{"id":971,"date":"2024-02-05T14:53:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T14:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/?p=971"},"modified":"2025-02-25T20:45:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T20:45:42","slug":"boston-buildup-15k-ridgefield-ct-feb-4-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=971","title":{"rendered":"Boston Buildup 15k (Ridgefield, CT) &#8211; Feb. 4, 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This may have been one of my best races ever, starting at an elementary school in Ridgefield, Connecticut (50-minute drive from my house), with plenty of room, warmth, and toilets\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2780-scaled.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2780-769x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-967\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Focused on the right priorities:&nbsp; (1) don\u2019t get hurt, because my training for a Half Ironman is progressing nicely (thank you, Coach Steve); (2) don\u2019t look at the watch (thank you, John McD) except for when it buzzed on my wrist the first mile of the 9.3 mile course: 7:45, that\u2019s too fast, but it was a lovely downhill on a narrow road into a sunny morning with tall, bare trees\u2026. And (3) have FUN (thank you, Vassilis)! &nbsp; Felt like I was running with all these friends and their good advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pretty obvious that having fun was (and always should have been) the most important priority.\u00a0 I kept checking in on the status of the ship\u2019s vitals (Mile 4:\u00a0 hamstring tweaking; maybe my posture needs adjustment, or slow it down?) and of the captain\u2019s mental state (\u201cOh, no, that guy is passing me!\u2026 That\u2019s not a helpful thought. I won\u2019t think about it. What a beautiful day!\u00a0 Ooh, another downhill!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2784.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2784-576x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-969\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here I was, racing with these folks who were preparing for the Boston Marathon (I qualified for Boston but didn\u2019t make the 5:29-minute cut that Boston\u2019s race directors imposed to reduce the field from 31,000 to 20,000 runners).  So I sometimes felt  like an imposter, but recognized \u201cthat\u2019s not a useful thought; I won\u2019t think about it; damn, what a great day!\u201d\u00a0 Everyone around me is dead serious, no one saying a word.\u00a0 In contrast, my jaw is hurting at Mile 7 from smiling so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Miles 8 and 9 were uncomfortable, but arrived sooner than I expected (another benefit of not looking at the watch!), leapfrogged with another guy my age wearing a shirt from a triathlon we\u2019d both done, got passed by the young woman who I had passed early in the race and who had gas left in the tank for a wonderful sprint, and I finished still smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And the metrics were great!\u00a0 Steve had predicted I\u2019d run 9:00-9:15 minute\/miles (based, he forgets, on the reasonable workouts he had given me), and I finished in 1:16:22 &#8211; an 8:12 minute\/mile pace.\u00a0 And my heart rate average was 143 bpm \u2014 totally reasonable, middle of the range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For once, I was merely curious\u00a0 about my results relative to others in the 60 and older range.\u00a0 Turns out pretty good:\u00a0 5\/18 for AG (60-69 year old men, not including the 70+ guys who were included in the \u201cVeterans\u201d category), and 67\/177 OA. \u00a0 But more importantly,\u00a0 I had fun.\u00a0 Now, THAT\u2019s a sustainable attitude to take me through another season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2787.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.racereportblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/IMG_2787-576x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-968\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This may have been one of my best races ever, starting at an elementary school in Ridgefield, Connecticut (50-minute drive from my house), with plenty of room, warmth, and toilets\u2026. Focused on the right priorities:&nbsp; (1) don\u2019t get hurt, because my training for a Half Ironman is progressing nicely (thank you, Coach Steve); (2) don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-races"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Boston Buildup 15k (Ridgefield, CT) - Feb. 4, 2024 - Race Report Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=971\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boston Buildup 15k (Ridgefield, CT) - Feb. 4, 2024 - Race Report Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This may have been one of my best races ever, starting at an elementary school in Ridgefield, Connecticut (50-minute drive from my house), with plenty of room, warmth, and toilets\u2026. Focused on the right priorities:&nbsp; (1) don\u2019t get hurt, because my training for a Half Ironman is progressing nicely (thank you, Coach Steve); (2) don\u2019t [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/racereportblog.com\/?p=971\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Race Report Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-05T14:53:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-25T20:45:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mktriguy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mktriguy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/racereportblog.com\\\/?p=971#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/racereportblog.com\\\/?p=971\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"mktriguy\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/racereportblog-1017a59.ingress-baronn.ewp.live\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/381524143ffecd8f8bcf50b786f0c737\"},\"headline\":\"Boston Buildup 15k (Ridgefield, CT) &#8211; 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