Belmont Classic 5k Race Recap 5.28.11
After some friendly banter concerning race times and wagers with Brian Trotter on Facebook, I found myself headed toward Belmont Saturday morning to run the Belmont Classic 5k. A few years had passed since I last visited this race. Not being sure if I remember all of the turns on the course, I pulled up the race map the night before. At least it looked pretty much like the same course.
The mile marks on the road during my prerace warm up, had me confident that I knew where I was going.
With no bike to setup, I found myself ready for the race in plenty of time. This was good of course because there were some familiar faces in the crowd: Diane, Richard H, Michael H. and of course Brian. And with every race I try to make some new friends. I got to shake a lot of hands with the Gaston Running Club members. I recently joined their Facebook group and haven't regretted it for a minute.
From what I hear, one runner in particular - Michael McWhirter – seems to be turning lots of heads. Michael W. has only been running a short time but his times are dropping faster than an ice cube turns to water on a hot August day. I also met another runner from Belmont that reads my blog. Unfortunately, I don't remember his name or his daughter's name. If you are reading this blog, remind me please. LOL.
Dennis from Queen City Timing was running the timing services and was pointing us toward the starting line. The Police Department of Belmont organized this race so we would head off on their siren. They didn't give us any real warning just the siren and we were off.
The two Michaels jumped out in front of me.
For the first ½ mile or so I was just feeling things out. How was the body feeling? Who was looking to push the pace? This is the usual stuff that I go through every race. I have expected Chad C. and his wife to come flying up to the start. Chad had run this race the last couple of years, but I found out later that he headed down to McAlpine. Thanks Chad. I owe you one.
By the time we hit Main Street, they were letting me get in front. At the moment, I wasn't sure if this was the best thing for me or not. The last race Michael H. and I did, he put a serious hurting on me at Turkey Trot 8. Thus, I was a little worried that he might be playing some games with me.
The first mile passed in 5:38. My breathing was a little more labored than I would like. The next mile was mostly flat and I covered it in 5:34. The final mile has a couple of nasty hills which cut into my efforts. I was only able to manage a 5:40 over the last mile.
I finished with a time of 17:45 on my Garmin with a distance of 3.15 to grab a win.
Not long after I finished, Brian comes flying across the finish in 4th place. Before the race I had spotted him 2 minutes. He ran 19:53 so I won our friendly little wager by 8 seconds. Honestly, this was too close for comfort. If we have a future wager, I am going to ask for more time for sure.
In case you are interested in watch me run this race. Honestly, I never find that it gets old to chase a police car since it is usually the other way around. If you are interested in watching, here's the link
Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner.
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