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| Max. With shades. |
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| Jackson Creek |
How often do chemical engineers finish 1st and 2nd in a race? I mused on whether this was just a coincidence during yesterday's McDonald Forest 50 k.
Running sometimes brings clarity to the mind. By the final aide station I reached a state where "lemon-aide" was the closest I could come up with when asking for "7-up". About this point, I realized that with all the ways our lives overlap that Max King and I must be twins.
- I sometimes try to keep up with high school kids for workouts on the Crater High School track. He used to win races on that track.
- I got a degree from a state school in Chemical Engineering then eventually moved to Central Point. Max moved away from Central Point and got a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell.
- we both were at the Olympic trials in Eugene--I was able to watch a little of it on the video screen west of the stadium, he ran the steeple chase.
- I've won several local ultras. He's set course records at most of the local ultras.
- I've got a pair of Rogue Racer shoes. He helped design those shoes
I anticipated Max King would go after the course record (which he achieved by about 50 seconds). I'd like to think I did my part in helping him achieve this by pushing him along. After all, I was breathing down his neck-- from only about 35 minutes back.
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| I'm at the back of this pack. |
Providing a sample for the an OSU school of pharmacy study on hyponatremia distracted me, so I missed the start. I caught up enough that I could see Max, but then realized I'd left my water bottle at the med tent. I was unsuccessful in convincing a spectator on a bike to go get it for me, so at the 2 mile point I had my last glimpse of Max when I turned off the course for a 1/3 mile detour back to the start to get my bottle.
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| I'm the last guy on the right just crossing the start line. |
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| in the maze |
The weather was perfect. I felt fine until the last hour, then was glad the guy in 2nd that I'd been chasing for the previous 4 miles let me by at the Chip Ross aid station. I just tried to stay ahead of him and budget the suffering after that. Perhaps I've been pushing too hard in training with my daughter Esther, or my pacing at the start was too irregular, but I thought going 15 minutes slower than last year should have hurt a lot less this year especially since I thought I was in better shape going in. I was 14% slower than Max at the Pear Blossom 10 mile this year, and if you give me 3 minutes credit for the water bottle was only 13.6% slower this year, so I'm pretty happy with that.
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| wedding on Dimple at mile 18. |
Next up is the Newport Marathon with Esther June 4th. Max isn't signed up for that. 14% more than his PR would be about 5 minutes faster than my goal.
GT article:
http://www.gazettetimes.com/sports/community/article_b89590c0-7eb4-11e0-b482-001cc4c03286.html
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