January 29, 2007

Ran the Matanzas 5000 on Saturday.  I was a bit cynical going into the race because I have been more focused on long, slow, endurance-building running workouts.  The race didn’t disappoint.  I ran the first mile in 6:40, and then promptly laid down consecutive 7:00 splits.  Final kick was OK, but man was I gassed.  Looking at the HR data, i jumped straight to the low 170s and stayed there for the entire race.  Also painfully apparent is my inability to start slow and run negative splits.  The race was fairly large with around 1400 runners.  I ended up finishing in the top 150.  James beat Josh by 45 seconds (but finished behind Mills, yikes!) and Mike McLamb ran 20 minutes flat.

After the race, we took the kids to the carousel and park to play for a while before heading home.  Karen and Molly took the girls home and Josh, James, Erin and I hopped on our bikes for the 50–mile ride home.  Riding along US 1 can be hairy, but for the most part cars gave us plenty of room.  The 1st Place Sports van and trailer heading back from the race actually gave us the closest drive-by.  Not a very nice way to treat customers!  From US 1 we went to Racetrack Road in St. Johns county, and then to Bishop Estates where we encountered another cyclist-hating rube. 

No traffic at all on the road.  This guy pulls up behind us, honks his horn at us, and then guns his engine and flies past us.  Just so he could pull into his driveway a quarter mile down the road.  Josh pulled up to the gate of his house and yelled for himto come out of his garage.  Wasn’t happening.  So we continued on.  Then 5 minutes later, he comes up behind us again and pulls the same stunt.  You really shouldn’t pull that garbage when you have a vanity tag and you let people know where you live.  Harry Madden, who lives at 3345 Bishop Estates Road Jacksonville, FL 32259 is a creep and needs someone to tell him about the recently passed Florida law. 

The rest of the ride was uneventful.  My back tire went flat with a mile to go.  I rode it in. 

Fun day of racing and training.