Race Day

Okay, this is it. 10K is the distance that I started out wanting to work toward. So just getting ready this morning is kind of a culmination of a goal. I have a good plan and enough preparation to do what I want to do. It's a beautiful morning--the race starts in a couple of hours.

One thing that is different is the time. I usually run a 5:30 or 6AM, and it's already way past that time. I had a second dinner (spaghetti leftovers) at about midnight, so hopefully I won't be hungry. I might grab a smoothie at some point this morning--just so I don't have an empty stomach.

Done!

So, here's a quick recap. Gonna write a full-blown race report later.

Chip time: 54:32 (2:32 behind my goal). 8:48/M pace.
Watch time: 54:15 (2:15 behind goal). 8:43/M pace.

Splits:

1. 8.25
2. 8.23
3. 8.25
4. 9.01
5. 9.01
6. 9.10 /1.56 (last 0.2k)
   

Pace People Narrative

For the first time, I selected specific people to pace myself "with" or "against" depending on how you look at it. That's not really possible when you run/walk/run the way I did in the Crim. At the starting line, I picked out a tall and very fit guy who looked about my age or a hair older. He had a long-sleeve half marathon shirt on, and I called him Half Marathon Guy. I kept him in sight for the first 2 miles. Clearly, his plan was to keep my same pace: 8:30/M. I lost him during mile 3--he was doing some variation on my plan and took it up a notch during the middle third of the race. I couldn't keep up. Then I found myself with a really solid runner with two knee braces; she was an African-American woman who looked to be in her early 50s. I could hear those knee braced rubbing together. I was able to keep with Knee Brace Woman for miles 3 and 4, but then I started doggin' it and she kept on goin'. I took a 35-second walk break during mile 4 and jumped back in. After then, I kept finding myself among a pair of 20-something women who were clearly running together but listening to their own iPods and not talking. I called these guys the BFFs (Best Friends Forever). Right there with us was a stocky guy about my age with a "Freedom Is Not Free" veteran shirt on; I called this one Veteran Guy. I stayed with the BFFs until the middle of mile 6 and then tried to kick it up a bit to make up for lost time. I kept seeing Veteran Guy all through the last half mile, but passed him on a corner. Near the end he came up behind me right before the finish line. I kicked it up even more and Veteran Guy and I went through the chute at 54:34. My watch said 20 seconds less than that.

The finish to this race was kind of like the end of my training run. You can see the big FINISH sign for about 1/4 mile, just like you can see my house for the last 1/4 mile. Man, did that seem like a long time. Another thing: my house, while it can be seen at the end of my run, is actually not at the end--it's another 1/8 beyond the end. This made the finish of this race psychologically difficult.


Good News Is Rock-n-Roll

A good trend line for my first 3 races: 9.05/M - 8.56/M - 8.46/M.