On Your Marks, Get Set, Die

Sofia has been asking for a while now whether or not there are foot races locally for her to take part in as a way of getting off of campus and keep fit. Evan is well educated in finding these races as whenever he feels the need to update his wardrobe, he signs up for a run and gets a free t-shirt. However it wasn't Evan who put the information forward to Sofia, I put the nails in my own coffin as I found a calendar online when I should have been doing work and e-mailed it to her. Shows that procrastination does not pay off in the long run. So here we were having to wake up at 6am on a Saturday so that we could drive to Roxbury Connecticut to run a 2.4mile/3.9km race. I only have myself to blame.

Pre-Race Smiles - The Hill Knocked That Off Of Me

As we arrived Evan and I stripped off our tracky bottoms and jumpers to be the only ones running in t-shirts and shorts. Well, that's if you can call Evan's shorts; I've seen male Germans sunbathing wearing more. Sofia thought we were crazy as she tightened her snood. The race began and I set off ducking and diving amongst the crowd. It reminded me of leaving Ewood Park and trying to get back to the car as people dilly dally in the way. The idea was for Evan to run with me until the end to push me forward, but even though he no longer runs competitively a start gun sets something off in his head and he dashes for the lead.

As I tried to keep him in sight I realised that I was probably going too fast for the distance involved but kept it up determined not to finish too far behind him. I even got a little cocky as I overtook racer after racer and Evan remained in my sights. That was until the hill. Now this was no regular hill, this thing was horrible and did not want to end anytime soon. I pushed on and didn't stop despite my legs rapidly turning to jelly as all those I cockily overtook earlier eased past me, I guess it pays to be a local and know the course. As I reached the top it was time to come back down, not as fun as it sounds at all.

Sofia Crosses The Line

Not knowing the course at all I cursed to the Gods as I turned left to find another hill, luckily this was the last couple hundred yards to the finish line where Evan met me laughing as I coughed my lungs up as the cold air hit the back of my throat. I hadn't recovered by the time we got home, let alone when Sofia crossed the line.

Evan - 8th, 15 minutes 46 seconds with a pace of a 6min 34sec mile.
Me - 30th, 18 minutes 2 seconds with a pace of 7min 31sec mile.
Sofia - 49th, 20 minutes 44 seconds with a pace of 8min 38sec mile.

Evan happily told me that although there were 81 racers in total, 4 girls finished ahead of me and a 14 year old boy finished second. I can't wait until the young lad discovers alcohol and starts falling further back in the order. Evan also happily told me that based on age/weight ratio I was the fattest there, if not heaviest overall. Cheers mate. I just hope there isn't a hill like that next time.