In the days of the original Wagon Wheel singer, that S stood for “sergic,” as in “Lysergic acid.” Fortunately for us, it’s a much simpler, 4-letter word in F3 land: Slow. And we can do slow.
14 guys with 26.2 on their mind and 1 with 13.1 on his showed up at the Cap’n Jack statue very early (for a Sunday morning, anyway) for the first running of the Wagon Wheel.
The objective: run a long way (that’s L), pretty darn slowly, even if it’s hard to shut down your testosterone-fueled rabbit urges (that’s S), for some prescribed distance (that’s D). Egypt was told his job today was to “MANAGE THE FREAKIN PACE” (yes, in all caps), and Egypt doesn’t ignore things in all caps, so he managed the pace. The Slow mantra stems, in part, from OBT telling us it’s best to train with some long and slow runs, and OBT’s run like 3 (three) marathons, so Egypt listens to his advice.
He told the assembled baker’s dozen that the average pace would be north of 9 minutes, probably south of 9:30, and that he would not give chase to any rabbits that decided to break away. He kept his promise, thanks in large part to the steady partnering from Birthday Boy Uncle, Furyk, and (when he wasn’t sprinting ahead to catch up with the showoffs) Fishwrap, letting the breakaway pack do their thing. It’s a free country, and a Sunday morning, afterall.
Course was lovely (though those damn hills are still there), weather was ideal, pace was good. The breakaway pack reported finishing at 9-even, though they did inadvertently (or so they claim) cut the route short by about 1 city block at the end (it’s Brevard, not Caldwell, boys. Come on, the streets are even in ABC order uptown – even Uncle knows that). The instruction-followers finished their 13.08 miles in 2:01.:04, which is exactly a 9:15 pace. Exactly.
Pesci, Egypt considers himself redeemed from past transgressions now.
Word on the street is that Silent Bob posted for the half-marathon training run at 0630 (7.5 miles), only to find himself alone. Which brings to mind the ancient question: “If Silent Bob runs for an hour by himself and says something, does anyone hear it?”
Pleasure to lead you this morning, gents. Oh Dredd, next week it’s 14 miles, so you might want to get at least 1 in this week to prepare.
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