The World Famous Mule Chase!

Saturday, I was privileged to race at the world famous (at least around these parts) Reardan Mule Chase with Steve and Trish. Dude, with a name like that, how could I not do this race?!?! Steve is somewhat of a local celebrity in Reardan, so all morning, I felt like I was walking around with the town's own version of Forrest Gump. Except for the fact that in Reardan, Steve is known as Keith. Trish and I tried keeping a tally of the number of "Hey Keith's" we heard, but we lost count very quickly. It was pretty darn fun, actually :)

The "race" was actually a fun run held in conjunction with the town's summer festival, with both a 5k and 10k offered. Trish was doing the 5k (we later found out that this would be her first "official" running race...nice!!) and Steve and I planned on doing the 10k as a hard tempo run. Even though it was nearing mid-June, the temperature was just slightly above that of liquid nitrogen (uh, 35 degrees at race time), and the typical "West Plains Winds" were obligingly blowing for us. I'd say there were about 50 or 60 hard core athletes that decided to brave the conditions.

With all the pomp and circumstance that a fire engine's siren can provide as a starting gun, we set off into the plains. The first mile was downhill and we had a nice tailwind, so when we hit the first marker at 6:07, I was amazed I was feeling so good. I was also amazed that at this point, there was only one guy in front of us. Hmmmm, another strange feeling of being at the "pointy end of the field". Shortly after mile 1, a guy went by us into second, and those top 2 guys would keep slowly pulling away from us for the rest of the race. Still, it was kind of cool to be in 3rd/4th. Steve and I ran shoulder-to-shoulder, stride-for-stride over the remaining 5 miles, and it was awesome to have someone to run with who is so closely matched to me. We have been doing alot of training together recently, and our run paces are so close, its almost scary. Add to that our about equal amount of competitiveness and respect, and it has worked out great. We push each other just enough to make us both faster, all with a healthy dose of friendly competition. Sometimes I win, sometimes Steve does, but regardless, neither of us really cares.

Once we turned into the wind and started heading back towards Reardan, our pace started dropping. As Steve called out each of our mile splits, I just had to laugh and tried not to think back to that "easy" 6:07 first mile. Then, of course, since I was running with Steve, the rains came. And it wasn't one of these nice, warm summer rains. This was the cold, wind blown, stinging type. Ugh. By the time we turned onto the highway for the last mile, it was a bona-fide downpour, and I was having a hard time seeing. About a half mile from the finish, Steve put a surge on that I couldn't cover. While he never got much of a gap on me, I decided that a) I would try and save some of my legs for my afternoon 12 miler, and b) that I would probably be run out of town forever by an angry mob if I put in some crazy kick and was "that jerk from Spokane who passed Keith 15 meters from the finish". Although I must admit, the thought of going down in Reardan history forever kind of sounded cool, I just didn't want it to be that kind of history. :)

In the end, I finished just a few steps behind Steve, in 40:40, averaging a crazy fast 6:33 per mile. Trish also totally rocked her race, finishing so fast that she was already dried off, changed, and ready to go shopping by the time we got back to the car. The torrential downpour and freezing cold motivated us to get back in the car and get going, although I felt a bit bad for being the guy who quickly stole away Keith, Reardan's most famous runner, from his many moments of town-wide glory that were sure to follow. He assured me that he would get his due later that evening at the Beer Garden, which is apparantly so famous in Reardan that you don't even have to say "Mule Days Beer Garden". You just say "Beer Garden" and everyone knows what you are talking about.

All sarcasm aside (sorry, Keith!), it was a super-fun morning hanging out with friends, a totally kick-ass workout, and definitely a race I would do again. But I wonder if it would be too much to ask if next year they could actually hold this race in the summer-time? My one and only regret from the race is that I never actually saw a Mule, and, thus, I never had a chance to chase one. Oh well....maybe next year :)

Later on in the afternoon, I somehow motivated myself to get my butt out the door for yet another run, this time 12 miles. I wanted to get one 18-20 mile day under my belt before Ironman, just for a confidence builder, and this weekend was my last chance. As expected, and since I was running without Steve, the late-afternoon weather was spectacular....the morning of rain and wind seemed a distant memory. I just ran on feel, knowing that it was coming on the heels of a hard tempo run and would by my longest mileage day of the year. The first 10 were great, and went by without a hitch. The last 2 totally sucked, and the fact that my iPod died with about a mile and a half to go didn't help matters. I yet again found a nice surprise at the end, when I discovered that I had averaged under 8 min pace, even with my near-walking last 2 miles. Definitely a great way to end an awesome day of running! Now I finally feel ready for the run portion of Ironman.....