sardines, side stitches and high-fiving the sideline...

Pre-Race
Got up early to take my wife to the airport on the way to the Broadstreet 10-mile run. She is helping my daughter move back from college while I run a race - I am a lucky man.

I get to the race parking an 2 1/2 hours before the race and try unsuccessfully to sleep in the car. I put on headphones and watch the cars slowly fill the lot. It is a cool, windy morning and I am in no hurry to get to the start, where I will have to sit outside and shiver.

Eventually I make the move, and run into several run club members. We go to the subway together and all find a seat on the first car. Another friend from work sees me and asked if this is the local or express. When I tell him it is the local, he says it would take longer, so I get up to go to the the other car and my run club friends follow me. On the way to the other car, they all decide that both subway cars would use the same track and the local will leave first, so we might as well go on the local. By the time we get back, we lost our seats - bad Jesse. The car eventually is packed like a tin of sardines and we eventually arrive at the race about 45 minutes before the start.

I find another group of run club friends and chat while we stretch. With 25 minutes until the race start, I start my warmup jog. A few minutes into it I realize I had better make a toilet stop and this burns precious time. Next thing I know, they're singing the national anthem and I haven't gotten my backpack to the buses yet. I wade through throngs of tightly packed runners to turn my back in, only to realize on my way to the starting line that I forgot my hammer gel flask AND my race watch / heart rate monitor - no time to go back. Such is the hectic nature of the Broadstreet pre-race.

I run into a few people I know at the start, and have to skip my normal routine of pre-race striders - no time.

The Race
Before you know it, the race starts. There is a strong tail wind and the race starts on a downhill. I run at a comfortable (not too comfortable) pace and the first few miles go by quickly. At the first water stop, I decide to run behind the water table and skip water. Bad move as I dodge several volunteers and actually colide with one of them. The first race clock I notice on the course is at mile 3 ; it says 17:21. Considering I expected to do 6:30 pace, I had run the first three miles in better than 5:50 pace and was feeling pretty good.

At the half-way point (29:25), I'm feeling even better. My cardio has caught up and I should be able to actually go a tad faster when I hit mile 7 or 8. Why not - I'm keeping my hamstring in check (although I feel it tugging for the entire race).

The Side Stitch
At about mile 5.5 I get a massively painful side stitch. I try to run through it, stretching while I run - touching the ground while I run. Finally I stop, stretch, walk, then start running again. I lose about 45 seconds, but it is still bothering me, so I slow down a bit until it is manageable.

The Recovery
At about mile 7 (42:10), although I probably lost over a minute to the side stitch, I start feeling better, so I decide to slowly add some more speed. I pass mile 9 in 54:07, which means I need a 5:48 or better to fininish under an hour.

The Finish
I pick up the pace and, as I get about a half mile from the finish, I see a bunch of kids on the sidelines, bored stiff, looking for mom or dad. I like to high-five kids during races - I don't know why, but it gets me out of the grind of races and makes it all more enjoyable. The kids, teenagers and adults all love it. I've got a big smile on my face as I hear a guy say, 'now that's the spirit'. Most of guys in front of me would never think about slowing down just a little to high-five the sideline, but I get a huge charge out of it, and I keep doing it it for at least 400 meters (the sidelines at the finish are packed!).

As I turn the corner and see the clock, I realize I had better crank out the final 200 meters if I want to hit the 60 minute mark. As I sprint across the finish line, it looks like I have just about made it, but when I get home and check the results, I see that my chip time is 1:00:01.

But you know what, I am sooo happy with that time, and if I had to do it again, I would not have skipped the high-fives just to break an hour. Really fun finish for me.