Like a Scared Deer
On Sunday morning, I volunteered to lead the 8 & 9 year olds in the mile cross-country race that they run. They run the first half-mile of the 5K course at Holmdel Park, then turn around and run it backwards. The job of the leader is to make sure that the kids get turned at the right spot. We try to use a redundant system, having someone posted there, plus a runner in the lead. It generally works pretty well.
Holmdel Park is significant, because it's the big meet course for New Jersey, and the home course for much of Monmouth County, NJ. I've had a very good runner tell me that it's a rhythm course, that is, while it has some difficult and intimidating sections, it's mostly open running, without a lot of hard or long breaks to one's rhythm.
I took about 150 yards lead at the start. That's a bit more than half of the gradual uphill field at the start. There's then a short, steep uphill followed by a section called the roller-coaster, a series of dips and rises in quick succession. The goal as you run this is to stay ahead of the kids, but not so far ahead that they can't see you, so you generally want a 30-50 yards lead. I was running pretty comfortably until the turn, then the need to turn and re-accelerate took a bit of a toll. I was still fine heading back through the roller-coaster. I tried to control my speed on the steep downhill to avoid beating up my feet. The kids, well at least the two in the lead, closed most of the gap, so I entered the field at the finish with about a 5 yard lead. Suddenly, honor was at stake. I did my best to put the hammer down. I kept having to glance back to see if I was holding my lead. Into the last hundred, I'd pretty well spent myself, now I was running on fumes and these kids were kicking for all they were worth. Finally, with just 25 or 30 yards to the finish, I was able to wave them past and into the finish chute.
I'd held them off, but just barely. It was a good run, but it took a bit more effort than I expected. In the finish field, I was feeling like a frightened deer being chased by a predator. (All of which reminds me of the old joke with the two lawyers on safari getting chased by a lion...)
Holmdel Park is significant, because it's the big meet course for New Jersey, and the home course for much of Monmouth County, NJ. I've had a very good runner tell me that it's a rhythm course, that is, while it has some difficult and intimidating sections, it's mostly open running, without a lot of hard or long breaks to one's rhythm.
I took about 150 yards lead at the start. That's a bit more than half of the gradual uphill field at the start. There's then a short, steep uphill followed by a section called the roller-coaster, a series of dips and rises in quick succession. The goal as you run this is to stay ahead of the kids, but not so far ahead that they can't see you, so you generally want a 30-50 yards lead. I was running pretty comfortably until the turn, then the need to turn and re-accelerate took a bit of a toll. I was still fine heading back through the roller-coaster. I tried to control my speed on the steep downhill to avoid beating up my feet. The kids, well at least the two in the lead, closed most of the gap, so I entered the field at the finish with about a 5 yard lead. Suddenly, honor was at stake. I did my best to put the hammer down. I kept having to glance back to see if I was holding my lead. Into the last hundred, I'd pretty well spent myself, now I was running on fumes and these kids were kicking for all they were worth. Finally, with just 25 or 30 yards to the finish, I was able to wave them past and into the finish chute.
I'd held them off, but just barely. It was a good run, but it took a bit more effort than I expected. In the finish field, I was feeling like a frightened deer being chased by a predator. (All of which reminds me of the old joke with the two lawyers on safari getting chased by a lion...)
posted by Scooter at 9:05 AM
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