Third Time's A Charm In Syracuse

My 09 debut in Syracuse was humbling to say the least but it taught me if I ever wanted a fast 5k this was the race to go after it in and last year I geared my season to wind up in Syracuse at the USATF Masters 5k Road race c'ships and lo and behold a pr,15.59 but it shows as 16.00 in the record books as it was rounded up.....bastards!!!!
This year I came in w/ my target race still some 5 weeks away so I knew any thoughts of sub 16.00 were wishful thinking but this year we finally had a M40 team in 09 I think it was just me and Bob Mc Ginty and last year it was me,Bryant Nix and Dave Brown not enough to score in the team race but after convincing Nick Berra to join us in Syracuse and enlisting a newly minted M40 Neill Clark we had a team.....of course this year they changed the team scoring to 3 not 5 but adding Nick really boosted our medal chances even if we didn't have a snowball in hell chance of toppling Atlanta Track Club for gold I'd take silver,in 09 I think our women's 40 and 50 teams both medaled and last year our M50 team took gold so it was time for the M40 team to show up and represent for GPTC.

Syracuse in early October can be brisk and I'm glad I packed my club warm ups and a long sleeved shirt in my bag but I probably should've packed a hat and gloves as I was shivering when we arrived Saturday afternoon for our traditional pre race jog of the course.
When race organiser Dave Oja says he goes out of his way to make this a fast course he's not lying,not only has he found the flatest section of Syracuse for us to race on he marks the course w/ orange paint to show you the tangents to allow you to run a fast time,I don't know too many 5k's that offer that and that's why each year the masters masses migrate to Syracuse in the first weekend of October to do battle.

Leaving the hotel at 7.30am Sunday we were greeted w/ 44 degrees and drizzle,no big I thought,it's only 5k,I've ran further in worse I told myself eying the grey sky as the drizzle bounced off of Nick's windshield as we drove over to the start.
Once there another jog of the course of the course as my warm up jogged w/ my buddy Ron K who was making his Syracuse debut and in search of a pr,if the rain held off he was going to be in luck.......
10 minutes b4 the 8.50am race start the heavens opened,oh well,I've conducted numerous training runs in the rain(and gotten stick for it it should be pointed out)but the reason I do that is if you've trained in the rain and come race day it's raining it shouldn't be an issue,like I tell non runners who look at me like I've got two heads when I dispel their notion that I couldn't possibly run in the rain "it's a bit like standing under a shower,you reach saturation point where you can't get any wetter and just get on w/ it"

From the gun I tucked in behind Dave Cannon he said he was looking a little less than 5.05 pace for the opening mile and we went through in 5.09 which was ideal and while Dave forged ahead I sat back knowing today was about seeing where I'm at right now w/ another 5 weeks till the Bridge Run and my 10k.
8.13 at half way a potential 16.26 in these conditions I'd take it,I forget my 3k time but I saw 10.26 at 2 miles a 5.17 mile I'd end up averaging 5.19 mile pace.....my target mile pace on my 2 mile repeats is 5.20.......
At 4k I saw 13.14 it was time to go I'd spent most of the race looking at Ron K and Brian Pilcher ahead of me and knew it was now or never if I was going to get to the finish line ahead of them.
W/ 200m to I was probably in 21st place but w/ the finish in sight I dropped the hammer to overtake the seven runner ahead of me including Ron and Brian to finish 14th overall and 5th in the M45-49 age group in 16.30.8.

Even though my time was rounded up to 16.31 it's still my second fastest 5k ever and my two sub 17 5ks are both here at Syracuse,who knows what any of us would've done in dryer conditions,Dave Cannon just missed the American M55 record but Ron K did pr w/ his 16.33.
W/ Atlanta Track Club putting three runners in the top 6 it was no surprise they won the M40 team race but w/ Nick in 8th myself in 14th and Neill in 33rd we did enough to win the silver which I honestly thought we were capable of and it's another National Championship medal to my collection.
W/ 5 more weeks to go till the Bridge Run I have to like my chances of lowering my 84 pr of 34.53 based on this performance providing I can stay illness and injury free I should be more than able to do that off a 16.31 5k let's just hope 44 degrees and rain isn't on the forecast that day!