"You finished third"

I don't hear that a lot.  Well, at least not when anyone is talking to me.

This weekend I was planning to run about 18 miles.  I had many choices on how to get that done.

• I could have joined my team for their regular group run, 
• I could have left a little early and run to Central Park to cheer on my teammates there.
• I could have left a little early and run to Riverside Park to cheer on my friends there.

But those don't add up to 18

• I was thinking of running down to Coney Island and over to Owls Head Park to check out the rebuilding.

But I had enough with traffic lights.

Last Friday I attend my friend Paul's funeral. In his youth, Paul was a champion ultra-marathoner.  When I got to know Paul Soskind he was a prolific race walker.  I always looked forward to seeing Paul in Prospect Park.  Not just because he was one of the few people I know that made me look less crazy, but because when he went out for a run he choose a pace and stuck to it.  That pace was my goal pace.  Yes, Paul Soskind, who was almost 20 years my senior, was my rabbit.  And, yes, he never let both his feet leave the ground.

At the service I found out that there was a 6/3 hour race the next day.  What a better way to get in my 18 miles that to do it as part of an ultra.  For Paul I pushed myself to have even splits.

here are my splits for the 1.453 mile loop

Just after the finish

14:05

14:57

14:41

15:22 (I had to pee)

14:24

14:38

14:44

15:44 (had to pee again)

14:58

14:52

15:00

14:18

+2:14

Going into the race I thought It was a 1.5 mile loop so I was extremely pleased with fact that I ran more than 12 loops.  However I only ran 17.66 miles.  I am not really complaining.  I hope Paul wold have been impressed with my even splits.

This is not boring, and thanks Stefanie Zizzo's flcker

When I finished I hung around for the awards ceremony.  It was a small field so I thought I might have placed in my age group.  However, for the 3 hour race, they only gave out trophies to the winners in each gender.  But in the end, when I was enjoying pizza with some serious world class athletes,  Richie looked over at me and said."Michael, you finished third."

I really could not bring myself to ask what he meant by third.  Third in my age group or third over all.  It turns out I was the third male.  The 2 men that ran further than me were actually in the age group I will be in in 2 months, so I won my age group.  There was also 3 women who ran further than me.  But yes, I finished third.