When a personal best isn’t…

Kipchoge won Tokyo by thirty-three seconds and I have speculation about what could come next if it’s not New York, but that will be for a future post.

This past weekend, the Dry Creek Striders ran in the Go Erin Bragh 7.77K in Westminster, CO. The race company created the distance for “luck” for St. Patrick’s Day. It was my first 7.77K and it probably goes without saying that it’s not a common distance. Since it was my first, if I finished I would have a personal best. I penciled in a goal of 31:00 (6:25 per mile pace) which I knew would be a stretch based on my recent 5K times, but not unreasonable.

On the day of the race, there was a heavy breeze and its direction meant we’d be facing a headwind through the second half of the course. There were also some hills to contend with.

My first mile was 6:13, the second was 6:34, and it got slower from there. I finished in 32:11, or a 6:40 per mile pace. I started the race in third place and by the halfway mark, I knew getting a 31:00 was out the window. My only goal at that point was to not fall back to fourth. I could tell by the cheering behind me that I was about forty seconds ahead of the next runner. When I got to 1.5 miles to go, that gap was down to twenty seconds. This was concerning as they had gotten considerably closer in just less than a mile.

Fortunately, the last stretch was not a steep climb and I kept in mind that the next person still had to run twenty seconds faster than me in order to catch up. If I pushed hard on flat stretches and had enough left over the last half mile, I could probably hold on. As I hit the last stretch where spectators lined the course, I kept my ears open. Closer to the finish, I heard no cheering, which bode well. Still, I kicked into a slightly higher gear and got across the line in third in 32:11.

On a technicality, I had a personal best. Was it an excellent race? No. Part of it was out my control (the wind and hills) and part of it was going out closer to 5K pace instead of being more conservative. Had I knocked out a 30:59 or faster, I’d be pleased to say it was a personal best. For this one, well, I won’t be bragging about it and if I run the distance again, I’ll be a bit wiser. Maybe the wind will take a break, too.

On a positive note, the Dry Creek Striders put two people on the podium (second and third) and a third person earned an age group award. This was all despite being down a runner. To date, DCS has won 15 of 17 races (all 15 wins by our founder, Collin Knaub) and we’ve had multiple races with multiple podium finishers. We’ll hope to add to our accolades with the next race…