The 4th of July... There are several events that take place over the 4th. Pick just about any town and there is a 5k race or fun run of some kind going on. Jace and I decided to do a run over in Blooming Prairie called the Awesome Blossom (5 mile or 2 mile) Run. What was especially nice about this was that the 2 mile started after all the 5 milers were finished. I raced the 5 mile, felt like I was dying at about mile 2, but with a time of 30:35 I scored 3rd overall (behind two guys in the under 20 division) and 1st in my age group. I don't know what it is about time trial bike races or running races that makes them feel so hard. I PR'd my 5k time at the Rochester Fest Tri, but a 5k alone and I feel lucky to survive. This was a 5 mile so I had a little more reason to feel like I was suffering, but come on...
What was more exciting than the 5 mile race, was to run along with Jace as he did his running race. He bested his mile PR of 8:08 by a lot. In fact, in this 2 mile race he ran the second mile faster than the first. His time for the Awesome Blossom 2 mile was 15:36. He did the first mile in 7:50 and the second one in 7:46. Jace is 7 years old so he was in the 9 and under category and scored 2nd place! The kid in front of him had a gap of about 20-30 seconds or so. Fast little runners! I love racing with Jace. It's so fun to watch him compete.
On July 5th I headed to Austin to do a race I've always wanted to do, but I either space it out and forget about it or we have something else going on over "the 4th." This race is the Dan Ulwelling Road Race. A 25 mile open category race. The divisions are simple like road runs: men and women, 19 and under, 20-29, 30-39, etc. This race was only 25 miles, but it started out as if we were at mile 50 in a 75 miler. Rick Hoover (Tri Rochester) told me earlier in the week that he was thinking of going there and just TT'ing at the front and who ever follows, follows. Within a mile from the start he moved to the front and that's where he stayed--THE WHOLE TIME. I'm not kidding. He pulled the all 25 miles. It was freakin' windy, but he stayed there. I don't know how many participants there were, 75, 80, but his pace was too much for most of them. A couple Silver Cycling/Hollywood Cycle guys were in the front, behind Hoover; I was there; a handful of other random guys as well. We hit about the 10 mile mark and all but 15 of us were gone off the back. Dropped. Hoover kept pushing the pace. At that time I was in 5 position as Hoover sliced thru the wind for us. Couple minutes later I looked back, I was still in fifth, but also bringing up the rear. Yep, everyone was dropped, but 5 of us. In this order it was Hoover, Jay "Hollywood" Henderson, Ben (racing for Silver/Hollywood), some SMBC guy in yellow, then me (Peace Coffee Racing). We pretty much kept this order for the rest of the race. Once in a while we'd change up behind Rick, but then it would settle back into the order above. At the tail of a breakaway is not the best position, but I was in the slipstream most of the way. With only 5 the yo-yo effect isn't that bad. Turns would whip me off the back a bit, but I managed to hang there. The field never caught us. We started the race on about a 2 mile stretch with a tail wind. This was a 25 mile loop so the last turn had us returning to the start straight into a head wind. We made one final left hand turn--our last turn--and had about 2 miles to go. I knew we where on the finishing stretch, but at the time, didn't know we only had 2 miles to go (I errored later). Hoover stayed at the front. I moved into 2nd position then let up so he could get a gap--I thought he deserved the win. I thought if he had a gap he could hold it for the next few miles or how ever much we had left, but Hollywood went around and bridged. Then I don't know what happened, but a gap started to form. Hoover had about 100 feet. Then Ben chased down Hoover and got on his wheel. Hollywood, SMBC guy and I just stayed back and the gap got bigger. Then Hollywood went. I asked SMBC how much longer and he said "About a 1/2 mile...dude, its over." Hollywood was now dangling between Hoover/Ben and SMBC/me. I got out of the saddle and got about 100 yards ahead of SMBC, and within 100 yards of Hollywood, but never caught him. After I crossed the line I learned that at the 1/4 mile to go mark, Ben went around Hoover and won. Hoover kept his same pace, taking 2nd. Hollywood 3rd, I was 4th, SMBC guy took 5th. A few minutes later a chase group sprint for 6th played out. Ben, Hollywood and I were all in the 30-39 age group so I scored 3rd, 4th overall. Hoover was 1st in the 40-49. Nice race.
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