1978 Indoor Central Collegiate Championship
My best college race did not produce my best time, but considering the racing conditions, it was my most memorable run. The 1978 Central Collegiate Meet at Eastern Michigan included Michigan, Michigan State, and Penn State, plus about 12 other colleges mainly from the Mid-American Conference.
I had the inside lane at the start of the three-mile, a 220-yard track, 24 total laps. At the start, the two runners next to me sprinted out in front, then moved to the inside lane ahead of me. But then they slowed down. I was boxed in, and they ran so slow that every one of the other 30 runners passed me over the first half mile. Finally I got an opening to go around them, but I was 120 yards out of the lead.
The good news was we ran so slow that first half mile that I was not at all winded and there was plenty of time to catch back up. I gradually started passing other runners, and by the mile mark there were only eight runners in front of me. They were running single file, probably 40-80 yards still ahead of me. I still felt strong and just focused on the back of the eighth man, slowly closing the gap. At the 1.5 mile mark, I had regained contact and felt great.
Over the previous mile, I had run faster than the pack, and settling in behind them seemed too slow. That was the point I noticed the top three runners had split the group, so I made my first surge going around the back group and made contact with the other first three.
I let them lead for the next half mile, then made another surge move into first place. All of a sudden, I was tired and breathing heavily. I slowed down, and the three other runners passed me. It was hard following them, but I kept in contact and over the next half mile surged twice into first place, only needing to back down and let the other three pass me.
With a half mile left, only four more laps, I followed until the final quarter mile. While I was never really fast, I had a good ability to run a driving final quarter mile. That was the point where I put my head down and started sprinting. I got back into first place and developed a little gap. As I sprinted, the pain seemed to leave me all the way to the finish line, and I finished 1-3 seconds ahead of the other three contenders. The last lap split was 60 seconds, with a winning time of 13:45. I was so darn out of breath once the race was over that I leaned over with my hands on my knees and could hardly move. But it was quite the satisfying race.
1980 Hinsdale Marathon
The other memorable race was the 1980 Hinsdale Marathon after college. I had taken many months off from training, so I was not in the same shape as during my college years, but at least I was in my best post-college shape.
The race had several hundred runners. At the start, dozens of people moved ahead of me, but they slowed down within a few minutes. By the two-mile mark, there was a pack of about ten of us that separated from the rest of the runners. We moved together for several miles. I remember feeling really fresh, just hoping not to tire out.
At the ten-mile mark, I remember not feeling winded at all, so I started pushing the pace. One guy went with me and pretty soon we had a considerable lead over the other runners. We came through the halfway point at about 72 minutes, and I felt great, but he was breathing so hard it seemed the right time.
I picked up the pace to 5:20 miles. I still wasn’t winded. So I developed a huge lead. I’m guessing it was a half-mile lead, and I couldn’t even see the second-place runner when looking back.
But as I went through the 18, 19, and 20 mile mark, I began to tire. I still wasn’t out of breath. I just had no energy. Very quickly I slowed to a 6:30 per mile pace. I looked back a few times and couldn’t see him, but at the 23-mile mark, there he became visible again. He kept getting closer and closer. By the 25-mile mark, he was only 50 yards behind me.
That’s when I got my second wind. I put my head down and started turning my arms over. Somehow I held him off, finishing first by about 50 yards in 2:31. Wow.
I didn’t train for a few weeks, then started up too fast and developed a nagging tendon injury. The injury bothered me for months, but just after running 2-3 miles.
As a result, I ended my running career, focused on my job and evening MBA program. Also, it was nice not to be sore all the time from training.