Upon arriving, I noticed something astray as it was 30 minutes before the gun goes off and the parking lot was nearly full. Hmmmm. Interesting. Maybe something was happening in the school today and that could explain all of the extra cars.
After I park, I get out of my car to register for the race and THERE IS A LINE! Holy cow! How am I ever going to win this race if more people show up than normal? This was certainly shaping up to be a large race. Did someone forget to tell these people we don't get tech t-shirts, finishers medals, water stops, or good weather? Someone must set the record straight!
Because of the 87 runners who decided to run this year's first Fudge race, we ended up starting 15 minutes late due to waivers and the extra paperwork of the first week of races but it was well worth it. I knew my legs felt good and that I was going to push it to see how I would do on this long 5K.
Glenn first welcomed everyone to the race and told everyone he would say "runner set" and then the G-O word. "Runners set, . . . GO!" And we were off. I once again got a little too excited and jumped off the start line. Mile 1 came in at 6:41 which is too fast for me at this time! I settled into a much more comfortable 7:12 and 7:10 pace for miles 2 and 3+. I came across the finish in 21:48 (average of 7:01 mile).
This is not news though, as many of you remember, last week I ran the Lowell 1st Run 5K in 21:40. Today's news was the fact that I accomplished one of my 2011 goals. No, it was not running a sub-20 minute 5K obviously and I did not do anything involved with refereeing so that leaves only one goal it could be!
THAT'S RIGHT! I BEAT FIL! He will tell you he was taking it easy today but as the rest of us know, he is getting old and can't run as fast. This is completely ironic considering he left me this post this week:
(Eat your words Fil!)
(Proof: #11 Cullen Madden [21:48], #12 Fil Faria [21:54])
* * *Disclaimer: Fil really wasn't racing, he was just running to the best of his ability* * *
After Fil and I finished and I had my celebratory dance (don't worry, you didn't miss much), Fil, Jason, and I went back out on the course to cool down and to assist Tatum finish strong. We made it back from out 1.6 mile cool down and grabbed some water. It was at this point, Fil informed me that him and Jason was going to meet up with Tony Mangan who is an Irish Ultrarunner.
For those of you who do not know who Tony Mangan is, you can read about him on his blog here. For those of you who do, you know I jumped at this opportunity to part of running history and have a chance to push Nirvana.
We jumped in our cars and made our way to Rt. 9 in Worcester where Tony should already be on his way. Today's run should be taking us from Worcester to Warren, MA along Route 9 the entire way. Fil, Jason, and I took turns video recording the day's historic run. Check out the video below!
As the video shows, once we found Tony, Jason stayed with him to push the boggy called "Nirvanna" while fill and I drove down the road to our ending point to leave one car and ride back together to find Tony and Jason so we would have a ride when finished.
Fil and I managed to find a Dunkin Donuts about 16-17 miles from where we left Tony, Jason, and Nirvanna. We managed to find them about 4 miles into their run at which point Fil and I parked and proceeded to race to catch up with the the gang.
After about a mile of running, we stopped for a photo op and then it was my turn to take over Nirvanna. Let me tell you, I will certainly NOT be pushing any children around in a stroller on my runs anytime soon. That was some serious work! It was incredible to think that when no one is out to help Tony on his journey around the world and he must push this boggy the entire length of his daily run (26.2 mile minimum) on his own, he must be dying by the end of his daily run.
For those of you who live in Central Mass know how hilly Rt. 9 is and pushing Nirvanna up and down the rolling hills was no easy task. I had control (well, I thought I did anyway) for about five miles of the run. Fil than took Nirvanna over for the next five while we continued on. With about two miles to go, Fil then handed her off to Jason. The three of us are failures in comparison to EJ who ran with Nirvanna for about 15 miles on Tuesday when Tony was going from Lowell to Hudson, MA.
Pushing Nirvanna was certainly an experience I will never forget as I can feel my arms ache as I am currently typing this blog entry. But it wasn't just Nirvanna, it was conversations with Tony along the run that will remembered for years to come, the video recording, and lastly creeping into the Central Mass Striders (CMS) territory and showing them how to run their hills. We were doing so well, one CMS member say us and ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction never to be seen again.
When we finally reached the Dunkin Donuts where Fil left his car, Tony was nice enough to buy us coffee and donuts for making the trek with him today. It was much appreciated as I was running low on fuel about 2 miles back. We sat in the Dunkin as we waited to hear from his next contact to get in touch with him.
About 20 minutes later, his next handler called Fil back and said he would meet Tony on Rt. 67 on his way to Warren, MA and pick up Nirvanna so Tony could finish his 50K for the day. At this point, we wished Tony luck on his expedition. He thanked not only Fil, Jason, and I for running with him today but the entire GLRR club for their hospitality and support.
I guess I will have to put a weekly Tony update so that we can follow him throughout 2013 when he finishes his expedition. Who knows, maybe I will make an expedition of my own to Dublin to run the marathon with Tony!
Better start planning the trip tonight! Anyone know a good travel agent? Looking for deals!
(PHOTOS WILL BE ADDED ONCE TONY POSTS THEM FROM TODAY'S RUN)
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