So much for that plan.
I am glad that I did manage to do one race this year before our world shut down -- the Litchfield Park 10k.
At the time I entered the event, I anticipated it being something of a hard tempo training run with the benefit of other runners to push me along. Now, a couple months later, the Litchfield Park 10k looms as my big "A race of 2020" and I realize that I need to post about my glorious effort.
It was a small field of 100 on a rare, rainy morning in Arizona. I tried to do a sufficient warmup, get some adrenaline going, and go out reasonably hard -- but still my time was well over 4 minutes for the first kilometer. I found myself in 6th place at that point, with the leaders almost out of site, hundreds of meters ahead of me.
I exhorted myself to push and get in a good training session (and somewhat justify the $22 entry fee if nothing else). I moved into 5th place, then 4th, then 3rd, and by 2k caught up with the high school kid currently in 2nd place who was fading badly. I encouraged him to keep pushing, and he responded emphatically that I should go after the leader. And so, at a bit past 3k, I pulled up behind the leader, and for the following several kilometers I told myself to be tactical and stay tucked behind him.
One thing to note about rainy days in Arizona is that massively deep water puddles accumulates in "washes" and on street corners. So we found ourselves splashing though ankle deep puddles and at one point even an almost knee-deep wash. I remind myself that these water hazards plays to my strengths after doing several obstacle course races - and after one deep puddle I find myself inadvertently moving into the lead.
OK now I am committed, and as per my training from years ago, once I take the lead I feel compelled to surge and to never look back. I am a bit paranoid about being overtaken, but end up winning by about a minute.
I finish in almost exactly 40:07 -- I couldn't quite summon the kick at the end necessary to break 40 minutes, not that I particularly cared at the time. Of course now that this time totally and completely represents my running ability for some time, it would be nice to have at the very least to have a sub-40 clocking.
Nonetheless it is glorious to win even if is a small race. The gratifying part being how the award ceremony moved upward though the age categories until reaching the ancient 50-59 year old category before announcing the overall male winner, which did seem to impress the smattering of people who had hung around to that point.
So with no races in sight, at least I can spend my days fondly reminiscing about Litchfield 10k...
