May 9, 2020: The Tucker Road Race 5K

Tucker Road Race 5K 2018: 28:36
Tucker Road Race 5K 2019: 25:43, 3rd place male 50 - 59 age group

January 31, 2020: Last day for early registration (above)
April 8, 2020: Announcement of virtual race (below)

April 30, 2020: Announcing the opening of the virtual race window

For my virtual race route, I decided to run the same route that I had taken on the previous week in the R.A.T. Race 5K, but in the opposite direction.  I should say that I planned the direction of last week's race route, so that I would run up the hill on Smithsonia Drive in the same direction of the race route.  I decided not to tackle the actual route, as there was too much distance without sidewalks on Old Norcross Road.

One of these days, I should come out here with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water.
Perhaps after I clean off the pollen and bird poop off of the mailbox in front of my house.... 

On race day morning, I awoke early, had a light breakfast, and warmed up with an easy 2-mile run to my starting position on Lake Ivanhoe Drive.  Conditions were perfect, about 45 degrees F but sunny.  Unfortunately, my attitude about running this race was negative.  Perhaps it was the mental exhaustion of having spent much of the past week grading on-line final exams, or a general malaise arising from bad news on several fronts, but my mind was not in the right place for a good performance this morning.  

Lake Ivanhoe Drive is the right fork at this intersection. 

Nevertheless, the 8 o'clock hour was approaching.  I had set up the race app on itsyourrace.com  and set my watch to synchronize, and started out without fanfare.  How I missed hearing the band play at the start of this race!

A symbolic place to begin my race? 

I started off pretty quickly, easily setting a 5 min / km pace heading downhill toward Lake Ivanhoe.  Turning right onto Templar Knight, I blasted through the first kilometer in 4:54. But that was not a pace that I could maintain.  Turning on Rothenwood Drive, then heading north meant that I was climbing a hill steeper than the one that I had just run down.  Fortunately the hill was not too long, and I was able to get back to a decent pace.  Turning left on to Webb Road was another steep uphill, but I managed to power my way through that challenge.  

Onto Chamblee Tucker Road, fortunately with sidewalks.  Second kilometer finished in 5:27, 10:21 elapsed.  I remembered tripping and falling several years ago on a sidewalk crack, so I kept a close eye on the path ahead, avoiding catastrophe.  A few minutes later, it was time to turn right onto Smithsonia Drive, now following the exact route of the Tucker Road Race.  Running downhill to Lucky Shoals creeklet, I tried to pick up a little speed, knowing that the big hill was coming up ahead.  Third kilometer finished in 5:19, 15:40.  Time to pick up the pace if I was going to finish in less than 26 minutes!

I was not ready to climb Smithsonia Mountain in this direction. 

Grinding up the big hill, I slowed dramatically.  I tried to push myself for another moment, but before I had reached the top, I mentally shattered on the hill.  

%*$@#*%$!!!!   I said out loud, as I slowed to .... a walk.  

My race was over.  My engine was blown.  Failure. 

Nothing to do but walk to the top of that big hill, and then start running again, more slowly than before.  Turning onto Goodfellows Road, I regained a little of my former pace, finishing the terrible fourth kilometer in 6:02, 21:42 elapsed.  Turning left onto Locksley Road, then right on Templar Knight to retrace my steps to finish near where I began, I picked up the pace just a bit in the final minute on Lake Ivanhoe Drive, with a respectable 5:17 for the last kilometer, stopping my watch at 27:03.  

Then I checked my phone and the itsyourrace.com app.  The app had recorded only a little more than a mile of my run.  Perhaps when my phone went to "sleep", the location stopped recording.  Well, I'm not running that race again.  In fact I plan to avoid any more virtual racing for the next few weeks, to give my legs a rest.  

After the race

In the 2-mile cooldown run home, I thought about what had gone wrong.  I had planned a route, but I totally failed to plan a race strategy.  The Smithsonia Hill was at the beginning of mile 1 in the official race route in 2018 and 2019, but in my own creation of a race route, the massive hill did not come until the very end of mile 1.  I should have prepared myself for that, perhaps with an easy practice run earlier in the week, so I would have gotten over the mental challenge in a no-stakes run.  

"Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!"

  

Someone cleaned the road sign!  (and the mailbox)

May 2, 2020: The R.A.T. Race 5K

2020 is the Year of the Rat.  And what a ratty year it's been.  

January:  That was a good month.  We returned from a nice trip to the Philippines centered on the 100th anniversary of Bonnie's school where she grew up in Manila, capped off with a nice day walking around New York City before returning to Atlanta, in time for her 50th birthday party.  At the end of the month, Bonnie received the Han C. Choi Mentor Award for her service to the Georgia Asian Pacific American Bar Association (GAPABA) at the Lunar New Year Banquet.  She spoke about some of the "positive" qualities of the rat, including "immune, resilient" "and how many billions of lab rats have been sacrified to discover miraculous cures." and went on to suggest the negative connotations of "I smell a rat!  Snitches!!" could be turned to a more positive word: "Whistleblower!!"  "A whistleblower is a person who brings justice, uncovering evil, someone who has the courage to stand up to bullies, and shine a light on darkness.  

So this is really the year of the whistleblower!" 

February:  Despite Bonnie's attempt to start the Lunar New Year on a bright note, the year soon took a terrible turn.  On February 13, our family suffered the tragic death of Bonnie's cousin, Mina Chung.  We gathered at Mina's parents' hometown in Westchester County, New York for a small family funeral on February 29.  Fortunately none of us in attendance were infected with COVID-19, otherwise that could have been a super-spreader event, given how much we cried on each other that day.  It's all the more frightening because Westchester County was becoming one of the epicenters for the COVID-19 outbreak around that time, only we didn't know that until a couple of weeks later.  At that time, I was still in denial about the potential seriousness of this disease. 

March:  My highlight accomplishment of setting a personal record in the marathon on March 1 was largely overshadowed by the increasingly dire news of the spread of COVID-19.  I shut down my research laboratory on March 16, moving the essential materials for my teaching and writing activities to my home office for the remainder of the spring semester.  March was a scary month.  

The year of April:  Tragedy spread across the country.  The virus seemed so distant as we watched what China and then Italy were suffering, but struck the United States with a vengeance.  The number of cases and deaths rocketed exponentially upwards, to exceed 60,000 lost in the United States by the end of April.  As much as I had hated to shut down the lab in mid-March, it was soon apparent that Emory had acted in the nick of time, limiting the continued transmission of this deadly disease as we sheltered at home.  On the last day of April, the Atlanta Track Club announced that the Peachtree Road Race would be delayed until Thanksgiving day, November 26.  There was a lot of anger expressed about that move on Facebook.  But to be realistic, the Atlanta Track Club had no good options.  This won't be over by July 4.  I am skeptical that it will be safe to run a large race in November, but I'm willing to wait and see how things turn out in the fall.  

May:  The state of Georgia officially reopened last week.  However, most people are still sheltering, wearing masks when running essential errands such grocery shopping, and maintaining social distance.  The businesses that have reopened have done so very cautiously, and with many measures to protect employees and customers.  I myself will wait a few more weeks to see how things go before going out for a haircut.  From certain angles, I'm beginning to look a little like Larry from the Three Stooges.   

A couple more months of this, then I can audition for the next Three Stooges movie. 

Coach Carl arranged a virtual 5K for the runners in the Tuesday evening group training.  He came up with the clever acronym, R.A.T. race for "Running Alone Together", and even produced bibs for each participant, with our lucky number.  When Bonnie saw my bib, she reminded me that this is the Year of the Rat.  

After running hard last weekend for 4 miles, I wasn't too interested in pushing myself in today's 5K.  In addition, the training plan had me down for 10 miles with easy effort.  To ensure that I finished the entire workout, I woke up early and set out shortly after 6:30 am, to run at least 10K, including the 3.11 mile route that I had selected for today's 5K race.  It was a beautiful morning to run, around 50 deg F at sunrise.  I was seranaded by the birds from the beginning to the end of my run.  I returned to the house around 7:35 am, drank a glass of water, ate a banana and orange to replenish glycogen, and headed back out to the adjacent neighborhood where I would run the race.  For the past month, I've done my Monday morning runs in this neighborhood.  There are plenty of rolling hills, but nothing as steep as the trails at Lucky Shoals Park.  Best of all, there is hardly any automobile traffic on these streets.  The only downside is that I have to run about 0.3 miles from my own neighborhood along Old Norcross Road, which has no sidewalks, and cars routinely exceed the 35 mile per hour speed limit on this road.  Fortunately there is room to jump off of the road onto the grass in both directions whenever a car is in the incoming lane.  

At 8:00 am sharp, I lined up on Lake Ivanhoe Drive.  I knew from my previous runs that I would finish before reaching the busy intersection with Old Norcross Road, as long as I didn't start too far from the main road.  Looking ahead, I nodded approvingly to myself for the downhill start.  Of course I knew that I would have to run back up that hill near the end of the 5K distance, but I was ready for that.  Both of my regular readers know my mantra, "I love hills!"  

"Ready, set, go!" and I set off down the street.  After running the first 10K just under a 10 minute / mile pace, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was running at an 8:30 minute / mile pace.  Surely I could hold onto that pace for 5K.  In fact I picked up some speed as I continued running downhill toward Lake Ivanhoe itself, at the center of this neighborhood, just south of the Heritage Golf Course.  I turned onto Templar Knight Drive, trying to maintain a steady pace.  When I checked afterwards, it looked like I was continually slowing down and then speeding up.  Either I need a better watch, or I have discovered something that I should work on in training.  

This looks like really irregular pacing, and not just in response to the elevation changes.  

It's often said that "5Ks hurt!" and that is definitely true.  But they also pass by quickly, especially if the watch is set to alert every kilometer.   Hurray for the metric system!  As I turned left on the Locksley Road, I was greeted by a steady uphill route, but also with the 1 km alert, 5:01 minutes!  I didn't expect that.  Could I keep going at this pace for a 25 minute finish?  The right turn onto Goodfellows Road immediately put that goal into doubt.  Calm down, I said, I'm not really racing this.  Just get to the top of the hill, and there, that feels better.  Cruising down Goodfellows Road, I began to regain some speed, but then a modest little uphill section brought me back to reality.  At the top of the hill, Goodfellows turned left and acquired a new name, Smithsonia Drive.  I don't know how Smithsonia fits into Walter Scott's Ivanhoe mythology, but this part of the road has a 55 foot drop to Lucky Shoals creek near its source at Cofer Lake, just a few blocks to the south.  The 2 km alert sounded as I began to pick up some speed running downhill.  5:16 for kilometer 2, 10:17 elapsed.  As I crossed the creek, I took a quick look at my watch and saw 4:xx minute / kilometer.  But that didn't last as I started heading up the other side of the hill, on a 40 foot climb.  This is where my pace was briefly slower than 10 min / mile.  To minimize my time on Chamblee-Tucker Road, I turned one block early onto Smithsonia Way, regaining a decent pace until I encountered the next little hill at the intersection with Smithsonia Court.  I used to get terribly confused by all of these streets with the same name when I had to drive through here several years ago when Old Norcross Road was closed for road repair.  

As I approached Chamblee-Tucker Road, I saw my first social distancing challenge ahead: a woman power-walking through the intersection, heading north, the same direction that I was planning to run.  I thought briefly about just turning around and retracing my route, as I was surely more than halfway through the 5K distance.  But as I reached Chamblee-Tucker Road, I saw that the next car was still a couple of blocks away, and determined that I could speed past the woman while running on the side of the road.  I sped up to my fastest speed of the race, 8.3 mph according to Garmin, probably with a little downhill assist, and got back onto the sidewalk before the automobile had caught up with me.  In the midst of that drama, the 3 km alert sounded, 5:23 for kilometer 3, 15:40 elapsed.  

Gone, but not forgotten.  It's been nearly three years since Janet Pickney was killed
on Chamblee-Tucker Road during her morning run, about 1 mile south of here.  

If I remembered correctly, my route was net downhill from here to the finish, but by how much?  (20 feet, I discovered as I wrote this sentence.)   I turned right onto Webb Road, happy to get back onto a quiet street and with the additional benefit of heading downhill, toward the other side of Lake Ivanhoe.  Another right onto Rothenwood Drive, more gentle downhill running, although I was not running all that fast at this point.  Then there was a 20 foot hill that someone had put in the middle of the neighborhood.  Time for the mantra, "I love hills!"  Up and over, as the 4 km alert sounded, 5:27 for kilometer 4, 21:07 elapsed.  That came a little sooner than expected!  

Turning left to cross Lucky Shoals Creek once more, then left as Rothenwood Drive changed name to Templar Knight Drive.   Uphill.  I knew this when I set up the route, but this last kilometer was going to be tough.  Passing Locksley Road, I encountered my second social distancing obstacle.  A couple of residents walking their dogs were talking.  I was hoping that they would move to the same side of the street, but - they were obviously not residing in the same home, so instead they increased their social distance, leaving the middle of the road for me to pass through.  Fortunately the road was wide enough so that I was much more than six feet away from either person as I passed through.  And without any automobile traffic to contend with, I was perfectly safe running down the middle of the street.  Past Lady Rowena Court, looking ahead to the last turn onto Lake Ivanhoe Drive, I was faced with a 25 foot hill.  C'mon Frank, you love hills!  Channeling the strides that I did on Thursday evening, having run each one of them uphill, I went into the same motion, and started counting to 15 seconds, but couldn't maintain that speed.  My watch had ticked past 25 minutes elapsed, I still had a minute or more to run to reach the 5K mark.  At this point, I gave in to fatigue for a moment.  It didn't matter, this was just a virtual race, I had run more than 6 miles this morning before even starting the 5K.  Then I shook off the negativity as I crested the hill, put on one last burst of speed until I heard a quiet little beep marking the 5 kilometer mark, 5:18 for kilometer 5, 26:25 elapsed.  I slowed down, stopped the watch (26:29 for 5.02 km), and started walking slowly to recover my breath.  

The closest intersection to my finish line

That was an 8:30 minute / mile pace, somewhat slower than what I ran covering 4.00 miles last Saturday.  On the other hand, I would not have run 6.3 miles to warm up if I had cared about notching my best time in this 5K virtual race.  I checked Strava to see who else had finished, saw that Joey Maxwell had already congratulated me - which meant that he had finished well ahead of me - with an impressive 19:14.  Turns out that  Allan Tetley ran a 19:05, Katie Bennett 19:18, Kacy Seynders 21:54, and Robin Mitchell 23:56.  Several of these speedsters had qualified for the Boston Marathon and were well into their race preparations before the marathon was postponed until the fall.  There are a lot of fast runners in Coach Carl's training group!  

I picked up the last 0.7 miles of my 10.1 mile workout on the cooldown run home.   Unfortunately I tuned in late to the post-race Zoom call, as it was more important to me to take a quick shower and to make a protein-rich second breakfast than it was to log in precisely at 9:00 am, but I joined for the last few minutes.  

Still smiling after completing 10.1 miles total workout! 

April 25, 2020: Mano-a-Mano 4-Miler

In the months before COVID-19 swept the globe, the Atlanta Track Club announced the race date for the Singleton 4-Miler for April 25.  Brian Minor and I had resolved to race each other.  In case you're wondering, here is our scorecard for seven of our competitions prior to today's contest:

July 16, 2016:          Decatur DeKalb 4-Miler         Frank 34:16         Brian 32:00

July 17, 2016:          Lindbergh Mile                      Frank 7:07          Brian 7:01

January 7, 2017:      Red Nose Half Marathon        Frank 2:04:00      Brian 1:59:06

January 1, 2018:      Resolution Run 5K                 Frank 23:30 (PR)  Brian 23:26

December 9, 2018:  Jeff Galloway Half Marathon  Frank 1:58:50      Brian 1:55:54

August 3, 2019:       Decatur DeKalb 4-Miler          Frank 33:09         Brian 34:37

September 2, 2019: Big Peach Sizzler 10K             Frank 53:23         Brian 53:01

There are a few more, with much the same pattern, although I'm only counting the races that I specifically remember that we had challenged each other beforehand.  The  funny thing, before I looked up our results while writing this blog post, I had forgotten that I have lost 6 out of these 7 contests.  I've only remembered the fun that we've enjoyed before, during, and after these races.  

Oct. 22, 2017, before the Atlanta 10-Miler.  We weren't directly racing on this day,
but Brian bought me breakfast after I met his challenge to go for a personal record.  

When we learned that the Singleton race was postponed, I proposed to Brian that we hold a virtual competition: we each pick our preferred route, start at the same time, and let Strava referee.  Brian immediately accepted, and our training resumed! 

In selecting my route, my top priority was safety.  After an easy run up and down Lavista Road in Tucker, I decided that the sidewalks were too battered for me to try to run faster.  I settled on an out-and-back route at Stone Mountain Park, where one lane of the asphalt roadway is reserved for pedestrians and cyclists, and there is minimal auto traffic, restricted to one direction, in the other lane.  Brian was originally going to run the Suwanee Greenway, but after investigating the route, there were some wet spots covering the trail.  With the recent rains, Brian elected to run one of his regular routes on the sidewalk paralleling Duluth Highway.  He had one traffic light to contend with, but I gather that running the main route, the likelihood was that the light would be green when he reached that intersection.  

My route had more hills, but my biggest hill was only a 60 foot climb in the middle of the route.  I do OK with rolling hills, and all of my runs excepting those on the track are hilly runs.  At least these hills would not be as steep as those on the trails at Lucky Shoals Park.  Brian had a 100-foot hill to climb in mile 1, then descending about 60 feet, then climbing 60 feet in mile 3 of his return.  He told me that he was counting on a fast finish with the long downhill for mile 4. 

We both started on the east side of our routes, ran west 2 miles, and then returned to the start-finish area

I'm in week 4 of a 14-week training plan with Coach Carl, finishing with the Peachtree Road Race 10K on July 4.  Currently, I'm not too hopeful that we'll actually run large races that soon.  However, well before COVID-19 had spread through the United States, I had already resolved to focus on 5K to 10K training in this cycle, to develop some speed, before returning to longer endurance races, culminating in a 2021 marathon.  The training program has felt easy so far, perhaps because I'm comparing it to marathon training.  However the speed components include 15-second strides and hill repeats, as well as tempo and progression runs, trying to hit specific paces.  Carl is a big advocate of strides, once a week, at the end of shorter easy workouts, and claims that strides are one of the best ways to build speed. 

The "ass o'clock" photo means that this is a REAL race,
whether or not you think that it's virtual.  

My personal record for the 4-mile race distance is 32:53, from April 2019 in the Singleton race.  Brian has run 31:18 and 31:30, but those times date back to 2017.  I ran in both of those races, but I don't recall specifically trying to race Brian, and doubt that I would have had a chance.  Back then I was happy to break 34 minutes.   

Before I began running, I had rarely appreciated the beauty of sunrise.
Bonnie took these photos from the car on the way to Stone Mountain Park. 

Arriving at Stone Mountain shortly before 7:00 am, I had plenty of time to warm up on a 2-mile out-and-back on my chosen race route.  The weather was nearly perfect, 53 degrees F, but there was a very light drizzle toward the end of my warmup.  Around 7:20 am, Bonnie and I called Brian and Beverly on FaceBook Messenger for a short video-chat.  They had a little more rain than we did.  Brian was sporting his Chicago Marathon shirt, I was wearing traditional Tucker Running Club day-glo, and the Brooks shoes that had carried me to a big personal record in the marathon on March 1.  Based on my warmup, I wasn't sure what I might run today, but I was hoping to finish in about 34 minutes.  But I jokingly finished the call with Brian with the words "Talk to you in about 25 minutes!"   

Brian even created a bib to wear for our virtual race!
19 is his favorite number.  

Some friendly trash talk before the race! 

I did a few last-minute stretches as I toed the line at the start.  Bonnie lined up to take my photo of the start; Beverly did the same for Brian, about 10 miles away.  At 7:30 am sharp, Bonnie gave me a signal, then "Ready, Set, GO!!!!"  

Above: Brian getting inspiration before his race from their son, Brenden
Below: Beverly made signs for Brian's race! 

Above: Brian's start in the rain in Lawrenceville
Below: The drizzle had stopped at Stone Mountain, about 10 miles to the east

I had intended to run the first mile in 8:30 or so, and then try to speed up from there.  When I first glanced at my watch about 30 seconds in, I was moving at a 7:50 min / mile pace.  But I had a slight downhill start, so I settled into an easy rhythm.  Amazingly, I was still running around an 8 minute / mile pace.  Coach Carl had reminded me, "careful not to start too fast!"  Yet my legs felt really good.  I decided to trust my training, and my warmup, and my strides, and I maintained the same pace.  Mile 1 elapsed in 7:57, a little faster than I had planned.  I might just have three more of those miles in me today, I thought. 

I took these photos a week ago, when I was checking out the race route.
Axles were a landmark at 0.4 miles.
Below is the view one mile into my route. 

Before I knew it, I was at the single intersection on this route.  This was the 1.4 mile mark.  But instead of 14 minutes on an easy run pace, I was looking at just past 11 minutes elapsed on my watch!   

Now I ran downhill past the Children's Playground, then uphill again, still running strongly.  In this section, I had to move to the left side of the roadway (reserved for auto traffic) to maintain sufficient distance from walkers.  At this time of the morning, I had seen only a few cars.  Running in the westward direction, I was facing traffic, so I had plenty of warning whenever I needed to move back into the pedestrian lane.  My main concern was to stay out of the bicycle lane, especially while running downhill, as the cyclists can pick up some significant speed on the Stone Mountain hills.  

Grateful for downhill running!
And grateful for great friends, and my lovely wife.
Can't forget the real meaning of life! 

After passing the Children's Playground, I began climbing a long hill that tops out near the parking lot for the walk-up trail to the top of Stone Mountain.  Fortunately I knew from my route planning that I would only run up the first 10 - 20% of that hill.  I was looking for the landmark for the turnaround, a remote parking lot off to the left.  And there it was, appearing simultaneous with hearing the 2-mile alert.  And at 16:02 elapsed!  

Meanwhile, Beverly snapped a photo of Brian mid-race.

We were judging distance by Strava, not by a measured race distance, so there was no point to running tangents.  I had weaved a bit from the sidewalk on the right to the roadway on the left to maintain sufficient distance from others on the road.  So I ran a few extra steps, just in case I found a more direct route to the finish line.  

Halfway done!!

Turning around, I immediately had to run back uphill, but it didn't take too long before I was heading downhill again.   I've run the Stone Mountain loop in the counterclockwise direction many more times than the opposite, so the landmarks were more familiar from several years of running memories.  At the intersection, just 1.4 miles to go!  

But now, the exertion of the first 2.6 miles was beginning to take its toll.  I was still running well, running fast, but was nearing exhaustion.  I checked my pulse rate and I was already red-lined, 180 beats per minute!  Brian had made a joke before we began, asking Bonnie "Do you know CPR?" and that came to mind.  But then I was running downhill again.  I tried to relax a little, let my pulse come down into the 170s (still pretty high), and heard the mile 3 alert, 24:08 elapsed.  

Above: the view at mile 3
Below: a left turn, that in the past has deceived me that the roundabout is near.
Today I knew that I still had 0.7 miles to run. 

Just one mile to go!  A 33-minute finish was almost assured.  I had no idea how Brian was doing with his run, but at this point, I was now thinking about what a great position I had put myself into for a personal record, if I just kept pushing.  I had just run 7:57, 8:05, 8:06.  An 8:45 would match my personal record!  Although I was hurting, I just told myself, c'mon Frank, you can do anything for 1 mile!  

Heading uphill, I was maintaining an 8:45 pace at first.  Then I cleared the hill, made the left turn pictured above, and headed downhill, picking up some speed.  Passing the axles again, 0.4 mile to go, my pace for the last mile was now 8:30 / mile.  Putting aside the temptation to take a short walk break, I began looking for my last landmark.   

These signs are relatively new, probably within the past year.
From here, I had just 0.3 miles to go!  

I went into the motion of running a stride, but didn't turn up the speed to the second or third level, as I needed to maintain for just 2 or at most 3 more minutes.  A woman coming the other way cheered me on: "You're close to the finish line!"  I realized that she must have seen Bonnie's finish line, already in place for me.  That was good, because I was going to arrive about 2 minutes earlier than I had told Bonnie to expect me!  One last left turn, and then a straightaway to the finish.  

I could see Bonnie in the distance, wearing her own yellow Tucker Running Club shirt, next to the finish line that she had strung up between two plastic poles marking the bicycle lane.  I heard my watch signal 4 miles!  I took a quick look but only saw 8:15, my time for mile 4, but knew that my time elapsed would begin with the number 32!  One last push through the finish line for the cameras, for the glory, hearing Bonnie's cheers!!

I gasped to Bonnie, "Oh my, that was hard!"  It took me a few minutes to regain my breath, but I was thrilled to see 32:43 elapsed for 4.04 miles.  After I checked Strava, and my mental function had returned to manage the simple addition, I realized that I had just smashed my old personal record, with a 32:21 finish!  Win or lose, I was going to be very, very happy with this outcome.  

The second of three deer to cross the road shortly after I finished.

And now to wait to hear from Brian!  I went for a short warmup jog with my phone in hand, and then he called - his result was 37:02 minutes for 4.02 miles, or 36:53 at the 4.00 mile mark, according to Strava.  

So I snatched the victory today!  And I was really happy that my training showed today. Add one more to the table: 

April 25, 2020:       Mano-a-Mano 4-Miler          Frank 32:21         Brian 36:53

We had a fun time afterwards, reliving our races.  Here's our Strava results for comparison: 

Although I ran really fast (for me) today, you can see that I slowed down with every mile, so that's something for me to work on going forward.  It looks like Brian started conservatively, but had trouble with the hill on the return trip in mile 3, and couldn't make up enough on the downhill for mile 4.  

There WILL be a rematch!  I'm pushing for a head-to-head 10K competition for the Peachtree Road Race, but have also agreed to another 4-mile mano-a-mano on August 1, when the Decatur DeKalb 4-miler is scheduled.