Last year, I was pretty pleased with my improvements at the Crazylegs Classic 8K race. This year, I didn't know what to expect. Training for the marathon has really improved my running. I wasn't quite sure just how much, so I did a quick check of my running pace averaged from every workout and race for each month since I started training. Sure enough, there was some serious improvement: pictures are worth a lot of words. (popup) Note the uptick in September 2005. My average pace for the IM was 11:xx per mile, and I didn't run again for the rest of the month.
I first noticed there was some potential to run fast when I ran most of the Crazylegs route as a Fartlek and ended up near the Stadium finish line in thirty-six minutes, four minutes faster than last year. Then I got sick and took a business trip to El Paso, losing valuable back to back training weeks. My knee hasn't felt quite right since, and I didn't know how it would hold up in the race. I promised to be responsive and if it hurt too much, I'd rest and hang back.
Wave starts were new this year at Crazylegs. Thirty-six waves of runners would start thirty seconds apart. The first group had fifty runners, and then there were about three hundred split in the remaining waves. The main reason for the wave start was a picture of last year's start where a ten year old boy started with the really fast people. Lots of people complained. With more than 10,000 runners every year, something had to be done. Wave assignements depended on your time. They used your previous time if you had run Crazylegs before. If you were new, you only had to prove your time if you can run an 8K faster than thirty-six minutes. Based on last year's time, I was assigned to wave H. But, since I was in a wave that didn't require a proof of time, there were many ten year-old boys and girls in my wave. Two were standing right next to me as we started. Both shouted at each other over their iPods; his a shuffle, hers a bejeweled mini. They continued to yell at each other as we reached the first hill. She started cramping. It was mile 0.4. Kids. Sheesh.
My first mile went by in a flash. All of sudden my watched beeped and I looked at a 6:59. Say wha? Too fast. I dialed it back in mile two, up Observatory Hill and by Liz Waters Dormitory, the hilliest section of the course. I cruised miles 3 & 4. And kicked it in for the final mile. My knee started to act up as I pushed it, but nothing I couldn't handle. Just before the last turn, I glanced at my watch, 35:xx; I need to haul to get the line under 37:00. I started a nice kick and took about five people with me. We all sped to the fifty-yard line. I stopped the watch on the mat: 36:49.
A full four minutes faster than last year, and light years ahead of two years ago. Crazylegs indeed.
