Photo OF Rob Follansbee. I don't
know who took the photo, but Rob's race report is below.
I'm not much of a writer - or a runner... but I will tell
you about my day at the annual Massachusetts
Law Enforcement Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk.
The trip to Wakefield’s Lake Quannapowitt
was enjoyable. Sunday morning, early, no traffic, nice weather,
just twenty minutes from home! Most of the parking was off
North Avenue. That is if you wanted to wait in the breakdown
lane off Route 128 North. Seeing this I took the next exit...
the rotary. I notices right away many police cars &
motorcycles. I need to be careful where I park!!! Finally,
I found a spot... grabbed my wallet and I was off to register.
The entrance to the sign up area did not
look good. Lot’s of people walking around aimlessly!!!
I took a deep breath and walked in to the building... found
the “Sign up Day of Race” table and paid my fee.
I was on my way with number and timing chip.
Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to warm up...
just a run back to the truck and then on to the starting
line. I noticed a bright yellow jersey through out the sea
of people already lining up for the half marathon. It was
fellow Crank Racer, Rob Follansbee. After wishing brother
Rob good luck I stood back preparing to watch him leave.
There was a moment of silence... then Amazing Grace was
played on the bagpipes and finally a solo performance of
the Star Spangled Banner. Breathtaking. They are off!!!
It seemed to take forever with all the runners to clear
out.
Now it was my turn... time for all the
5K runners to line up. The sun went in and the wind picked
up. I tried to stay warm by running in place, stretching,
hopping, talking to myself, etc. you get the picture. As
I made my way up to the front the Star Spangled Banner was
being sung once again.
The gun sounded and we were off! I attempted
to stay with everyone else.. but I’m just not the runner
that these people were. Many people passed me before I even
made it to the first mile marker.
I felt good... “just keeping a pace”
I told myself. Soon I was turning the corner to head back
to the Start/Finish. Instantly the wind that was helping
me turned to a good head wind. No problem... “just
keeping a pace”. At the 2 mile marker the timer read
14:00 minutes. Not bad - just hang in there! Only a mile
or so to go. There are no more people passing me now...
but I’m feeling a bit spent. Just when I needed it
there are lot’s of people to cheer me on! I wanted
to finish strong but I just didn’t have it in me.
Finally I can see the Finish... I’m
almost there. 23:00 minutes flat. The results: 28/164 for
the age group and 90/788 overall. I turned in the timer
chip and enjoyed the post run food and drink.
I felt good about the race but even better
about the cause. All in all it was fun! Can’t wait
‘til next year!!!
Law Enforcement Half Marathon Re-Cap
After a long winter of riding and very
little running, of course the most logical first race to
do would be a half marathon. Actually, my wife Stacey had
run this race the previous year as prep for the Vermont
City Marathon and I enjoyed following her on my bike around
the course. Since she was unable to run it this year I figured
I would pick up the slack.
At least this year it wasn't as cold as
last year and based on the winter we have had, 40 degrees
wasn't too bad. After a quick warm-up (running from the
car), I went to start area to line up. Right before the
race I ran into fellow Crank Racer Mike Lawless who was
doing the 5K - not a bad idea I was thinking. Next thing
you know the gun goes off and we are racing! I decide to
just follow the crowd and see what happens. It was nice
having a strong tailwind as we head out - but of course
we will be running back this way in about an hour and a
half.
The course was interesting and not as flat
as it had seemed the year before on a bike. The first half
of the race went along quite nicely at about a 6:30-6:45
mile pace - better than I expected to do. A few people asked
me about Crank Racing and thought it was an odd name for
a running club - so I quickly straightened them out. Runners
- they're so skinny obviously no nourishment gets to their
brain (Just kidding you runner-types). Once I mentioned
I mostly race mountain bikes I could sense these guys didn't
want to finish behind me. Fine with me. Most of them took
off.
The race went well until we started to
head back and started running into the wind. Did I mention
it was also uphill? And no water station for another mile?
It was around here where I thought about the wonders of
a free-hub - no coasting while you run unfortunately. I
went to my happy place and just ran until about the last
couple of miles. I started seeing all my running buddies
from earlier and decided to give it my best.
Well, my best kept getting slower but the
last mile was mostly downhill so that was a bonus. I finished
in about 1:31 and change so I was more than happy. My goal
was to run less than 7:00 minute miles. It would have been
nice to run under 1:30 but the wind killed any chance of
that.
And finally - I beat most of my runner
"friends" from earlier in the race except for
one guy. He sprinted at the end to pass me but looked as
if he was going to puke at the finish. Good for him. I was
able to eat my Twinkies in the food tent - not toss them.
Bring on the mountain bike races!!
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