|
Ed's Sk8toronto Website
NORTHSHORE MARATHON (DULUTH MINNESOTA) -SEPT 2005 For me, the Northshore Inline Marathon just keeps getting better. This year the wind was calm (allowing most people, including me, to get PBs) and I did not fall down only a few yards from the end of the race. I managed to place 8th in the Veteran Men’s category and actually won some money for my efforts. I guess now I can tell my friends that I am a “professional inline speed skater”. We emerged from the seemingly endless school bus ride to a coolish but windless day. The still dark staging area featured a lonely road lined with plastic chairs and porta-potties. I talked to some teammates, (and a few people that I didn’t know), put on my equipment, warmed up a little and peed 3 times. After the brief opening ceremonies the waves of skaters started off. I went with around 55 other Veteran (Elite) Men 4 minutes after the pros and 2 minutes behind the Master Men. I quickly ended up near the back of the back and this is where I skated most of the race. Because I spent the entire race so far from the front I don't know who the major players were –although I can guess. Just like last year, my first in this category, the race was characterized by surges (where one skater would take off the front and everyone else would chase) and slow periods when nobody wanted to pull). It didn’t seem as bad this year however. We passed the 2 mile marker at 5:20 (a pace of 2:40 per mile) and I knew right away that the times would be fast. I stopped my watch at all of the mile markers I noticed and analyzed the data later in the day. Briefly, our pack was on a 2:43 per mile pace at the 7 mile mark but this was reduced to a 2:50 per mile pace by the time we were at mile 13. We stayed at a 2:50 per mile pace right to the end. This year I had promised myself that I would avoid skating in the very last position and I did manage to keep my promise. The pack only dropped about 20 skaters in the course of the race but I was not really aware of many of them dropping off. There was one time when two skaters wearing the same suit (and clearly skating together) let a big gap open up. I kept waiting for the front guy to close it up but it became clear that he could not. I skated around them and closed the gap easily, realizing at the same time that I had my very best stuff available for the finish of the race. At some point Jeff Terwilliger jumped off the front of the pack and nobody chased. I didn’t even know this until I saw the results. He beat everyone by 18 seconds. I started to move up in the pack around the time we came to the 3rd tunnel and almost hit a straggler from a preceding pack. As we attacked the final ramp a rather stupid race official on a motorcycle tried to pass us all on the left side. He hit one poor guy, who went down heavily, and the handlebar or foot peg of the motorcycle scraped along the concrete wall making an awful noise. I’m sure I was not alone in loosing my nerve for a second but then I decided this was a great time to put the hammer down and I managed to pass a few skaters on the ramp. I took the left turn at the top of the ramp wide this year, passing a few bunched up skaters and joined a paceline going down the hill. I decided to take the second hard left on the inside (a risky move for sure) and beat out a couple more skaters who took it wider. From there on it was just a matter of maintaining form to the finish line. I passed Dennis Humphrey (who seemed determined to finish out of the money) as we rounded the final curve. I came in 8th in a time of 1:14:05 -only 2 seconds out of second place. This is a new best time -by 2 and a half minutes! 9 of the top 10 finishers showed up at the award ceremonies to congratulate each other and to collect their prize money. Terry Holm gave me a cheque for $65 and shook my hand on behalf of the race committee. He came 12th in our division. It was hard not to notice that 3 of the top 4 finishers were exactly 45 years old. There will be a couple of more strong young guys joining us next year. It’s going to get tougher and tougher. I think I did pretty well for a 53 year old! My goal for next year will be to prove that finishing in the top 10 this year was not a fluke. I would also love to be able to say that nobody older than me beat me. This however would mean that I would have to beat the likes of Cale Carvel, Terry Holm, Alan Marcosson and several others as well. We will see. .
|