Northeast Road Runners 10K

It hasn't been the best week as far as mileage is concerned. I knew school work was eventually going to catch up and steal a couple runs and this week it forced me to miss two. This was convenient as it turned into a taper for the race today and produced some decent results. I won't complain.

After a Saturday off from running, I was raring to go for the race this morning. Heather was eager to join, a pleasant surprise from most weekend mornings. Heather usually likes to run later in the day. We took a ride down to Lloyd hall for the race. It was a cool sunny morning but not freezing, a fairly stiff breeze was coming down Kelly drive, especially as we passed boathouse row. Par for the course on this road.

Seebo said he might join me and it was nice to see him and Reba not longer after we arrived. We warmed up with a couple easy miles and with Seebo I sort of planned a race strategy. Keep the pace very close to 6:00 on the way out and then give it everything I had with the tailwind on the way back. The goal was to try and get below 37:00, which is around 5:57 pace.

The bullhorn went off and after a little shuffling, Seebo and a young guy pulled ahead and I was running next to a 4th guy. Mile 1 in 5:53. A little fast for pushing through the wind but I felt good. Between miles 1-2 I pulled solidly into third, Seebo and young guy getting further ahead, 4th guy dropping back. A no mans land position I kept the rest of the race. Mile 2 in 6:01

Mile 3 6:03. More wind and I am getting a little nervous that 37:00 may be slipping away.

I split out the 0.2 miles in the middle of the race to line up the mile splits for the return in 75 seconds and now I am heading home, praying that the tailwind can perform miracles. It does.

Although I don't feel like I have increased the pace, mile 4, with two miles to go, passes in 5:55. Now I have 11min and 50 seconds to run the final two miles and try break 37:00. I am really pushing now and keeping an eye on 1/4 splits that racing on the Kelly Drive bike path affords me. Mile 5, 5:53.

Now I am fairly confident I have it. If only I can keep this ragged, ugly, gasping trot going for one more mile. The 1/4 miles splits let me know it's working and I cross the line somewhere around 36:52, final mile 5:48. I was happy. A huge PR. (mostly due to the fact that I haven't raced the distance since the fall of 2005). Heather also finished well, 6th place female in 46:23.

The last mile was the fastest and for me, in a race of this distance, that doesn't often happen. Usually it turns into more of a hold on as long as I can but today, I feel I raced smart and hit my time. The race also lets me know that I have a good gauge of my fitness and with some more work through the spring I should be able to nail a sub 1:23 to qualify for NYC marathon. Now I just have to find a half marathon in mid to late April.

For the week. 38 miles.