Milford Labor Day 10km, Milford, MI - 1st September 2012

This is the first race that I have done in back to back years. I knew pretty much what it was going to be like and what I was going to have to do.

Packet pickup was a breeze, but the expo was non-existent, apart from someone handing out free pizza vouchers. I got packets for both myself and Chris (http://www.endomondo.com/profile/2399200), as we were going to be carpooling in the morning, there was no point in both of us heading out there the night before.

The following morning rolled around and it was looking to be perfect conditions, when I had run the race last year it was extremely hot and humid, this one seemed a lot more pleasant. I wasn't hoping for anything too much from this race, just wanting to run it non-stop and under 1 hour, apart from that nothing special.

Cool, one color tech shirt

We were called to the starting line and I decided that I should switch one my GPS. A wee aside, my trusty Garmin Forerunner 405, decided to die horribly on me a couple of days before the race. I have had some issues before, most notable during the Festival of Races half marathon in Mount Clemens, when it hung then rebooted on me. This timel, I went to grab it from my car, as usual, before my lunch time run and it just kept on rebooting. I had resigned myself to buying a new one, but on the advice of my buddy, Stuart, I thought I'd give Garmin a call. They offered to send me newly reconditioned device for $40, which is waaay less then I planned on spending, so great stuff. So I had a watch for my race, a colleague let me borrow his Garmin 210. Let me just say that the 210 is infuriating, not only did it take a while to acquire satellites, it also kept detecting multiple heart rate monitors, during acquisition, which I had to acknowledge, very annoying. I ended up starting my watch a good 0.15 miles into the race, but at least I had something.

The race started and we got off. I done so much farting about with my watch I forgot to wish Chris, all the best, but what the hell, we were off and running. A first mile of 8:18 was as good a start as I could have hoped for, followed with an 8:16, set me up quite nicely for the himalayas. Miles 3 and 4 were going to be the nastiest on the course and didn't disappoint. Last year, it was around 2.5 miles in that I started walking and I walked on and off for the rest of the race, this year, I wanted to run all of it, which I managed. The rest of the course rolled up and down with one rather nasty hill about 1/2 mile before the end. I felt good and apart from getting over taken by three people just before the end, I was very happy with my performance.

I came in at 54:09, which is about 7 minutes less than last year. I was 57/175, 8/18 in my age group and 43/88 of all males, all in all, a performance that I am proud of.

Post race, there were plenty snacks, free beer and a burger/ grilled chicken for the runners, all in all, a great day.

How Endomondo saw it - http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/87723045