miles in 12:30 and I’m effectively completely out of contention in a race just over 10 miles.

After the easy miles, I cranked it back up. My legs felt a little better and I was on my way back to the finish. I was trying to work my way back to 5th place, but I wasn’t the only one bringing it home strong. It took a couple miles, but I finally caught 5th. Despite being able to get by him, I was content to give my legs a break. In the end, I managed to finish in 58:23. It’s not a bad time, so I’m pleased considering how things went. Evan finally ended his streak of losses with a 25 second margin on me. After mile 7, I was well over a minute down, so it could have been worse. Congratulations on a great race Evan.

On Thursday, 20 November, around high noon, I’ll be attempting my Birthday Challenge. If anyone wants to come and run with me, then be here in Medical Lake with your game face on at that time. Everyone is welcome, but I sure could use some competition to help me earn it. The course will either be the Medical Lake loop (2.92M) or the Eastern State Hospital loop (3.42M). If I fail, then I’ll have some other self-torture in the works for the rest of the day. Either way, it should be fun.