Watchung Hills Municipal Alliance Run 2012

  One of my annual races is the Watchung Municipal Alliance 5-K Run, held at Watchung Lake every October. As I'm a hot weather racer, this one is usually the culmination of my fall racing season.
   It's a small, local race, held at a bucolic setting - Watchung Lake. The leaves are starting to turn, the surroundings look and smell like Fall, and it's usually just chilly enough to get a good pace going, without wasting extra energy trying to keep your body warm.
  There's also enough hills to keep it challenging, but the longest incline, up Sunlit Drive in Watchung, is smack dab in the middle of the race, with a 3/4  mile sprint around the Lake to finish up.
   Our club is always a sponsor, and the race benefits Drug Education Programs in the Watchung Hills District. I actually won it about eight years ago, but those days are behind me, as I try to keep my 54-year old body moving as fast as it can while hobbled with a variety of aches, pains, and pulls.
    I entered with low expectations because of my faulty Achilles Tendon, my most serious ailment. With the news of Derek Jeter's broken ankle fresh in my head, I wanted to start "within myself," just short of losing oxygen. If my achilles felt okay about 3/4 of mile in, I'd pick up the pace from there.
    I settled into sixth place in the field of about 75, with a couple of people breathing down my neck, and a few within shouting distance just ahead. The Achilles felt okay running a fast pace, and I set the rule in my head of "no one passes me from this point." I was soon in oxygen debt, which I knew I could sustain for the remaining two miles or so of the course.
     There was a stencil on the street that I think was the first mile, and my watch read 6:31. Most of the hill was remaining, with the long descent down Sunlit after. I created a little distance between the guys in back of me (you can tell at the turnaround on top of Sunlit), and was sure the person in front of me, a young teenager, was going to fade.
    I love downhills and gave it my all, closing in slightly on the youngster in front. On the flat side of Watchung Lake, my pace  evened out, but I was still confident I could catch the kid in front of me.
    One more hill, at the base of Stirling Road, and I wasn't making any more progress towards him. However, I knew the race was not a disaster, time-wise, and I kept my concentration through the crest of the hill. The last 1/4 mile is flat, even slightly downhill. Gasping loudly, I ran as hard as I could and finished in 20:48.
    While I've run over a minute faster on some courses this summer, I was not disappointed. The Achilles held up, and my time and place were at least respectable (just 10 seconds slower than last year). Almost a dozen other club members ran and did very well, as our group took home eight medals out of 12 entrants!
     My plan is increased cross-training, less running, for about a month. We'll see how the Achilles feels at that point, and plan things from there. At least for now, good-bye roads, hello rower!