CPCC Skyline "Non-Race" Race

AM: 3 mile w/u
5k "race" @23:40
2 mile c/d
Total: 8 miles
PM: 3 miles

After a long and inexplicably exhausting day on the road (how can sitting make you so tired??), we arrived home at 10pm last night. I wasn't looking forward to getting up early today, but unfortunately it was mandatory. I was scheduled to work at RFYL the entire day and also needed to run the CPCC Skyline Run. I'm not sure if I told you before, but I signed up for the RFYL Grand Prix series. Basically, the way this works is that you earn points for how high you finish in each race--but, the kicker is you earn 250 "bonus" points for completing all 10 in the series regardless of time. I need those bonus points if I want to have a shot at winning the overall Grand Prix in the fall. (Jordan realized the same thing a few weeks ago, which is why he made the game day decision to run the Shamrock 4 Miler despite having a marathon on tap for the following day.)

At any rate, I clearly had no aspirations of running hard. My calves are still rocked from the 5k, and my back is now sore from the drive home (again, just from sitting?!). So when I found out that my friend Jay, who just ran 2:43 at Boston on Monday, was planning to jog with his girlfriend, I jumped at the chance to tag along. A group of us met at John and Caitlin's just past 7am, planning to warm up and jog the quarter mile to the start together. A light drizzle was falling, blanketing the warm air with humidity, and after a few miles of warming up on the race course I was completely soaked with sweat and rain.

As gun time drew near, I positioned myself on the line with Jay and Lauren. It was a bit strange not to stand front and center, and I had to fight the urge to do strides with Caitlin and the rest of the crew. After a quick countdown we were off, and I made a conscious effort to keep from sprinting out with the leaders. If you're used to always, well, racing at races, it can be surprisingly difficult to hold back when the circumstances call for it. Fortunately Jay and I conversed the entire time, which kept my mind off the pace we were running and the number of people who were passing us. It was also cool to see Lauren, who hasn't run a 5k in quite some time, pushing herself toward a new PR. I hope she wasn't too annoyed with me and Jay for chatting the entire time!

With a half mile to go the course takes a dramatic downhill slant, and I knew that Jordan and Caitlin and our other speedy friends had used it to their advantage. Lauren used it as well, kicking home the final meters to a new sub-24 PR. After finishing I discovered that Jordan had won in a tactical 15:52, while Caitlin had dominated the ladies' race in 17:3x. Solid races for both of them, not to mention they won framed pictures of the Charlotte skyline as a unique prize. Heck, I was pretty proud of myself and Jay for exercising such self-restraint as well. All around, the second Grand Prix race was a rousing success.


Caitlin and me at Saturday night's post-race bbq. I think we clean up
pretty nicely!