West End 3k: coach to wife: 'Is he all right?'

That was the "big" question after the West End 3k on Thursday night.

Well, not so much big, as just irritating and getting to the verge of boring, really.

It's not that I'm not running OK; it's just that I'm running indifferently.

The consensus now seems to be that it's my head that needs seeing to. I have to agree, really, after that performance. The figures: I was fifth in the age group with 11:07; the group being led home by fellow miler Kyle Hubbart in a super 10:17, which was actually only a few hundredths of a second slower than the winner of the 40-44 age group. Way to go, Kyle! Frank Bergen, another of our miling group, and I looked at each other afterwards and agreed -- we have a bit of work still to do.

Given that I was racing around the worst possible time after returning to altitude from sea level, and given that the course takes us twice up a nasty long uphill drag, and given that, even so, my time was a second faster than what I managed for 3k on the track some six weeks ago...I have got reasons to be pleased with myself.

But actually, no -- there are some weird head games going on. For one thing, I am running in my comfort zone and have no aggression at all. You can see it in Abby's pictures; eyes down, back on my heels (almost), no drive. Compare and contrast with the attitude of going-for-it women's winner Kathy Butler. For another, I am thinking about it all way too much. Case in point. Going up the hill on the first lap, I was running within myself but looked up and saw I was right behind Kyle. "I must be going too fast", was my first thought. The Garmin showed 5:11 pace. Yep, I thought, way too fast. So I deliberately eased off and let a string of runners go past. Why? I wasn't hurting.

The women's race was GREAT. When I collected my number the day before, the Japanese coach/manager was registering TEN runners. Come the day, the tall, well-built Scot Kathy (who has recently moved to Nederland, CO) was like an eagle being mobbed by a flock of sparrows. The quick-cadence, short-striding and elegant Japanese surely knew that they had two chances to ditch her on the climb; if not, then her weight and long stride would help her open a gap on the descent. And that's just the way it was; Kathy was pursued downhill to the line by the ENTIRE Japanese team in a long, desperate line -- they filled all the next top ten places!

Funnily enough, on my final climb, I bumped elbows with another runner. My apology was only an instant quicker than his: English gentleman meets Japanese equivalent :) As we began our final descent the Japanese girls appeared running alongside on the sidewalk screaming encouragement at my colleague of the road -- it was their manager Shinobu Murakoshi showing them (kind of) how it's done!

* PS: While not taking pictures, Abby was seeing off a belligerent drunk who, having terrified the field with the weird noises he was making as we passed, then decided to make off with my Newton training shoes that I'd left under a chair outside a cafe after my warm-up.

* West End 3K results

* Other results (for some reason the new organizers have not put out full results, just classifications) at www.boulderraces.com