Well Worth The Wait

Sunday Sept 11th 1983,my first ever road race,a 10k in Wimbledon South West London,my time was nothing to write home about a meager 38.58 but it was a start

I remember passing the All England Tennis Club where the tennis is played each summer and also remember being thrilled to get a medal post race.....from little acorns big trees grow....

Sunday July 15th 1984,10 months and two 6mile races later the landmark 10k that stood the test of time.

This was the race that taught me to have my bag packed the nite b4 as I over slept and had to run around like the proverbial headless chicken getting ready and rushing across London from my South East home to West London and White City for the race.

Finished 57th in a field of 228 in 34.53,little did I know then that my second ever 10k would hang around for 27 years as a pr....

Sunday November 5th 2006,in what would be my final road race outside of 5th Avenue Mile for three years I ran the Bridge Run in a disappointing 37.07.1.

After my first taste of masters track in 06 I'd made my mind up that track was where I wanted to run and road races would be not so much a thing of the past but fleeting.......

Sunday November 6th 2011,after winning the gold at 10,000m on the track in Berea this summer at Masters Nationals I had set my sights on the Bridge Run 10k as the race to erase my oldest pr in the books,just as I did last season after a breakout 5,000m on the track in April I bided my time till fall b4 laying waste to my 5k road pr now the distance was double,but so was the desire.

Armed w/ heartful of determination,a headful of belief and an earful of the Jesus & Mary Chain on my iopd I made the short train ride across the Delaware River over the same Ben Franklin Bridge I'd run the first three miles of the 10k on in just under an hours time.

Conditions were ideal sunny and 41 degs early November can be a crap shoot,I recall several years back in the precursor to the Bridge Run the old A To Z 10k{began at the Camden Aquarium and finished at the Philadelphia Zoo}my hands almost turning to ice crossing the bridge,to that end I packed gloves and arm warmers into my backpack,and while the gloves stayed put I probably didn't need the arm warmers after all but I was leaving nothing to chance,I'd waited long enough for this day,ever the boy scout "Be Prepared" $20 for a pair of arm warmers seemed a small price to pay if today was day I lowered my pr.

On the short walk from Campbell's Field to the start at the foot of the Camden side of the Ben Franklin bridge I remained calm, prior to my first masters National championship title my former coach told me"you've done the training have faith in your ability and the result will come" words to live by then in 07 so why not today?

Since stepping off the track at Berea after the 10,000m final on July 30th my focus had been on this race swooping mile repeats for 2 mile repeats on the track to get myself ready for this race.

In a field of over 3,000 runners it was important to get near the front and get a clear start if I had any hopes of getting my pr and w/ a relatively clear start I found myself latched onto the back of the lead group in 10th place

5.44 for the opening mile initially I thought it was slow given I went out in 5.19 at Syracuse but that was over 5k clearly even pace was going to be clutch,I averaged 5.32 per mile.

I dropped to 11th but wasn't too worried this was really about me and the clock.

13.11 at 2 miles and I'd slipped to 13th but stayed in contact w/ the two runners who'd overhauled me,one of whom was the first female.

Rather than let male ego get in the way I drew energy from the runners on the other side of the barrier who cheered for her and the three of us of us stayed close to each other.

16.41 at 3 miles just b4 the foot of the bridge a bit of quick mental math,2x 16.41 =33.12 +1.05 for the final .2 would give me 34.29.....PR....

W/ the bridge taken care of it was now 3 miles through Camden,having not ran the race since 06 I wasn't 100% sure where the course would lead me but it was well marked so as long as I followed the cones and arrows I'd be ok

The lead female runner was getting away from me but I'd passed one of the runners who'd peeled off the lead pack to move up to 12th.

21.52 at mile 4 for the first time I was beginning to feel it but as I passed the battleship that sits behind the Tweeter Center I thought about the nine 3x2miles repeats I'd done since the week b4 I went to Sacramento for Worlds and how no matter what I'd tried to give it all I had on the third and final repeat....it's just 2 more miles.

27.32 at mile 5 I had two concerns w/ a mile to go,footsteps behind me and my right shoe lace coming undone.

I thought the footsteps might be Bob Schwelm I'd seen him behind me as I made my way back across the bridge and worried my grip on second place in the masters race might be slipping away,it turned out to be the second placed female runner who went by me after I stopped to tie my lace.

Ordinarily I'd have left my lace undone and not worried about it but w/ my race chip on my right foot I could ill afford to lose that given I was in "the money slot" in the masters race,it cost me a few seconds but it was a classic damned if I do,damned if I don't case.

W/ Campbell's Field in view I began to amp up the pace coming off the asphalt and onto the grass of the outfield I was grateful for my cross country experience and also grateful that there hadn't been rain in the last few weeks to make rounding the bases in the outfield a bit less difficult.

Rounding the last turn I saw the finish line and the clock.....34.21.......34.22...34.23....

13th overall and second masters finisher but more importantly a pr,it'd only taken 27 years and 51 attempts but I found my Excalibur and that leaves my 02 Chicago marathon as my oldest pr in my record books followed by my 03 8k,I don't plan on a marathon just yet so that just leaves the 8k to consider

Post race I caught up w/ my team mates,having switched to track in 06/07 I don't see many of the road runners anymore so it was good to mingle and catch up b4 the awards.

On top of the finishers medal{career medal #135 and counting} I got a plaque for being second in the masters race and a cheque......for $250,my biggest pay day as a runner ever,I'd gotten a few $100 prizes for winning road races but $250....wow,but more importantly a 29 second pr.

I said after winning the M45 10,000m at Nationals that the next thing was to lower my 10k pr on the road now that I've done that it's time to focus to lowering my track pr{34.43.3.} if I have any medal podium aspirations in Brazil in 2013 at the next WMA I need to get down to the low 33's so that's the plan,w/ turning 48 just a whisker away it seems prudent to spend the next 2 years running 5,000m and 10,000m outdoors on the track,lets see if the 10,000m track pr and 10k road pr lower,and by how much?