Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Bandit Baby

My family has a history of running bandit. Yeah, we’ve been cool before it was ever cool to deny a local charity some much needed money in exchange for a cotton t-shirt and a stop-watch timed event. But we have principles, we don’t cross the official finish line and we don’t eat the donated food. And I sleep fine at night thankyouverymuch.

So, on the 4th I laced it up without pinning on a bib. A 15M run in the hills north of Boyne City awaited me on the 5th, mandating a conservative race approach. The Boyne City Independence Day 10K is mostly flat and run along the bay for the first five miles (the course is basically an out/back). The sixth mile brings the only uphill, and it is only a ‘mild’ hill. It is a small grade but slightly over a quarter-mile. This uphill is only notable because of the downhill finish. With roughly half a mile left a steep rollercoaster-type hill propels racers flailing down. It is my favorite finish ever.

I ran a comfortable pace and tried to pick off runners, and ended up running even splits. I finished in 40:40, hitting a 6:33/M average. My time would have put me 6th in my AG and 26th overall. It seems there are a lot of fast kids that show up to this rather quaint and small race.

The following day I ran 15M in beautiful and hilly country. FIRST called for a 7:45/M pace average, and I personally hoping for a 7:30 average. The first and third miles were 7:37, and all else were sub 7:30. I was actually getting faster and stronger in the latter part of the run, and I finished with a 6:51 mile (my fastest). This was a nice run to cap off a sweet weekend with the family and on the beach.

8 comments:

B. Kramer said...

G4SP!!!1! You dirty bandit! Nice weekend running. Cheers!

Nitmos said...

A true bandit would take the shirt and eat the food. You were merely a merry prankster.

B.o.B. said...

Good race. And Nitmos is right. LOL!

Jen Feeny said...

I have friends that are chronic bandit-eers (?) but I have yet to partake in this devilish little scheme. What can I say, I'm a terrible liar in general so something tells me I'd be terrible at being a bandit-eer (I think I'm making up new words here, stay with me) More power to ya though! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! I'll have to keep my eye on you as I love to support my Michigander peeps (formerly of Jackson, MI myself)

Running and living said...

Wow, the 15 miler is impressive given that you ran it the day after the race. Just don't tell the FIRST people that you ran 2 days in a row:) Ana-Maria

Irish Cream said...

Ha, I am such a goody two shoes--I don't know that I could ever gather up the courage bandit a race! I have to agree with Nitmos, though--if you were a TRUE bandit, you would eat all of the post-race food before the people slower than you (i.e. most of them) got to it ;)

Unknown said...

I'd love some more info about the Capital City River Run! I was using FIRST to train but I think its a little too intense for me right now. I'm trying to stick with the speedwork though but dang, you are right, those "rest" intervals suck. I just spend them thinking how miserable I am!
Thanks! Firewillconsume/Katie

Ms. V. said...

You know you're going to hell, right? :)