Perfect 10-Miler

This was the tenth anniversary of the Perfect 10-Miler, and I had done all of the previous nine. I drove up to Lyndhurst with Felicia Fago, Angela Demchuck and Patrick Fisher. The weather was about as good as it gets in mid-August - relatively cool, and not humid. With that, and the fast course in mind, my hopes for a good run were reasonably optimistic.

In recent weeks I'd done two five-milers around 35 minutes apiece. I wouldn't be so foolish as to hope for 70 minutes on this day, but if I could keep most of my miles around seven minutes, I'd be happy.

I did, and I was. Most of the first four miles were very close to seven minutes, but I slowed a bit for miles five and six. This was mostly due to the long hill on Belvoir Blvd. Mile seven was screaming fast as always, and the last few were back above (but not my too much) sevens.

I finished in 1:11:29, after splits of about 35:30 and 36. I won my age group. My overall grade: not bad at all.

Angela Demchuck, Joe Jurczyk and me in the middle          Felicia Fago photo