Rudolph Ramble 5K Race Report

This race report is dedicated to Meredith.

Today was the Rudolph Ramble 5K, the first of a 5 race series that I recommended some of the Roller Dolls participate in. 6 of us showed up this morning, although we quickly dispersed within the starting area to run. I didn’t want to get caught behind slow folk, so I started pretty close to the start. There were a few girls ahead of me that I was able to pass pretty quickly, even as I was careful not to push myself too hard at the start.

M1: 7:10
M2: 7:34 (talking with folks afterwards, they said they felt this mile was long)

Just past mile 2 was a turn-around, and I knew there was one strong female runner ahead of me, and another girl maybe two-tenths of a mile behind me. I was aware she was there, but didn’t let myself get too caught up in trying to stay ahead of her. As I neared about 2.7 miles, I glanced behind me and didn’t see that she’d really made up any time on me. I told myself that if I made it to the 3rd mile marker without her passing me, I’d be fine.

M3: 7:18
.1: 6:11 pace

I did put on the jets in the last .1, but as I neared the timing mat I glanced at the clock: it was 22:51 and I knew I’d be coming in under 23, so I didn’t push as hard as I possibly could have. And all of a sudden, there she was. One..step..ahead.

Yes – this race is dedicated to Meredith Furtney – the girl who was trailing me for at least half the race today, and put on a super kick at the end of the race to finish one step ahead of me.

We weren’t even out of the chute and I was congratulating her, and she I. We both knew that the competition had helped us. She had her eye on me the whole time and the last part of my race was concentrating on staying ahead of her. I can’t believe that I didn’t know she was SO close at the end, as I honestly feel I could have surged a bit more. But it’s a great lesson; one I’ll definitely remember next time. The race isn’t over til we’re passed the mat.

It was a chip-timed race, so as it turns out although we had the same gun time (to the second), her actual finish time was a second ahead of me:

Finish time: 22:55. Average HR: 180, Max HR: 188.

I asked her if she’d be competing in the rest of the series, and she said she thought so. I told her I hoped she would, as it’ll be good for both of us. That’s when we introduced herself and I was pleasantly amused to find out her name was Meredith! We chatted for a bit, but soon enough the rest of the Dolls started coming in: Andrea (who ran with the Incline Club with me last week), then Suz, and then EZ, Sami and Moira. Everyone finished strong, and we loaded up on some of the great goodies at the end: coffee and hot chocolate, bagels, granola bars and more. They were already starting to post race results before we left, and we were pleasantly surprised: turns out Meredith was in a different age group, and we Denver Roller Dolls placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 30-39 year old age group! In fact, all our athletes placed in the top half of their respective fields!

After the race, we went to Panera for a bit before heading to practice, where 4 of the 6 of us then skated and did off-skates practice for another 3 hours. I was definitely beat by the end of it, and I was so proud of the other skaters for doing so well! These are definitely the sort of weekend workouts I love, where you just know you pushed yourself, and you’re getting stronger.

And thanks again to Meredith, who pushed me for half the race and taught me that it’s much better to catch and pass someone in the finishing gate than be caught. I’ll try not to let it happen again..

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