I live about 3/4 mile from the race site, so I bundled up for the 27 degree windchill and walked down to meet “my crew” who were already busy chatting away; MattW1970 and his wife Marianne, Foxbite2, WCRunner and JoeMC.

That, right there, was such a great way to start the morning, this cluster of friends born of a running forum of all things…it defies sense and I love it.

Anyway, I’ve been nervous about choosing a goal since I’d had that 11 day span without running and was just getting back in the saddle this week. Still, I figured a PR was inevitable, since my weekly mileage was mid-50s before the flu, and that previous PR was over a big-ass bridge while this flat race is where I run daily, so of course I will PR today.

My goal was sub-48 to beat my last PR of 49:23. Since my pre-sick tempo runs were 4 miles @ 7:47, I thought I’d subtract a couple seconds for race environment and even then, it wouldn’t be a killing effort since tempo pace is slower than race pace anyway, blah, blah, blah…

I line up next to WCRunner (George), who has a lesser goal than mine but very close so we begin the race running together and I must say, it’s sweet to be racing next to someone you know. About a mile in though, George says to go ahead, he’s not feeling it today so I continue on.

Soon after I begin wondering why I’m doing this to myself, I’m miserable, it hurts, I’m tired, why am I slowing, 10Ks suck, this is too long, but then a bit of a cheerup comes when I see Joe coming the other way and then Matt soon after (again, cool to see your friends at a race especially when they’re kicking ass).

I reach the 1/2 point and am instantly back to hating it, with the added bonus of hearing myself start the mega-weeze that accompanies me to the end. Seriously, I was embarrassed by how loudly (desperately) I was breathing.

Then magically, George appears out of nowhere and then I’m like, shit, he told me to “go on” about 2 miles ago and here he is, not even breathing hard – I am really sucking. So that was a good kick in the pants to give me a bit of a move-on.

Then the funniest thing happens: some woman appears by my side and she’s talking to me, “only x minutes” “at least this part is downhill” “what’s your goal, can I ask?” and all I can say is, “I——can’t ——talk”. But she stuck with me anyway (still chatting) and man, she got my ass to keep going, we were together for 3 miles until the finish where I preceded her by a nose. My time: 49:28, so no PR today.

First thing I did was thank the woman who accompanied me in. Then we had a laugh when I realized she was the same gal who beat me in my 5-Mile race last Fall (also by a nose), so it was only fair I got her this time.

And then it’s back to my friends, my forum buddies whom I love so much. Joe and Matt are so speedy, they surpassed both their goals and Joe was #8th O.A. – he got a second place A.G. award. George was right behind my Chatty Cathy, so he did phenomenally well (considering his taper yesterday consisted of a 10-mile run…crazy 61 year old!), and won first in his age group. Dear Mattsky surpassed his own insane goal and got 41:19! Joye and Marianne also beat their goals, so it was big happiness all ’round.

I won 2nd in my AG and got a plaque. Btw, another reason to have friends at a race – when you collect an award you have the bestest boisterous cheering section, so it was pretty dang sweet.

After that, Joe and George left, but Matt, Marianne and Joye came to my house for coffee and funny talk about running and ghosts. A fabulous day, in my book.

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