I enter some races on a whim - and usually, on a concurrent wing and a prayer. The Great Race was one of those races. I know I am not in top racing form, and I have been having lots of trouble with my left leg recently, as it has rebelled against all of my training after a month's layoff. However, I was excited to have joined up with the Pharaoh Hounds, and this would be my first race in their singlet.

I woke up to a warm but blustery morning. The temperature was in the mid-60s, a bit warm for my tastes when racing, but manageable. All the flags that I drove past, however, were flapping frantically in the wind, and it was blowing from downtown up the river valleys. In other words, we would have a headwind for the entire race. I set that out of my mind and focused on getting myself a good parking space and hopping on the first shuttle to the start line.

I was glad I had my warmups on as I sat around and waited for the right time to get my legs moving. I mistimed my warmup, though, and ended up with about 12 minutes before the gun when I started. I would have preferred to get about 20 minutes of running in before stretching and strides, but I did the best I could and lined up in the front row of a massive (2195 people, compared to 200-400 in the Michigan races I've been doing lately) field. The gun went off right at 8 AM, and we were off.

The first mile is mostly downhill, winding its way out of Oakland onto Boulevard of the Allies, a wide strip of road that beelines towards downtown Pittsburgh along the south face of the hill upon which much of the city sits. Three of us took it out hard and dropped everyone else, and as we passed mile one in 5:01, we put our heads down into the wind and did our best to pull up the rise in the road. The second mile includes a climb of a little more than 100 feet, which is not major, but the wind conspired with the climb to make things miserable. It felt like we were almost redlining - perhaps because I was close to it, even if the others weren't - but we crested the hill and hit mile two in 10:30.

After the uphill, Boulevard of the Allies dives down a couple hundred feet in elevation to downtown, and we opened up and hammered down this stretch of road. When we reached the bottom, the two guys I was with gapped me a bit and pulled away, ever so slowly, and I was not able to respond. My legs were shot after two difficult miles (in which I had been pulling on most of the uphill, not drafting like I should have been) and I simply put the autopilot on and tried not to slow down at all. As we turned a couple corners shortly before the finish, I risked a quick glance back to see how much cushion I had. It turned out that my cushion was large, so I cruised in without much of a kick, being too far back to catch either of the two guys ahead of me.

Overall, I was pleased with how the race went, having not been prepared at all. I got to stand on stage and receive a medal from the new mayor - who is a year older than I am! - and I proved to myself that I can hang with some of the faster guys in this area in a stand-alone event.