Firecracker (2003)

July 4,2003 was the type of day that shore concessionaires were dreaming about during those endless rainy spring weekend.
It was hot and sultry, the type of day that most runners don’t look forward to but since we’re such an adaptable bunch, we wore less, drank more water and adjusted our times accordingly, while relieved that it wasn’t over 100 like 2002.

As for me, the running day would have been notable except for the little detail of a race in between. In running 17 of the previous 18
Firecracker 4 miles, I had never come close to missing an 8 minute a mile pace until last year when I finished in 32:07. My first go around in 1985 was my third race in three days and with dead legs I had run 26:03. What a difference 18 years make!

This year I had the excuse of a race 36 hours ago,the 5 mile Sunset Classic in Bloomfield which as many of you know is a race with two big uphills and downhills that saps the quadriceps. I was still feeling the race as I woke up on July 4. The first order of business was to try and help my fast improving 10 year old Sarah do her best in the one mile fun run. After giving her my best pre race stretching and bounding exercises the gun finally went off and a majority of the runners sprinted as fast as they could. I had warned Sarah tha this would happen and she was ready,realizing that she would pass many of these. Since the course had no real measurements I had to guess by the time where the halfway mark was. I was running an 8 minute pace very easily but Sarah started to struggle a little so I was backpedaling while helping her finish. I gave her the “it’s only the length of a soccer field” exhortation several times before she gave it one good finishing burst and broke 9 minutes for the first time.

I was ecstatic as I walked to the starting line. Several of my friends told me I looked worn out. I was dripping with sweat as a I walked up to the starting line and before I knew it the gun went off. It actually seemed better for me as I didn’t want to go out too fast.When I hit the fast first mile in 7:20 I just hoped to hold on and break 30 minutes but the heat and my previous runs got the best of me and by mile three I needed a very quick walk to get my mind and legs back.I looked very strong to spectators at the last 100 yards as I outsprinted a few people but the damage had been done and I hit another personal worst 33:17. The disappointment was somewhat muted by winning a nice raffle prize in the post race ceremony but my third subpar performance in four races had me baffled.

But alas I had a way to save the running day. After flooding my insides with water,bananas and bagels I decided to stick to my original plan of running the 6 or so miles home to Fanwood. Despite the 90 plus degrees and my tired legs I knew a way home that was mostly shady and the reward would be a swim. It was a struggle at times but there were a lot of great little experiences including several people very generous with spraying me. When I got to the last mile and half I was joined by a nice guy named Oscar from Chile and immediately I started talking about my favorite subject,soccer. When I told him that I coached he seemed very interested and it just so happened that in one of the driveways was a two day old copy of the local newspaper “The Suburban” which had a picture and an article about our team. He said that he had a copy of it at home that he usually threw out but would read it when he got home. I don’t know if he ever did-but perhaps I’ll see him on the roads again and find out.

Minutes later my run ended in a little under an hour and some vicious leg cramps but I knew I had earned a relaxing afternoon before seeing fireworks that night.