Decker Challange Race Report

Member

Short Version: 12 miles in 2:17:07, a new pr for this race.

Longer version:

I went into this race with very low expectations. Earlier in the week I committed to one of the women who was in my fall marathon training group I would run the race at her pace. She has a nagging injury and didn't want to run it alone. This morning I woke up with a stuffy nose and couldn't tell if it was allergies or if I had caught the cold my kids and wife were suffering from last week. The Decker Challange itself doesn't lend itself to great performances; it is known as one of the toughest road races in the state. Hills exist from the start, but the really big hills are late in the race.

Weather was good. It was 54 and cloudy with no wind. A little humid as rain was expected. Shortly after the race started a drizzle began that would dog us all the through the race. Just enough to spot my glasses and bother me. At 5.5 miles we caught up with another woman we know, and she said she would run with Yolanda. They let me go, and I picked up the pace.

I hit 6 miles in 1:08 and thought I had lost way, way too much time to really expect much--last year I ran the race in 2:21. But I just kept pushing the pace, knowing that some long, steep climbs were waiting for me between miles 7 to 10. First big hill is at mile 7 and I just looked at the pavement and chugged uphill and tried to recover but hold a good pace on the downhill. Followed the same pattern for the next 4 hills. The last hill, and the worst, starts at 9.5 miles and crests right at the 10 mile marker. I hit 10 miles and realized I had a shot at beating my time in '01--which was a bittersweet discovery at this point. The last 2 miles have some little hills and feels basicaly flat. I kept pushing and pushing and when I hit mile 11 I knew I had it in the bag. I took it in and was happy to see I finished two mins quicker than I estimated at mile 10.

For me, this was a great race and I am feeling pretty proud at the moment. I started very slow and still managed to shave 4 mins off my race time from last year.

Member

GREAT JOB, ALAN!
Way to get a PR! And help another runner in the process!

Frightened Inmate #2

Go ALAN!

Gone Fishin

Very nice shaving 2:00 from last year, sweet. Ya done us proud with those last couple miles, way to dig deep. 54F degrees..I'm sooo envious Mr. Green

Adjunct

all right alan especially since you had low expectations

Member

Sounds like a tough race, but you made it and broke a PR! That's great! Cool

Shelly

POTFH

Nice Job Alan,
That is the way to shave time off a PR. It always feels good when you do that!
Keep it up.

Member

WAY TO GO!!!!!

The Pinball

just the description of the course makes me cringe. you did a great job -- excellent. way to go helping out the other runner and still managing to take time off last year's race. cheers

Member

woohoo new PR!

Decker Challange Race Report

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