Mercedes 10 KM road race...

Before I go any further, I want to give a big congratulations to Johan Stemmet, a PFG, who just completed IMSA and set a PB of 10:10:13. Johan used to be 83 lbs heavier.

Yes, you read correctly, 10:10:13. His bib was 1304. Thirteen is my favourite number and now it may be his. I've always found the number 13 a good omen. His bike average was 34.8 kph, crazy fast for an Ironman, and he finished 8th in his age group. Hopefully he's Kona bound.

I had a race of my own today, but nothing as big and as important as IMSA. I ran the Oakville Mercedes 10 km road race, it was my first 10 km road race in 2 years. The last one I did, I finished in 41:12 and it became my post 40 years old PB.

I finished in 41:21 and was 3/85 in my age group and 36/560 of overall males. The age group podium finishers all got a Tim Horton's Gift Card. Essentially, I won donuts and coffee. I might save the card until when Johan comes to visit next year, we all know he "loves" his donuts.

Nazaire also did the race and finished with a 46:19. He was 18/51 in his age group and 106/560 of overall males. It was his first ever 10 km road race and I think he pulled off a pretty respectable time.

It was a cold and rainy day. The worst part of racing in those conditions is the waiting outside before and after, lots of shivering. Once you get started, the body heats up and everything is good.

Nazaire and I were up in the front for the start. Beside me was a decked out, lean and mean looking triathlete. He had the tight jersey, compression tights, fuel belt and Newton Runners. If you look at the picture above, he's to the right of me in the red and black with white sleeves.

When I noticed his Foster Grant Ironman World Championships hat, I introduced myself and asked him when he did it. He said a couple years ago and I said I did it last year. I wished him well and the gun went off.

My plan was to run relaxed and not over do it in the beginning. For the first km, I was surprised to see a 6:20 pace with a 151 heart rate. Nazaire stayed with me for the first 1.5 km and at the 2.5 km mark, I caught and passed my triathlete buddy. Which caught me off guard.

I ran relaxed the entire time and didn't over push myself. My plan was to treat the first 5 km as a racing warm up, I wanted to go fast, but not to the point where I'm dying and the last 5 km's feels like 10 km's. At the 4.5 km mark, my triathlete buddy passed me and pulled out in front of me by 10 - 15 seconds.

The last 5 km was mostly into the wind. I don't mind running into the wind and it doesn't slow me down. My plan was to try and get to the 7 km mark feeling good and then open it up, which I did. I started gaining on my buddy. I ran 4 seconds behind him for about 1 km and with 1.5 km's left I pulled up beside him. I figured the "race was on" and both of us would push each other hard to the finish.

I stayed beside him for about 10 seconds and then he seemed to go behind me. I was thinking he was drafting me. I didn't care, I kept pushing it and tried to catch another guy in front of me, which I did, and then another. Not until I rounded the corner and was 20 meters to the finish did I look over my shoulder and I didn't see him. I must have dropped him. Cool.

When I crossed the line, I saw a very familiar face. It was John Fortin, he was putting the medals on around finishers necks and he put mine on. He is such a giving guy. Yesterday he rode his bike in a window for 8 hours to help bring awareness for "The Ride to Conquer Cancer".

John always helps so many people by volunteering his time to support others and causes, I'm just in awe. No one I know is more positive with a warmer smile than John. His tag-line is LIVING THE DREAM. For his tombstone, I'd suggest "LIVED THE DREAM".

As I was walking away I saw my triathlon buddy, he was hunched over and gasping. I was a little surprised, I felt like I still had lots in the tank. I went over and shook his hand and said "good race". He did me a favour by pushing me and helped make my race sweeter. Today was my race, tomorrow may be his and I'll be returning the favour

It's great having a carrot to chase and it's even sweeter to catch and eat that carrot. I think one of the secrets to my good race was the 4 beers I had before bed last night. My philosophy is "drink beer the night before and chase it down with a carrot the next day".

It turns out that I beat him by 8.8 seconds. I finished 3rd and he finished 4th. Pushing that pace was worth it. I much prefer going to St. George on a positive note.

After the race, both my Achilles seemed okay, but my right calve started cramping. I think I have it under control. I'm always worried about my calves. Up until 3 years ago they would cramp so bad that I'd have to take weeks off from running to let them heal.

I bumped into Rodney Buike after the race. We hung out as they were giving out prizes and awards. As we stood waiting, we were both constantly checking our iPhones to see where Johan was in the race. It seemed that that last 1.4 miles took forever to get results from.

On the Reid front, Alyssa came downstairs late last night and caught Reid doing sit-ups in front of the T.V. This afternoon I watched him getting his swim gear ready 4 hours before his training session. By 1 pm he did his 20 minutes on the elliptical, I told him he didn't have to run in the crappy weather.

I also shared the new blog comments of support for him. He just loves that stuff. I'm not always the "sharpest knife in the drawer", but I think he's into this swim thing. Especially when he's telling Alice to pick up lots of vegetables when she goes grocery shopping.

Although, Reid is having trouble walking. His thighs are sore. He said he'd go shopping with us, but wanted to know if he could use one of the wheelchair's the stores provide.

Oakville Mercedes 10 km race - 41:21 / 4:09 pace / 158 Avg hr / 3 out of 85 AG / 36 out of 560 males

182.0 lbs / 21.9 bmi

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