10 miles @ ~8.2 min/mi
"Beware the One-Armed Man!" I tell John Way at mile 8, when I briefly catch up with him. John is running with a broken right humerus, arm in sling, but even a Personal Worst for him beats me handily. As John leaves me in his dust I admire the psychedelic shirt he's wearing, which reminds me of the 1960's. "Don't have a flashback and go off course!" he cautions. I remove a glove to display five stitches on my right hand from Monday's tumble. We both have promised our doctors that we won't fall down again.
Today's race is the hilly MCRRC "Turkey Burnoff" in Seneca Creek State Park on a frigid-brisk Saturday morning. Chip time is about 1:21:15, sadly slower than last year's 1:18:52 and 2011's 1:20:39. Kind comrade Barry Smith gives Gayatri Datta and me a ride there. We debate how many layers to wear; I settle on loose thin windpants over shorts, a windbreaker over a singlet, plus mittens. At the 5 mile point it's warm enough to ditch jacket and remember the famous speech in HENRY V: "Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. / And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's Day.'" — though since my fall was on 11-24 it should be Saint Chrysogonus's Day.
The multi-loop course offers lots of opportunities to salute friends and shout encouragement at fast runners. After the race I walk back along the road to cheer those on the final stretch. My 8-year-old arch-nemesis-rival Jason Parks is there with his mom, and to his embarrassment I thank him for being a constant inspiration to me. Today he finishes several minutes faster. Bravo, Master Parks!
Runkeeper records route and pace data. Splits by my wristwatch and mile markers are 7:14 - 8:08 - 8:15 - 8:01 - 8:40 - 7:47 - 8:18 - 8:24 - 7:59 - 8:28.
Official results at http://www.mcrrc.org/turkey-burnoff-10-mile-0 show me in 88th place overall (of 277 finishers, behind 66 males and 21 females), and 4th of 12 in the 60-64 year old male cohort, gun time 1:21:55 and chip time 1:21:13.
(cf. TurkeyBurnoff2003, 2005-11-26 - Turkey Burn-Off, 2006-11-25 - Turkey Burnoff, 2007-11-24 - Seneca Creek Odyssey and MCRRC Turkey Burnoff, 2008-11-29 - MCRRC Turkey Burn-Off, 2011-11-26 - MCRRC Turkey Burn-Off 10 Miler, 2012-11-24 - MCRRC Turkey Burnoff 5 Mile Race, 2013-11-30 - MCRRC Turkey Burn-Off 10 Miler, ...) - ^z - 2014-12-24