This was my first 10k ever despite running 7 previous
marathons, a few halfs, 25ks, 5ks…you get the drift. This 10k race has been
around for 35 years and is very well run and organized. Crowd support is great,
plenty of aid stations, a rocking finish chute, and decent size field.
I awoke race morning early at 5am to do my usual routine of
prepping for the race. Including a small cup of coffee and half a bagel with
PB. Watching the local news, the weather was looking to be warm and moist with
starting temps around 67 and a dewpoint of 62f. I arrived about an hour early
and parked a ½ mile away so I could loosen up a bit by jogging before/after the
race. After getting my bearing of where everything was, I proceed to do my
warmup mile from the start line. I ran at an easy 10:00/m pace for a mile and
turn around to do a few strides at my planned pace of 7:50ish. Everything felt
good so I chatted with fellow runners I knew.
With 5 minutes to go, I made my way to the start corral and
lined toward the front, figuring my pace would fairly fast for the field. So
the horn blew and off I went rocketing through the mats and starting my Garmin.
Within a quarter mile, I looked at my pace and saw I was doing a 6:45/m! So I
put on the breaks and slowed it down to an 8:00/m pace. I kept that pace for
the first mile and was so glad after the race I did back off.
The next few miles were as expected, I kept my pace around
7:50 as I worked my way through the first 5k full of hills. The first aide station
was a mess, the first volunteer I tried to get a Gatorade from messed up the
hand off and I got the cup all over the front of me! That was a sticky mess
that would be with me all morning! But I was slowing down to walk at this
station so I just got the next cup, drank it, and got back up to speed. All
this happening within 10-15 seconds. I then quickly got caught back up with the
“pack” of runners I was in. This group would pretty much stick together for the
first half. Though we occasionally lost someone who was going too fast for
their fitness.
At the end of the first 5k was the Hall Street hill, which
by Michigan standards was a big one. My paced slowed to around 9:00 halfway up
this hill, but started to pick up as I crested it. My breathing was heavy and
fortunately, an aide station was nearby for me to walk through and recover my
HR and mental state. Just as fast as the first station, I was back to running,
but with new zest. I quickly came across the 5k split sign and saw on my garmin
I was at 24:15 roughly. Just :35sec off my 5k PR, so I wondered if I was in
trouble! But that was not to be the case this race.
The remaining miles I focused on runners ahead of me and
tried to pick them off as they began to slow. Or if they passed me, determined
if it was for good or a challenge for my position. It helped keep my mind busy
and not thinking about how tough this pace was! I just kept on getting a little
bit faster each of these last miles. As I made the final turn and saw the
Finish line, I pour my heart and soul into my legs to just get going. I really
think I was at my limits for the day, I was hovering at these last minutes in
the sub-7 pace range. But the crowd was electric and I kept it up until I
passed the finished and came to a complete stop, bent over and caught my breath
for a minute. My legs were cooked, but still agreed to let me walk.
My splits for the day were: 8:00-7:49-7:51-7:42-7:38-7:46-6:58
Avg pace of 7:46 and a finish time of 48:35. I placed 160/2261 overall and
21/112 AG(35-39).
Now here are my takeaways from this race:
I walked three aide stations, taking about 10-15
seconds at a literally walk. This had pretty much no effect on my split time in
comparison to non-aide station splits. So I loss nothing and I gained a reduced
HR and mental break. I will be incorporating this in races 10k and longer.
I am following the Hanson Advance training plan
based off their new book and stick to its workouts very closely. This includes
pacing, which means 80% of my runs are easy and in the 10-10:30 range. This was
a full 2:30-2:45/m slower than my race pace today. So training at a slower pace
does not mean I cannot get going fast. So this was a huge thing to overcome,
since I struggled with pacing in the past. Granted, I do get my taste of speed
with this plan during track work and tempo days, it is a balanced and smart
approach.
The last half of a race is 99% mental for me. I
won the mental battle and really did well on the second half when many others
were folding up. It is hard to describe how it felt or how I won the mental
battle, I just know how inside.
So if you made it this far, thank you for reading all this!
It is rather long for a 10k, but it was big for me.
-Pete
