Saturday, March 6, 2010 was my first race of the 2010 season. A half marathon in uptown Charlotte, N.C. (our adopted hometown). My wife and I are originally from Jersey (Bon Jovi recently penned a song called "who says you can't go home?)...pretty cool. So I park at the Dowd Y and ran the mile to the start to pick up my chip. After running another mile including some strides I headed to the start and wished good luck to a lot of friends from the Charlotte Running Club (good people...and good runners). I had on my Run For Your Life singlet which is the store/company that sponsors me (thank you Tim Rhodes) and my new arm sleeves which I wore for the first time (there was a cool breeze and they felt great).
The gun went off and I immediately settled in and hit the first mile in 6:06 (I was hoping to run sixes the whole way). Right past the mile Chaz Hinkle caught up to me (another 44 year old) and we ran together until the 7 mile mark when he proceeded to put a ten second gap on me (he would hold that to the finish). At about the 4 mile mark my breathing was labored and my legs felt good (those feelings would remain to the finish). As I approached the 8 mile mark I saw an old friend on the side of the road (Chuck Spencer, a liberal, which I will not hold against for the sake of this blog) who told me that I was in 7th place! I knew that there were 2 relays teams ahead of me so if my math was accurate then that would put me in a podium spot of 5th place. I ran the next few miles under 6 minute pace which I knew was critical because miles 12 and 13 were straight up Morehead Steet (you can't get away from hills in Charlotte). Approaching the finish line I could see the clock and I saw 1:18 so I knew that I was going to get it...which I did!
2 things that really stuck with me about this race were: #1 How much work and passion that Tim Rhodes and his crew(and Larry Frederick before him) put in to make these races happen so that us blokes can come out and have a little competition. Thanks guys! and #2 The many people on the side of the road during the whole race who were yelling for me and cheering me on. I have been fortunate enough to have raced here in Charlotte for the last 15 years with some success. Good stuff...
One last note...when Max and I got back to my work and I had him go on the computer to look up the results and he said that I came in 5th and asked if that was the 5th Master and I said "no...5th overall". He also asked me if Bill Shires was in the race...
Top 5: (1st)- Jason Holder, (2nd)- Kevin Lisska, (3rd)- Billy Shue, (4th)- Chaz Hinkle, (5th)- Stephen Spada
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