Rumson-Fair Haven Run

Rolf Reinalda is one of my best friends. He is 6 feet 6 inches tall. We graduated in 2000 from Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School. Rolf got a football scholarship to Northwestern.

In the Rumson-Fair Haven Run this morning, as I passed three miles on River Road, I could see my rather formidable friend from what seemed like a quarter-mile away.

He wore a light blue t-shirt. "Team Lynn" was printed on the front in block letters.

When I saw Rolf I had just been dropped by the lead pack, despite a slow 5:15 pace through the first three miles. Jeff Peterson, Robert Cavanaugh and Tim Morgan had another gear (and maybe another after that). I did not.

"Team Lynn" was formed for Lynn Reinalda, Rolf's mom. Lynn is battling brain cancer. When I think of Lynn I think of her and my mother dragging a young Rolf and I -- often with some resistance -- through the Metropolitan Museum. 12-year-olds didn't really understand the French impressionists; in our twenties, however, we are both "creative types."

My mother, Joan, was on Team Lynn, as was Rolf's sister, Greer, and his father, Old Rolf.

I was nervous this morning. As nervous as I might be before a marathon.

For the Rumson-Fair Haven 5-miler? For a community race?

Not exactly the Olympics.

But this is my hometown race, and I wanted to put up a decent performance.

The race starts in front of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, my alma mater, and ends with about 200 meters on the school's track, where I knew my good friend, not to mention former Harvard All-American, Tim McLoone, would be announcing the finish. The course cuts through my hometown. Shortly after passing Woodland Dr., the street where I grew up, I passed by the driveway to my grandparents' house.

For the first time, the Rumson-Fair Haven Run offered prize money, and the quality of competition was deeper today than it had been in recent years.

I did not think I could run faster than 26:50.

The early pack included Peterson, Cavanaugh, Morgan, myself, and the high school's top distance runner, Max Sparshatt.

By three miles Sparshatt had fallen back, and when the other three accelerated, I was left spinning wheels in their wake. It felt like I was still holding 5:15s, but I was holding more like 5:30s: my anaerobic system is still way behind the strength accrued through marathoning from 2005 to 2006 and long runs through the desert the past 15 months.

"The reality of the situation is setting in," Rolf said to me later at breakfast. My friend's strength through this has been nothing less than remarkable.

When I saw Rolf I forced myself to accelerate. I did not actually accelerate. But sometimes you have to grit your teeth just to keep your wheels on the tracks.

I held on for 26:49, 4th place.

Training log from last week:

Monday - 0 - We drove from Nashville to Easton, PA., where my wife's parents live.

Tuesday - 10

Wednesday - 10 - 7 by 2 minutes hard with 2 minutes rest btw; 5 by 30 seconds hard and 30 seconds rest. Did this on the roads in Easton.

Thursday - AM 8 PM 8

Friday - 10

Saturday 6, strides

Sunday - 10, Rumson-Fair Haven 5-miler

Total - 62 ... Not great, but OK for a day off and no long-run. Making progress. We are moving to Takoma Park, Md. tomorrow, and I start a new job the next day.

ANOTHER NOTE: My dad finished 11th in 31:10. He is 52 and cleaned up in his age group. What can I say? He is the high school's cross country coach (with McLoone) and runs faster than most of the kids he coaches. He is a total animal.