OWL-DRAGON

Prediction Run

I ran the 5K Monk’s Run last Friday night (9 June). Fun, local race. Very hilly course. Clever gimmick - beat the Monk and get a voucher for a food item. Thought I would run easy but, of course, once in the race ran harder. Finished in 24:xx. Finish time slightly skewed because the finished chute backed up and I couldn’t cross the finish line. If I had known I would run so well I wouldn’t have started so far back – but it was fun mostly passing people rather than being passed.

Wonder if I can translate that into a good run tomorrow night in the Media Five Miler which is also a hilly double loop.

At 59 I know it is unlikely I will be winning any age groups, but last night I did win first place in Bryn Mawr Running Club’s first summer prediction run. For those unfamiliar with this type of run, you predict your finish time and run without a watch. I rarely finish even close to my predicted time (and the one time I did my results were somehow lost). Last night I simply predicted a time I thought would be slightly hard (46:20 for a five mile, hilly course). I ran the first couple of miles very leisurely mostly talking to friends. Then I challenged a couple of the hills running up hard because I thought it would be good prep for Friday. I felt the pace had been decent especially since I could still see some fast runners. So after the last hill I returned to a leisurely pace. My friend Joe had predicted a 48 and I felt he was way ahead of pace but since he is a metronome of pacing I wasn’t certain – still I held to my own pace and let Joe past me. When I came in I couldn’t believe that I was only 3 seconds off (and later was told officially 2 seconds off.) It is sheer luck of course. The course includes two crossings of Montgomery Avenue, very busy road. I got green both times I had to cross. If I had caught to light coming back I would certainly had finished out of the money.

Even though I wanted to go home to watch the AFI’s most inspiration movies (which turned out to be a big disappointment), I knew I had to hang around. I was glad I did however. Tom Corrigan is one of the founding members of the Bryn Mawr Running club. He was a great runner and was with me when I ran Boston. I had missed the club banquet in February and was in Nashville when the club had its (in)famous Out and Back run. I was surprised to last night to see Tom in a wheelchair. At first I thought maybe it was just a running injury but I saw it a technical chair and knew it couldn’t be good. Tom has ALS. Although recently diagnosed it has progressed rapidly. It made me very sad but Tom seems remarkably composed and in good spirits. The club has made the Out and Back a charity run for ALS and the run raised $30,000. It was a pleasure to see Tom make the presentation to the ALS foundation.

As for me – as the names got ticked off I began to think possibly I miscalculated, or didn’t hear the time correctly, or was missed again. But finally best prediction – Chad Brooks. Won a new pair of Pumas (Puma was a sponsor for this event.) Hope I like them.