Humbled by a Loaded Field on July 4th

Since I finished 2nd last year at the "Four on the Fourth" in Chester, CT, I jumped into this race thinking that I may have an outside chance of being the first one across the line even though the field size was close to 1,000. But I should have known that I was in trouble when I lined up at the starting line next to a guy with the words "Pain is Temporary" permanently tatooed across his back! That's usually a sign of a relatively serious athlete. I eventually ended up in 13th place even though I ran only slightly slower than I did last year. And what was REALLY scary is that the pain-is-temporary guy finished 12th! That's how loaded the field was this year!

However, putting my ego aside, I always feel inspired and even honored to run among such top-notch amateur athletes. I know I train an awful lot (at least I think I do) so I always admire guys who manage to somehow find time and dedication to train more than I do and thereby manage to kick my butt in a race.