Race #49 - The Saddle River 15K - 1:07:25

John Liptak and I have been doing long runs (14-18 miles) every other weekend and today's race was meant to be the other weekend's run. We wanted to run something with distance and at a comfortable 7:30 per mile and maybe push it the last few miles. This wasn't a big race, actually it was the first time it was held. I rarely run up in Bergen county so it was serving two purposes, a long run and a change of scenery. I had to convince John to run with me otherwise I was going to do a 5K in Somerset on Saturday. John has been a great runnng patner and it doesn't take much to convince him to run a race. I think he has run about 10 races with me this year

Today's race was held exclusively in Wild Duck Pond so I really didn't see much of Saddle River. The course was like a double out and back and we had to dodge the slower runners on the back portions, as they were running 3 across a narrow path. The weather was just about perfect as the rain left us the night before. In fact, it was a bit warm for a November 15th race. It was run very well except no t-shirts.

Core Therapeutic was at the race working on runners which John and I took advantage of. The 10 minutes of pressure in certain spots really helped. We also met a few folks along the way.

John and I went out faster than we wanted, hitting the first mile in 7:20 and then the second one in 7:14. We couldn't get a consistent pace, mainly due to switchbacks on the course. It seemed like we were always turning somewhere. We did speed it up the last mile running a 6:52 but I think it was a little short. Overall we were happy with the time, but not thrilled that we hurt at the end. We are both running the Charlotte Marathon in December with hopes of qualifying for Boston. We need to run sub 3:30. We have one long run next week and then we take it easy for the last few weeks leading up to that race.

I write today's blog as with only one race to go to complete my goal of 50 races. Race #50 will be on Thanksgiving with my whole family plus a nephew or two. I am looking forward to the Flemington Turkey Trot because everyone will be there. I think there will be 3 more races after that so it will actually be 53@50.

My one regret is that more of my friends couldn't make one of the 50 races. I really appreciate the company of those who have joined me. It has been a blast.