Elizabeth 8k: Spada's recap!

...and boy did it feel good to race again!

Considering that my last race was mid December with the Thunder Road Half Marathon (unless you count the 5k TT on the track at PDS). The Elizabeth 8k is a beautiful rolling race of 5 miles held each early April in the Elizabeth section of Charlotte, N.C. It benefits the areas "green & clean" campaign and by the looks of the trees...it's working!

I had contacted Lesa and Danny White, the wonderful husband and wife duo of RMS Sports, to see if they had a # for me and they did...I was grateful! Thanks guys...

On Saturday morning when I got to packet pick up, I saw Lesa and she said that she reserved #1 for me yet left it at home and gave me a random #, this was a good thing since I just said hello to John Compton...Ha!

As I started my warm up, I quickly hooked up with Larry Seavers and he proceeded to tell me why the Red Sox will NEVER leave Fenway Pawk...OK, I'll play! My Yankees had recently moved into a new stadium. It was great to get the chance to run with Larry as he is an institution.

From there it was onto the Crockford Files! I had the pleasure to continue my warm up with Danielle and Chad Crockford who are both preparing for Boston and are such great company. Chad and I are of similar ability (he is clearly ahead of me, yet somewhat compatible and we do not train together). Danielle wins her share of races in Charlotte. Time to put on the flats...

Although I was sick the previous week, all that remained race morning was some crud in my chest which did not present a problem...I still have some. I got to the starting line and was ready to go. Elvis (the starter) put the runners on the left and the baby joggers on the right as we started together. That was better than having the joggers go first, at least for me...

The gun goes off and Chad takes off and I got right behind him. After the first turn, John Compton cruises past us and proceeds to run off into the distance (I think he finished in South Park!). I settled in nicely behind Chad yet there are 2 other runners with us. The 4 of us played cat and mouse for a couple of miles until it became evident that Chad and I were the stronger 2 of this lot. At mile 3 Chad and I were together and as we approached the next hill, Chad made a move and I didn't cover it until we leveled off and started to go down the other side. After that, Chad had had enough of me and proceeded to slowly tighten the noose at which point I realized that not enough blood was passing through my carotid artery, and other arteries for that matter, and I began to loose contact. I held my pace as he lowered his...no complaints here!

Approaching the finishing strait was the first time that I saw the clock which read 27:47 and I thought I might have a chance to get under twenty eight minutes...I did! Results below:

John Compton, 25, Charlotte, N.C.   26:02 (he was taken off course and lost seconds!)
Chad Crockford, 29, Charlotte, N.C.27:28 (9 days before Boston)
Stephen Spada, 45, Charlotte, N.C.  27:58 (Podium finish)

Danielle was first for the women!

My cool down was with John Compton who is a class act and it was really nice to catch up with him and I got to hear about his resurrection with KFill...he was stoked! 

Pleased with the training, the result and the effort!

For this week, my easy 10 milers will become 7 milers as I do a quasi taper for Saturday. I did do a 20 miler yesterday which felt ok and I will run a long interval workout tomorrow of 3 x 2 miles and then easy/recovery runs for Wed., Thurs. and Friday...we'll see!

 Comment: My son made the A team for his travel lacrosse team...my Wife and I are proud!