Rubber Side Down

Napa 2005 - can we break the 3:45

In the expo, the day before, I found Herzel touring the place for recognizable people. "Here, let me introduce you to Dick", he said. Dick Beardsley holds the Napa course record (2:09). Herzel bought his book at CIM. OK, here we come, SJF !! Each of us receives Dick's inscription on our bib numbers -a sign for a good luck!! I bought Richard Beyno's book, "Making the Marathon Your Event". I never read running books before, I just ran. But I'm going ot coach and so I thought it would be better to know a little bit about it. I also got Rich to sign his book, yupi.

At dinner time, Herzel wants a 3:45, to qualify for Boston. Dah, I'm too young for that. I'm also not very well prepared for such a pace. It sounds very ambitious, but on the other hand, I cannot let Herzel finish before me, right ? In the last five races we ran together, I always finished a few minutes ahead of him. This includes SFM and CIM and a few halfs.

Phil wants to have a sub-4. In all of his marathons he got cramps around mile 20 and could not break the 4 hours. While we practiced together, he said "if you can make me run a sub-4 at Napa I will buy you a dinner". So that's the goal for tomorrow - a sub-4 for Phil and a sub 3:45 for Herzel. How these two go together? well....

We arrive with the bus to Calistoga around 6:15. It is cold, and there are huge lines for the pottys. I notice that I have no time chip - but today it's not my fault - no one has chips. There's gun time only. Which means you wanna start as front as possible.

Herzel Phil and I have a strong start 8 min/mile. Ten minutes before the start Herzel decides to do 8 minutes - 30 seconds walk. He never practiced the run-walk. Where that comes from ? Soon after the start, his pattern breaks our sync. Phil and I continue on a steady pace of 8:20-8:30 for the first half. The hills are rolloing and the views around are beautiful. Herzel is a bit ahead of us, and we see him doing his 8-30.

At mile 14 phils drops back. He cannot keep up with this pace. I gradually catch up with Herzel and pass him as well. So far it feels very good, and we are a bit ahead of the 3:45 goal.

At mile 18 we are still on target. Mile 19 is coming, with the last long very moderate hill. I slow down to 9:14, and 9:55 at mile 20. I feel very tired. This hill caught me at a bad time. I feel like it's not going to be a great record after all. I slow down to some 11 minutes miles. The problem is, no one of Herzel and Phil catches up with me, thus I am crowling.

After gazing at my watch for some 1000 times, I see that there is still a chance to finish bellow 4 hours. I keep going, doing mile 26 at 10 minutes and finishing at 3:57. A couple minutes later Phil shows up at the finish line. 3:59 !! that's bellow 4 hours for sure. Before we have time for blessings, Herzel arrives, 4:00 sharp.

So Herzel will have to wait for Boston, and Phil will buy us a dinner !! I did not break a PR, but got it under 4. The day belong to Phil, who got crapms in both legs at mile 16, and kept a 10 minutes per mile pace for the next 10 miles !!! Five days after, he is still not recovered from the pain and the blisers. That's a real fighter!! I think we should buy him the dinner.

posted by Arnon @ 11:57 PM