The Untold Story: The Hollidaysburg 15k and Wagering

So most of you have read Mike's post about the Hollidaysburg 15k and what a great race it is.  I completely agree: I couldn't imagine a better way to spend the morning of the 4th than running 9+ miles in sweltering heat, running uphill past Altoona High hoping that I don't pass out from dehydration at mile 8. 

All of that aside, allow me to use this post to let you in on the secret, yet-to-be-seen competitive wagering side of this event.  Because the race enjoys a healthy participation rate from the men's contingent of the Ebensburg Area Running Club, it allows us to use our spare time at work (what little there is...busy, very busy) to handicap the race results among our team.  Every day, we gauge each others training and speculate how our group will finish, including overall times and orders of finish.  This, of course, leads to great downplaying of expectations on behalf of our own times (especially Ryan Shaulis who, despite his intense 15 mile-a-day training plus track speed work, insists that he will finish slower than last year) while greatly exaggerating the expected performance of others (Jake Hargreaves: "Westrick will run 6.30s this year").  The posturing and theorizing is almost as fun as the race itself.  Its not easy - you need to be committed to your line of BS...I've been telling the guys I have a bad ankle for six months now...I even throw in a fake wince of pain while out on a run with them to help sell my story.

Yeah - I know I said 'wagering', but there is no real exchange of money.  The currency is pride and the luxury of saying stuff like "Wow...I figured I'd be in at 65 minutes" while finishing at least two minutes ahead of 65.

Anyway, enjoy the race and feel free to use your own wagering board at home with friends you're running with...for entertainment purposes only, of course.