Sycamore Pumpkin Festival 10k

I been childish
And all mean to the fools
Myself as acting as
Daniel the Cruel
I've taken attendance at
Finishing schools
Filled with children who go beyond the rules

Lyrics from "Kids Pushing Kids" by Danielson

I got into a physical fight for the first time since the 9th grade (some of you who witnessed this fight, also refer to it as Hugfest '96) on Sunday at the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival 10k.  It was a little embarasing at the time, but now its something fun to laugh at.  Imagine it from Verdo's perspective if you will.

Verdo continues his incredible streak of races and finishes 3rd overall with a 34:29 (Results) then in typical Verdo Zen fashion watches at the chute to see his teammates come in.  I finally arrive right at 36 flat everything seeming normal.  Except that I carry most of my speed through the chute and then push the person in front of me with gusto and a few curse words flying around.  I can only imagine what Verdo is thinking at this point.

To make a long story short, the eighth place finisher passed me twice in the last mile.  No big deal, right?  Well, he did so by cutting the course significantly both times.  I called him out on it verbally during the race and then he called me a few names while running.  We ran next to each other exchanging elbows (soft ones) until he pulled away over the last .2 miles.  If I had self-control I would have said something to him at the finish and let that be it... 

But if there's one time I don't have self-control its when I'm pushing myself in a 5,000 meter or 10,000 meter race.  These are times when I fill with rage at the people running near me.  It's happened all year.  The thing is, as soon as I reach the line, this rage turns into joy.  I'm usually thrilled to shake hands with the person who has pushed me and broken me (when they beat me to the line) or the person who has pushed me and made me go that much faster (when I get to the line first).  This time however, that rage didn't go away.  I hope I see this kid again at another race soon.  I won't let him have the joy of beating me twice. To his credit he didn't let things escalate by backing away from me. I hope its because he felt like slime inside knowing he cheated.

Lost in the drama (in my mind anyway) was scoring a nice PR in the distance despite brutally difficult winds.  The course is very rural, and this allowed for the strong winds to both make me fly (miles 2 and 3) and drag heavily in the last mile.  The wide open course was very enjoyable.  I loved running on the centerline of Bethany road while fighting it out with other runners.  I enjoyed watching Verdo, DP and some others duke it out in front of me over the expanse of the course.

Next up is the NYC marathon on Sunday 11/2.  You can watch it nationally at 3pm eastern on NBC (replay show of the race). After that, I'm looking forward to my last Chicago area race before I move, the Veterun in Westchester. Sign-up and race me!

Lastly, I leave you with this video to get pumped up for NYC and a picture of my dad, brother and I playing hockey last week.