For Your Honour

A pivitol race in my xc season,#4 of the 8 on my schedule and also the first of three successive weeks of racing.
I,d never ran at Deer Path Park b4 and I,d only one previous xc 8k race to my credit,a disastrous Bad Boy last October at VCP{irony alert,my next race......Bad Boy!!!}
Conditions were ideal,come 10.30am the temps were in the high 50s/low 60s and sunny,from the gun I moved up behind the leaders into 5th b4 dropping back to 6th as I clocked 5.34 for my opening mile.
Having jogged the outer loop pre race I knew what to expect and where to expect it.....that said I compleatly missed the 2 mile marker as it came b4 a tight turn where I was focusing on taking the tangent and not the spray painted sign.
By the time I reached 3 miles on the second loop in 17.01 I was dueling for 8th place,when I got dropped for 9th I allowed myself a quick glance back to 10th,it was Chuck who was yelling at me to go after the 8th place runner whom I been dueling and duking it out w/ for most of the race,w/ hingsight I wish I,d dropped the hammer on the final downhill on the second loop like I had on the first,subconsiously I think I knew I need to compesate for the extra 2k I was running today.
24.42 at 4 miles both club record and course record{27.51-28.01} were going to be hard to bring down and although 8th place was getting away from me he passed 7th b4 the final turn......a grassy 100m straight to the finish,my cue to dig deep and haul in the now fading 8th place runner b4 the finish,8th in 28.16.62.
I had hoped for a 27.45 plus time,it wasn,t to be,no club record,no course record,however a pr ecilpsing last Octobers woeful 31.21.17. and not only an age group win but first masters finisher overall,medal#14 for the season,#118 for my career.
A nice touch post race,beer,burgers and hot dogs and a nice day for it,a gamble when you,re holding a race at the end of October.
Home to watch my beloved Spurs notch their first win of the season under new boss Harry Redknapp,all in all a good day,period but one my father Kevin would,ve appreciated.
There,s a Dave Matthews Band song off of "Everyday" called "Dreams Of Our Fathers"the chorus goes so
"I don,t want to wake up,lost in the dreams of our fathers,oh it,s such a waste child to live and die for the dreams of our fathers, oh I must confess yes memories of wonder about this,this love I possess lord,it must be the dreams of our fathers"