Harry F. Anderson Race Recap

This race is always a staple race in the Roberts Distance Program. It is on their home course, it is early in the season, and there are hardly any other races that are happening the same weekend. It also becomes the first 8k race for a lot of people in the Cross Country season and is therefore always an encouraging (or warning sign) for a lot of the athletes. For me it was not a disappointing race, instead a hopeful one.

Since I am now a post-collegiate runner, I am no longer able to run Regional and National races in XC NCAA. I always thought that the team aspect of XC is what really makes it a great sport. I have always loved getting to the line, collecting myself quickly, then turning around to scream at my teammates to outkick the guy next to him. You tend to get very attached to those races because of the team aspect. Once I got into the depths of those 10ks, one thought that always kept me pushing was making sure I was able to get one more point, one more guy. The team is always what kept me going right to the end and what made those races so emotional and memorable. I loved hearing the battles people had and how fast they went in the last 1k, or how they pulled away up the hill, or how they fought cramps and exhaustion for over 6 miles. Anyways, that is a huge reason why I decided to do a half-marathon this fall. These huge road races with hundreds of people fighting for the smallest improvement are what I want to celebrate and be a part of. It is so encouraging to see so many people working towards being the best they can be and fighting really hard to get there.

All of that was to say that I am fully in half-marathon training. I am running about 95 miles a week and a lot of those quality miles are at 5:10. I have been really enjoying the training, but I am very used to running a certain pace for a long, long time. I have done a couple 18mi long runs with 8-12mi @~5:20 and they have felt hypnotic and oddly relaxing. I had really wanted to see how fit all of those miles got me in the 8k and decided to run Harry F. It was a decent day for a race, dry, warm, sunny, and no wind. I had the HUGE pleasure of debuting this whole running collective and the guys that ran with me had some pretty good days too. It was also my first race in almost 6 years that I wasn't running with the Roberts logo. It just felt like a great new start to everything. I knew some of the college guys were going to want to race it close to 3:00/k and I wanted to be right with them the whole time. In the beginning of the race, I held back and waited to see what was going to happen and until the 2nd or 3rd mile, I just raced next to or behind the top guys. Once I thought I would be able to pull away, I made a bit of a surge to get up the last hill and down towards the gazebo. I had made it to 6k in 18:30, which wasn't a total disappointment, but I remember wishing this pace felt WAY easier. After I cruised through the 4mi, I knew I wasn't going to be able to pick it up much more and at that point one of the college men flew by me with 1200m to go. Then another came by about 1km to go and I tried to battle with him, but by the time we got to the final straight, he had so much more left in him and I was unable to pick it up any more. I finished in 3rd at 24:41.

Again, I wasn't disappointed in what I had just done, instead I had put these expectations that a 24:40 should feel relatively easy because I had run 14:03, because I am in the best shape of my life, but in reality I am in the best "half-marathon" shape of my life. I had not touched the 4:50s in anything longer than a 400m in 3 months and I was expecting myself to go and run that in the slippery gravel of the Matt St. James trails. Now that I am removed from the race and I have had a lot of time to think about it, the encouraging and hopeful nature of this race has come out again. I had just run within 20 seconds of my PR and I have been training for a race that is almost 3x the length. In the next weeks after this race I will be doing a workout or two that will get me much more prepared for a sub-24 race at Canisius.

I am hopeful for this race coming up, and even more excited that the Sunset Running Collective shirts are now on sale! Definitely pick some up because they look amazing and Joselyn Sanders did an amazing job of designing them. See you in a week!