Goal C: To better last year's time of 56:48
Goal B: To beat my course record from 2013, of 55:45
Goal A: To best my 10K PR of 53:50
I ran my first 10K race in December 2013 on the Eastside Beltline, greatly exceeding my hopes to finish in less than an hour. Since that time, I've focused on improving my performances in the 10K distance, even setting a year 2015 resolution to complete a 10K in less than 54 minutes, which I managed for the first time in March 2015. The 2014 Eastside Beltline race was a big disappointment: heavy rain before the race may have led to me twisting an ankle in the unimproved part of the course. I finished about one minute slower than the previous year, but then could hardly walk from the finish line to the car. The ankle took about a month to fully heal. For that reason, I waited to sign up for the 2015 Eastside Beltline until less than 24 hours before the registration deadline. I had resolved to skip the race if the weather was likely to be rainy. Happily our last rain was Wednesday morning and the forecast was firmly in the 0% chance of rain, with cool temperature but sunny skies forecast for today.
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| Second breakfast at 8 am with Atlanta Track Club. Look at the healthy and tasty options! |
Before the relatively late 10 am start for today's race, Bonnie and I joined several hundred members of the Atlanta Track Club for the Grand Prix Award Breakfast. The participants celebrated the work of all-star volunteers by running 1.3 mile laps around the new headquarters building of the Track Club, followed by a tour of the impressive facility and a complementary breakfast. We left a few minutes before the awards ceremony so that we could park near the start of the Beltline Race, but in addition to joining some of our running friends at the Track Club breakfast, I also managed about 3 warmup miles at a gentle pace before today's big race. I was also well-nourished with two small breakfasts eaten over a few hours, so my preparation and attitude were ideal for a good performance this morning. Moreover the sunny skies and 45 deg temperatures were ideal for running this morning.
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| Shortly before the start with Tucker Running Club buddy, Linda Bode Phinney |
After joining the starting group for stretches and warmups and the National Anthem, our race began a couple of minutes before the 10 am starting time. I didn't see a timing mat at the start, so I may have started my Garmin watch a few seconds late, but the race started smoothly. As we made the first turn from the Krog Street Market area to approach the southern terminus of the Beltline, we had to run between a cement truck and a utility truck, but somehow we made it onto the Beltline without any real hindrance.
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| Bonnie found me shortly after the first mile! |
I had resolved to run splits of 5:00 running with 30 second walk breaks, and managed the discipline to take every walk break in today's race, even if some of the walk breaks were a little short, 15 - 20 seconds especially in the early stages. From the runs in 2013 and 2014, I knew that I had to save energy for a short but severe uphill stage at the northern terminus of Piedmont Park, shortly before the 3 mile mark, and was hoping that my fourth walk break would coincide with that uphill section. The plan was then to maintain a decent speed on the return trip, and try to kick into high gear at the Highland Avenue underpass, about a half-mile from the finish line.
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| Midway through the second mile - feeling strong and fast! |
The first two miles were slightly and steadily downhill, and I covered the distance in 8:03 and 8:22 respectively, even though I could have run a bit faster. The third mile was the treacherous strength along the unpaved section of the Beltline, working carefully on the gravel sections while speeding up a bit more where the route was smooth dirt. To my surprise and delight, when we reached the northern terminus, the "hill of death" was omitted from this year's race route, and we immediately turned into the northern part of Piedmont Park. We were all buzzing about the change, and I started thinking about the possibility of running a personal record as I passed the 3-mile sign in the middle of the 25th minute, with the Garmin alert shortly afterwards recording 8:40. I slowed down a bit more through the park, which was net uphill, completing the fourth mile in 9:04, but I was feeling strong as we returned to the paved Beltline for the return trip. The route was clearly uphill, but I was feeling strong enough to keep up with the fastest runners in view and passed a fair number of other runners. Here I was careful to take 25 - 30 seconds for each walk break, letting my heart rate drop, and rewarded with a burst of speed each time I returned to running. The fifth mile was covered in 8:54, which was a little slower than I had hoped for, but at 43 minutes elapsed, I felt that I had the energy to run the last 1.22 miles in 10 minutes or so, needing only slightly under 11 minutes to match my 10K PR.
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| Running through Piedmont Park - somewhere in mile 4 |
Here the physical and mental strength acquired over some difficult summer runs paid off in a big way! Everytime I started to flag a bit, I just had to concentrate and make a small adjustment in my gait and I surged forward more strongly. This is probably the best that I have ever felt in the sixth mile of a 10K race, feeling strong and confident. I was able to put aside the sense of some slight tiredness knowing that I didn't have much further to run. Although the only mile marker that I saw along the route was at mile 3, I remembered that the 6 mile marker was near the southern end of the Beltline, which later I saw was reached in 7:53, 50:56 elapsed.
As we reached the end of the Beltline, the road leveled out - in fact I felt that we were heading downhill. I was closing ground on a young woman but she was also speeding up going into the finish. As I turned onto Krog Street for the final dash, I could see Bonnie standing on the right side of the road just past the finish line, and then saw the amazing number of 51 minutes on the clock! At that moment I heard footsteps rapidly closing on me and a young man shot past at incredibly high speed, but I maintained a good pace into the end. I finished just a few steps behind the young woman but didn't care that much about catching her, incredibly pleased to finish before 52 minutes had passed on the clock! As I crossed the finish line I raised both arms in victory and shouted "PR!!"
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| About 100 feet before the finish, the man in blue rocketed past us! |
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| Celebrating a new PR for 10K, at 51:45 on the clock! |
Then I checked my watch, and saw recorded 51:37 but a distance of only 6.07 miles! Even if I started the watch a few seconds late, it certainly appeared that the route was short. I was hoping that maybe my watch wasn't recording accurately - it's the third race in a row when the distance has been a little short - but the other finishers confirmed that their recorded distances were also short. My official time appeared online within a couple of hours, at 51:44. In any case, any disappointment was quickly dispelled when I realized that I had run the 6.07 miles at an average pace of 8:30 minute / mile, which is a personal record for that distance. Best of all, I didn't get injured, and wasn't even terribly winded despite having run pretty hard through the last half-mile.
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| Celebrating after the race with Bonnie! |
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| Tucker Running Club finishers! with Linda Bode Phinney and Becky Caldwell |
Notes:
1) I forgot to drink beet juice beforehand, didn't even think about beet juice until a couple of hours after the race had ended! I do think that the additional light breakfast didn't hurt.
2) The warmup miles over a few hours earlier this morning probably also helped.
3) The weather conditions could hardly have been better for a fast race, 45 deg F with low humidity.
4) And, I will credit the conditioning that I've gained this year. It's really nice to see some tangible improvement.
Today's race was a great confidence builder in advance of next week's half marathon on Sunday December 13!
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