rr: queens 60k

it was almost a year ago to the day that we headed over to forest park to run this course. last year the first weekend of april kicked off with the b.u.s. metropolitan 50 miler/kurt steiner 50k. i had originally planned to run the 50 miler, but not feeling well, switched to the 50k. rob ran the full 50 miler and emmy ran the 50k. this year the three of us planned to meet at my house and drive in together for the queens 60k. one race, midway between last year's two distances. but just before 8, as emmy arrived at my house, we learned that rob had a flat tire and wouldn't make the race.

so the two of us drove down to forest hill park together. the sunny weather completely masked how cold it actually was when the wind chill was factored in. last year we had grey, dreary skies - and below average temperatures. this year at a minimum, we avoided the really nasty weather forecast for race day. on thursday richie, the race director, sent the race participants this weather related email:

"Please note that the weather forecast may be brisk with some showers. Please bring the appropriate clothing and plenty of them. The location of “baggage check” will be the inside of the van. That way, your stuff will remain dry. The van will be parked on the course mere yards from the finish line area. You will have access to your belongings throughout the race."

so sun and 15+ mph headwinds was a blessing.

the race started on the victory field track. we ran 2.75 laps of the 400 meter track before setting off on the official 3.08 mile course. the first .75 miles we did as a group, in honor of the memories of ted corbitt and sri chimnoy. then we set off on the remaining 2 laps, and 12 loops of the course. this was a tough, hilly course, predominately on park road and the concrete sidewalk outside the park. my primary objective was to finish each loop in 30 minutes or less, for a finish under 6 hours.

here were my splits:

1. 33:11 (includes laps on track)
2. 24:50 58:01
3. 25:54 1:23:55
4. 28:44 1:52:39 (bathroom pitstop)
5. 29:21 2:22:00
6. 28:53 2:50:53
7.
8. 58:55 3:49:48
9. 30:11 4:19:59
10. 28:30 4:48:29 (50k split)
11. 29:39 5:18:08
12. 28:23 5:46:32

the layout of this course had one primary benefit - seeing the fellow runners during the various out and backs along course. aside from emmy, plenty of good friends out on the course - including sal, barbara, phil, and byrum -to name just a few. at the scorekeepers table, our friend grant was counting laps for us most of the day. and richie, the rd, seemed to be everywhere during the day - out on the course, at aid stations, the officials table - and led us on the initial loop to start off the day.

just as i finished my 9th loop of the course, the finish tape was spread out for phil. he had run a great race. i had 3 more left to go at that point. after the 10th one, my 50k split was 4:48 - about 28 minutes slower than my finish time for the 50k last year. 2 loops later, i finished strong in 5:46, a 9:18 pace, and 6th place overall. since this was my first 60k, i guess that made it a pr :)

but in terms of real pr's - emmy finished up right behind me, with not only her fastest 60k time of 5;47:49, a 9:20 pace - but was the first woman overall! awesome!! then we quickly headed over to the field house to get out of the wind - and eat some food. it was there that richie presented emmy with a huge first place trophy! this makes the second b.u.s. event emmy has won - last year she won the sybil ludington 50k!

yikes - now it's time to get serious and finally focus on umstead! my family and i fly down to raleigh, north carolina, thursday night. the race kicks off at 6 am saturday morning!

check out my race photos!