Al Kraft and I have ran a lot of miles together over the years through rain, snow, cold, heat, wind and even high altitudes. There have been many times that Al and I have run side by side in races and encouraged each other on when one of us might be having a slow day.
I tend to put a lot of running miles on in the winter and early spring and use the Fargo Marathon as my training goal. After May, I am on the bike while my running schedule eases back and I work mainly on speed work and shorter distances. With that schedule, running 13.1 in early September is tough. The last couple of years I have struggled to break 1:30:00 and am hurting for a week afterwards.
This year, the Dick Bearsdley 1/2 marathon offered a new division - relay teams. When Al mentioned that we should participate together I jumped at the chance. I know Al's speed and that he is a bulldog in competition so it was a perfect fit.
Al and I did not think much about who was running first or second and decided the day before that Al was running first. After the gun, I jumped on a bus that took the 2nd runners to the transition zone. I started my watch at the gun and knew that Al would be at the transition between 40 and 45 minutes. We made the switch at 43:38:00 - nice work Al.
I took off way too fast with my first mile coming in at 6:15. Looking back, I am glad that I hit it hard right away as the hills are tougher from mile 9 to mile 12. I have run this course a dozen times but at a 1/2 marathon pace. When you are running a 10k pace it is a lot tougher. I struggled at mile 11 to 12 but recovered after a gel and half a glass of water to finish strong.
Our finish time was 1:27:28 - cool beans. Our effort was good enough to land us 3rd place overall.