Thursday, February 28, 2008

The lil' racer

I turned down Lanier and saw some dude in his 20s who appeared to want to run -- and run faster -- where I was headed. As he turned down the road I wanted, I turned north and went down Lanier.

I hadn't planned on running up the double hill to Briarcliff but I figured that since this dude turned me to the road, I'd go ahead and get that kind of run in.

Unfortunately, it was the road this ass nugget was living on.
As soon as he saw me, he sprinted up the hill, not something hard to do when you're in your 20s.

I went at my pace -- but I noticed something that would be crucial in a race. I actually closed my distance to him as he seemed to really slow up the hill.

He trotted slowly down the slope and then tried to bolt his way up to Briarcliff.

But he never got there, turning into some apartment complex. I clapped loudly twice as I passed, as I would get moral victory of cresting Briarcliff first.

These kinds of people are like maniacs in poker. You never try to match their pace, you only keep yours and if you detect some kind of weakness -- such as an inability to keep pace on a hill -- you test them there.

If this were a test of L1-L3, I likely would catch -- and maybe pass -- him there. I believe I'd also catch him in the 10K. If you give even the semblance of being able to be caught, you're doomed in a race. Powell Doctrine totally applies here.

Still I was happy for my effort. I wasn't really too far behind the dude and I know I could be training harder right now.

Plus, it took my mind off of having to do a run in the 47.6 degree weather. CFLST, SST, AP/A4s.

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