run race 38:38 [5] 10.0 km (3:52 / km)
Kapow! A wildly amazing super cool run with da boyz. Had no idea what to expect or what I was capable of, but was much calmed by having PH as a pace bunny.
Started out a little fast because some 4 foot tall 10 year old was 5 meters ahead and that irritated me for reasons I'm not proud of. Fortunately, we had delegated leadership of this expedition to PH and he verbally slapped me upside the head. I fell in behind him.
2-3k in, I realized that the pace we were at was a pace that I could maintain for a while. It suddenly became apparent that a sub-40 10k was possible, not just for me, but for all of us. Super looked comfortable and Duane, who had never run a 10k, was smooth. Takes a lot of the fuss out of the piece to have someone set the pace and know that that pace is manageable.
PH pulled us closer to Reid's pack and we latched onto the "40k pace groups" between the 4 and 5k marker. We had a fine tailing breeze on the westward legs and on the eastward bits I just tucked in behind Duane or PH who are, like huge. Quiet as can be back there.
By 6k I knew we would nail this as a group. Supe was struggling a bit, but still looking pretty cruisey, Duane was breathing noisily but steady and PH was determined to school Reid by maintaining a 3 meters lead over the group. Bit by bit, the others in the Reid group began to fall away. Super let us go at 7k, but he was still in good shape. PH, sensing that he had done his job, turned it up a notch, leaving me and Duane in Reid's good hands.
Neither Duane nor I had functional watches and so we just hung on to Reid step for smooth, floating step. Man, that guy runs beautifully. It's almost lyrical. And to be 2 feet to the left and behind a guy like that, just patterning off his rhythm and letting him make all the decisions is a rare gift from the athlete gods.
The last km was a haze, but likely the fastest I have run in a race. As we turned sharply into the finish stretch, 300 meters to go, I saw that the first two digits were 38, which made no sense. But there it was; and then I saw PH go in under 38:30. Hot damn!
Reid, Duane, Reid's friend Tim and I had been accelerating for the past few minutes and were now in a full sprint. This was no longer about 40 minutes; this was now about something else completely, something deeply satsifying. This was about having a Good Day.
Duane pulled out just a bit more and nailed it 2 seconds ahead. I got the money shot tying with Reid at 38:38. And friend Tim was a second behind.
We jumped up and down for a few moments and then focussed on Super and instantly there he was, coming in under 39:30, demonstrating that real training is just bad time management.
Mission accomplished for all of us. Hardware all around.