Moving Up in the World!

... well, maybe not "in the world," but at least in the MDRA Grand Prix standings!

I was 3rd after 2 events, and now I'm 2nd out of 72 men overall (and 1st out of 10 in the "open" [under 35] age group, with Nathan right on my tail).

I do NOT expect this to last, but I'll do my darnedest to stay up there in the standings! Everyone's best 10 finishes (out of a possible 14 races) count towards their standing, so its way too early to predict anything.

Note that 13th (Ben Merchant) has beat me at 2 races, and didn't do the Half Marathon. And 17th (Michael Nawrocki) is who I was TRYING to chase down at the Securian Run Half Marathon, but I just couldn't get him. He was stuck in a car on a long trip with a 17 month old during the 8K and had to miss the race. Ouch.

And note 16th (Scott Davis). I don't know him, but he was a runner I was OH SO CLOSE to passing during the 8K!! Here's a photo from my post 2 days ago that shows me NEARLY SIDE-BY-SIDE with Scott with about 2 blocks left in the race:

Scott's checking his watch in the orange.

It looks like his form is totally shot and that he was as beat-up as I felt, but I could NOT catch him. (Michelle Frey was even shouting to me as I ran past: "Catch that guy in orange!! You've got him!" Nope, I didn't have him.) Here's a photo that I posted in my race report 3 days ago that shows Scott hitting the line with me JUST behind him:

If I could have caught him, I could have earned more Grand Prix points! Damn!

So my first 3 Grand Prix finishes have placed me here among Grand Prix racers:

- 3rd at the Meet of the Miles
- 5th at the Securian Half (9 seconds faster would have put me in 3rd!)
- 4th at the Human Race 8K (3 seconds faster would have put in in 3rd!)

I've gotta work on not "throwing in the towel" out there; every person I can catch is worth points! With the scoring system, it doesn't matter if I'm 0.5 seconds behind someone or 20 minutes behind - it's all based on PLACE and not TIME. So when I go to a race, I have to make sure to RACE! :)

Oh, and one final fun note.... If all goes as planned, the entire FAMILY (Pharmie, baby Henry, and I) will be racing this weekend! It would be our first race as a family! Stay tuned for news on that!!