Goal C: To better my 2014 course time of 57:23
Goal B: To finish the last mile faster than the first mile
Goal A: To challenge my 10K personal record time of 53:50
In the midst of training for the Peachtree Road Race in spring 2014, I ran a 10K in Marietta on the Memorial Day holiday. It was the third 10K race of my short running career. The course was tough, with continuous hills. Out of the twelve 10K races I've run to date, that 2014 Memorial Day 10K has been my slowest race. So I wanted to conquer my demon this year, with the primary goal of improving on last year's time. I didn't expect to set a personal record, but I was sure that I could run faster and smarter.
The weather was relatively cool for late May, in the high 60's with a light breeze blowing from the east-southeast. We would be running into the wind on the way out, but might enjoy a tailwind on the return trip. Around 7 am, I decided to take a shot of beet juice, hoping for maximum benefit in the middle of the race.
As we lined up for the race, it appeared that there were substantially fewer runners than in last year's event. The weather was good, better than I recall last year due to some cloud cover and slightly lower temperature today, so I'm not sure of the reason for a smaller turnout. After a group of four wheelchair races started with about a 5-minute headstart, it was time for the runners. The airhorn sounded for the start! I crossed the starting banner within a few seconds even though I was in the middle of the pack.
We started in a different direction from last year's race, but made a loop around the parking lot and then onto East Piedmont Road, where we would run the entire race. My strategy was to take a walk break every 5 minutes or so. I knew from studying last year's elevation map that there would be uphill stages more-or-less in the same places that I would ideally take walk breaks, so that made executing the strategy fairly straightforward. I started out too quickly in the first mile (8:11 - and that included a short walk break) but settled into a better rhythm, completing mile 2 at 8:50, close to my goal pace of 8:45 minute / mile.
The only disturbing thing was crossing under an electrical power right-of-way during a walk break after the mile-2 sign, where I could hear the electricity sizzling and snapping in the lines overhead. Georgia Power, you might want to check on that. That's on East Piedmont Road in Marietta, about 1/4 mile north of the intersection with Allgood Road.
The hills, although still substantial, did not seem to be as challenging this year as in last year's race. The run/walk/hill strategy seemed to work well, and I felt stronger every time that I started up again. My slowest miles were miles 3 and 4 (9:04, 9:05) but these were also the miles with significant uphill runs. I moved ahead of several runners in the long downhill stretch in the fifth mile, although took an extra and unplanned walk break at a water station on the downhill (8:51 for mile 5). Nonetheless, after finishing five miles in 44 minutes elapsed time, I knew that I was going to run a substantially better time than last year, barring an unprecedented disaster.
I took the final walk break shortly after mile 5, resolving to run in as strongly as possible, even though the last mile was net uphill. Before starting the race, I didn't expect to be close to a PR pace, but today everything was coming together quite well. But that last mile was pretty challenging. I found myself closing my eyes at times as I tried to press forward, just focusing on my breathing and my pace, as I slowly caught up to and passed some of the other runners. Finally I could see the busy intersection near the finish line! At the mile-6 mark, we made a left turn, downhill into the parking lot. I saw that my elapsed time was 52:40 (8:39 for mile 6) so I pushed myself to speed up as much as possible, trying to catch up to the runner immediately in front of me. Turning the last corner, 100 yards to the end, I saw Bonnie ahead of me as she was approaching the finish line for the 5K. I shouted "Bonnie, run for your life!" and she switched into high gear. I managed to pass the 10K runner in front of me - I wonder what he was thinking of my shout. Then I caught up to and passed Bonnie just as a spectator shouted "Way to go, Tucker Running Club!" I crossed the finish line seeing 54:08 on the clock! Not quite a PR, but very close on a tough course!
1 comment:
Great race!
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