River Run weekend...wild & windy!

As usual with a "rest" week...I feel like "Bantha Fodder"! As the body builds back up from the last cycle of training, you usually feel very "flat", the legs feel heavy and you are a bit sluggish. This would seem counter-intuitive, especially since the training volume and intensity are backed down...but, that's how it works. Shawn Burke also speaks about this in his latest blog entry.

Be that as it may, I was signed up for the River Run for the first time ever! The River Run has quite a history, and has had a world class field for years. Some of those competing and winning over the years include Bill Rodgers, Pat Porter, Wilson Waigwa, Mike Musyoki, Simeon Kigen, Arturo Barrios, Steve Spence, Ed Eyestone, Todd Williams, Dan Browne, Meb Keflezighi, Ryan Shay, Ryan Hall, Keith Brantley, Grete Waitz, Lynn Jennings, Cathy O'Brien, Gwyn Coogen, Joan Benoit, and Denna Kastor just to name a few. This race has always taken place during my bike race season, so I have never had a chance to participate. This race is labeled the "U.S. 15k Championships", had 14,000 people registered, around 12,500 finished, and the wind was crazy! It was the windiest run I have ever done. There were 20+ MPH sustained winds, and 40+ MPH gusts...plus we had to cross 2 bridges over the river...ouch! Drafting was the word for the day.

The start...

Kicking up the waves along the river...

I've never run a 15k, so figured 3 x 20 minute 5k's = 1 hour (~6:26/mile)...so that was my goal...but, without all the wind. The Main Street bridge had everyone pushed over to the far left hand side by the cross wind, I even had to put my hand on some guys back in front of me to keep him in place and not run me into the bridge railing...but that was just a brief prelude to the Hart bridge...which is much higher and steeper. Everything was going smoothly, even with all the wind, until the Hart bridge...there was a massive cross wind from the left...and I mean MASSIVE. The gusts had to be 50 MPH...crazy stuff. By this time the runners were pretty spread out...so I got into a little group of about 5 and tried to draft up the bridge. We were going incredibly slow, and being pushed against the far right barrier wall. In retrospect, it was pretty comical...me trying to draft off all these fly weight runners getting blown all over the place...very surreal. Once over the top we curved down to the left directly into the wind...to the bottom of the bridge, and then into the Jacksonville Jaguars home stadium to finish on the field. As I ran into the stadium I caught a view of the clock...59:55...yikes, I sprinted like an Ethiopian chicken all the way through the line to finish as the last person to break an hour on the official "gun" time...59:59. My chip time, which begins when you actually cross the start line, was a few seconds faster...but the official time is when the gun goes off at the start, and that is how your placed overall.

What the heck is Lyndon (in tights) smiling about?!?

Lyndon "Dr. Pain" Box dealing me some punishment in San Marco...

Shawn Burke Laying down the law...

Greg "Gills" Carr in full flight to a 52:45...and feeling fortunate Double D was injured ;-)

Me doing the "Ethiopian Chicken" to the finish line...

After reviewing the results, my last 5k in the race was about 30-45 seconds slower than those earlier in the race...it looks as though the finish times were about 1 minute or so slower this year than previous versions. I met up with Greg "Gills" Carr at the finish...and he ran a 52:45...for second in his age group! He was beaten by some guy from North Carolina named Jason Bodnar who ran a 48:56. It turns out Bodnar at one time was on the U.S. National team for the 1998 World Cross Country Championships, was an Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier, and had a whole host of other results...so "Gills" shouldn't feel too bad about getting beat by this guy!

Danny "Double D" Domingo was taking the day off with a sore foot...he's still battling his foot injury, but has taken some steps to hopefully get back in the action...of course when he does, that's just another guy ahead of me! Speaking of guys ahead of me...Shawn Burke also kicked my butt and ran a PR of 58:36, great job! I ran with Lyndon "Dr. Pain" Box who kept me motivated the whole time...he just missed breaking an hour by a few scant seconds, and had a great run.

Here's the results.