In the annual AISJ 5K, there has been only one name of late – two people, but one name. Last year, Justin Walker took the overall individual title with Sarah winning the woman’s title with 3rd place. This year, no one separated the two and the Walkers went 1-2 to repeat as male and female winners of the race.
I planned the course and helped the logistics this year so many hours went into communications, route construction, and setting up the course. If fact, the morning of, I spent all my time up until the gun running around doing last-minute set-up, and no warm up. After a typical blazing start, doubt crept in when not only the usually ambitious student body lurched out in front, but a staff member went to the front. He looked Kenyan with ripped calf muscles and he was way out in front, but didn’t seem to know the course. He kept slowing and looking around at each turn. There was no way I could let him go out too far. By about 600m I had surged and joined him. It looked to be shoulder-to-shoulder, whitey and African pressing the pace tape-to-tape. But just as soon as I joined him, he was gone; not just back, but fading fast. I worked the course alone from there, running at about 75-80% for most of the time and pushing certain portions to my benefit. While winning a race easily with little effort brings no satisfaction, it was exciting to be snaking through the final turns and seeing Sarah over my shoulder. I crossed in 18:30, 1:29 ahead of Sarah who broke 20 min on the cross-country course. We were both very pleased with our times for the effort and terrain.
The next day I rolled onto a plane and flew to Cape Town for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. I had a fairly early start time but it wasn’t enough. The pace was fairly slow and hundreds of riders were bunched up for most of the first half of the race. It was touch and go in many places with some crashes and sketchy moments. I tried to stay out of trouble early on. As we crossed the halfway point, a break occurred in the pack and I hammered to get caught up to the next bunch. But the wind was strong and soon the group rejoined. We yo-yo’ed for a while and slowed desperately in a long, exposed stretch leading up to the big climbs. As we arrived at Chapman’s Peak, people were all over the place. I blew by most of them on Little Chappie’s, even without trying. Then we hit the main climb and I blasted up, determined to hammer this whole climb and work my butt off. My climb was impressive but many people caught up on the descent as I was unwilling to take any unnecessary risks. All that remained was one, long, hot climb. With that pain behind me, it was a scant 10 miles to the finish. The crisp ocean air was a welcome relief from the hot, blowing wind that was a part of most of the ride. We wound through the streets and neared the finish. I got up toward the front of the bunch trying to make a go of the sprint. But I went way too early and was picked up easily by the pack a hundred meters from the line. My time was about 3:10, and I am very pleased with that considering the terrain, weather, and the pace of my pack.
All races are done. Time to focus on the Ironman.
I planned the course and helped the logistics this year so many hours went into communications, route construction, and setting up the course. If fact, the morning of, I spent all my time up until the gun running around doing last-minute set-up, and no warm up. After a typical blazing start, doubt crept in when not only the usually ambitious student body lurched out in front, but a staff member went to the front. He looked Kenyan with ripped calf muscles and he was way out in front, but didn’t seem to know the course. He kept slowing and looking around at each turn. There was no way I could let him go out too far. By about 600m I had surged and joined him. It looked to be shoulder-to-shoulder, whitey and African pressing the pace tape-to-tape. But just as soon as I joined him, he was gone; not just back, but fading fast. I worked the course alone from there, running at about 75-80% for most of the time and pushing certain portions to my benefit. While winning a race easily with little effort brings no satisfaction, it was exciting to be snaking through the final turns and seeing Sarah over my shoulder. I crossed in 18:30, 1:29 ahead of Sarah who broke 20 min on the cross-country course. We were both very pleased with our times for the effort and terrain.
The next day I rolled onto a plane and flew to Cape Town for the Cape Argus Cycle Tour. I had a fairly early start time but it wasn’t enough. The pace was fairly slow and hundreds of riders were bunched up for most of the first half of the race. It was touch and go in many places with some crashes and sketchy moments. I tried to stay out of trouble early on. As we crossed the halfway point, a break occurred in the pack and I hammered to get caught up to the next bunch. But the wind was strong and soon the group rejoined. We yo-yo’ed for a while and slowed desperately in a long, exposed stretch leading up to the big climbs. As we arrived at Chapman’s Peak, people were all over the place. I blew by most of them on Little Chappie’s, even without trying. Then we hit the main climb and I blasted up, determined to hammer this whole climb and work my butt off. My climb was impressive but many people caught up on the descent as I was unwilling to take any unnecessary risks. All that remained was one, long, hot climb. With that pain behind me, it was a scant 10 miles to the finish. The crisp ocean air was a welcome relief from the hot, blowing wind that was a part of most of the ride. We wound through the streets and neared the finish. I got up toward the front of the bunch trying to make a go of the sprint. But I went way too early and was picked up easily by the pack a hundred meters from the line. My time was about 3:10, and I am very pleased with that considering the terrain, weather, and the pace of my pack.
All races are done. Time to focus on the Ironman.
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