Today I ran the Eastside Beltline 10K for the seventh straight year. I'll start out with what I don't like about the race, so I can be positive for the remainder of this post:
1) The organizers claim that the race is a Peachtree Road Race qualifier, but year after year, runners finish discovering that the distance was a little short. The race isn't on the Atlanta Track Club list of qualifying races. Although the track club will accept other races with USATF certification, the current route isn't certified.
2) Mile 3 of the route is on an unpaved section of the Beltline. It's always a little risky to run through there, and the path is even more treacherous when it has rained. I suppose that's part of the character of the race. At the rate that the Beltline is extending completed sections, I imagine that mile will be paved within the next few years.
On the positive side:
1) The race is a fundraiser for several organizations, including the Atlanta Beltline Partnership.
2) I love working out on the Beltline! The route is protected from automobiles. To date I've avoided a run-in with a bicycle or scooter.
3) Mile 4 of the race winds through Piedmont Park, one of the jewels of the city of Atlanta.
4) The runners in this race always have great camaraderie, from pre-race socializing to friendly competition during the race and post-race celebration. Participants range from speedsters completing the race in less than 35 minutes, to casual walkers enjoying the entire morning over the race route, and hundreds of other runners and walkers in the middle of the pack.
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| With Judy Tennell and Carolyn Weber before the race. I was out of uniform. |
Race plan: I've recently begun setting my race goal times in ranges. This basically gives some room for flexibility, so I still have a purpose to push myself later in a race, even if the faster end of the range falls out of reach. For this morning's race, I aimed for a range of 50 to 53 minutes, approximately an 8:00 to 8:30 min / mile average pace. I figured that I could certainly run the first two miles downhill at an 8:00 min pace. For various reasons, it would be more challenging to run miles 3 through 6 at an 8:00 - 8:30 min / mile pace, but running those miles at the slower end of that range was realistic, albeit not guaranteed.
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| A nice surprise: my colleague Khalid Salaita. I've known that Khalid is a runner, but this may be our first race together. He had an excellent run, inishing in less than 49 minutes! |
I parked in the Old 4th Ward near the Beltline, about 45 minutes before the start of the race. An easy jog for a mile, finishing with a couple of strides, brought me to the start-finish area near Krog Street Market. After a little pre-race socializing and photos, I lined up near the back of the first wave, ready to go.
The race: We started on time, at 9:30 am sharp. As usual, the first couple of blocks were slow going, and I needed about a half-mile before the crowds had thinned enough for me to run my pace. Nonetheless, I finished mile 1 in 8:05. Realizing that I had probably run sub 8 min / mile pace for much of the second half of mile 1, and noticing that my heart rate was already elevated despite the downhill elevation, I took care to relax as much as possible and just glide down the path for mile 2, finishing in 7:58.
Following the plan that worked well in my last half-marathon, I slowed to a walk for the water station, downed a half-cup of water, and then returned to speed as we crossed Monroe Drive. Now for the first tough stage of the race, on the unpaved section of the Beltline. I took off my sunglasses so that I could see any hazards on the ground. Although we were still heading downhill, I slowed to an 8:30 min / mile pace out of an abundance of caution, even though the route was dry. That proved to be a good idea for two reasons: midway in mile 3, I saw a runner in front of me limping off of the course - must have fallen or twisted an ankle. I muttered to the runner next to me: "I hate to see that." A moment later, I stepped awkwardly on a rock, but avoided twisting an ankle with a quick adjustment. I might not have managed that adjustment had I been moving at a faster speed. After making a couple of left turns from the Beltline into the north end of Piedmont Park for the return trip, my watch sounded the mile 3 alert: 8:27, 24:30 elapsed.
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| My heart rate was a little high today. Was that due to the 50 deg F temperature? Or did I start out too quickly? |
Now for the second tough stage of the race: the rolling hills of Piedmont Park. I had hoped to speed up to an 8:00 min / mile pace, but my heart rate was still pretty high, and with a full 5K left to run, I didn't want to wear myself out too early. Nonetheless, I ran pretty well, gradually moving up and passing some of the other runners that had been in front of me. I caught up to Vivian Eckmann, who I had met a few years ago when we were both training for our first marathons. She has also continued to improve, and from following her on Strava, I suspect that she runs more weekly miles than I do. I had noticed she ran a 5-mile "Eastside 10K preview" yesterday morning at a 9 min / mile pace, whereas I last ran on Thursday morning, wanting to be fully rested for today's test. I had posted a comment on her Strava page "See you Saturday! Looks like you ran it well in training, I think that you'll run faster on race day". When I caught up to her and said "Hi!" and then "I took a rest day yesterday" she was running well. I thought that we would run together for awhile, but as we approached a persistent puddle on the path where a low section of the park coincides with a water fountain, I sprinted ahead so that I could pick my own path past the puddle. I was happy to realize that I had enough energy to manage a "stride" when I needed it. Before we left the park, my watch sounded the mile 4 alert: 8:22, 32:52 elapsed. Pretty good for a 4-mile race, as well as the first 4 miles of a 6.22 mile race.
But the third and longest tough stage of the race was to come. After we crossed Monroe Drive to re-enter the Beltline, I took another walk break through a water station. Vivian passed me, drinking on the run. Putting my mental training into action, I told myself "I've already run this race six times, I've run this uphill direction countless times in workouts." and then "I know this route, I own this route." I focused on form, running strongly even though we were going uphill. I had started mile 5 quite slowly, and really had to work to drop my pace for that mile below 9:00. "C'mon Frank, you can run faster!" Here is where I recalled a new podcast that I discovered earlier this week: "Running on Purpose" by Steve Sisson, formerly the more profane half of the "Running Rogue" podcast. About a year ago, Steve Sisson split off to begin his own coaching venture, Telos Running, and also launched a podcast of his own. Episode #5 on September 26, 2019 had an attention-getting title:
Very gradually I would gain some ground on Vivian, then she would speed up (or maybe I would slow down). On occasion another runner passed me: that spurred me to pick up the cadence and surge forward, drawing on my experience with running strides. "Never ******* Quit!" I don't recall if I caught up with anyone that had passed me, but I certainly passed others with every 15 - 30 second stride. Then inevitably I would slow down, someone would pass: the same person? someone else? "Never ******* Quit!" and I threw in another surge. With every surge, I would feel the exertion countered by the exuberance of knowing that I could momentarily run a little faster! On the left side of the path, I saw Lindy Liu walking her dog, cheering runners on. Lindy and Vivian saw each other first, then a few seconds later Lindy saw me and we waved to each other. Mile 5 alert: 8:34. That was the first mile that I had fallen below my goal of an 8:30 mile. "Never ******* Quit!" With another surge, I passed Vivian. But now I had to stay ahead of her. Was I slowing down? "Never ******* Quit!"
As we approached the underpass for Freedom Parkway, a woman held a sign saying "Mile 5". I knew that we were well past that, but fortunately she was calling out again and again "5.4 miles!" That seemed right, just 0.8 miles to go. "Never ******* Quit!" and I surged again. Once we had passed the next underpass for Highland Avenue, I could see the water tower just south of Irwin Street, nearly even latitude with the finish line. That alone spurred me forward with another surge. Now Irwin Street was coming into view. My legs were burning, but I kept moving forward, "Never ******* Quit!" I could now see the finish line in the distance. Mile 6: 8:36, my slowest mile of the day, but - my second fastest mile 6 in seven tries. 50 minutes even.
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| My two walk breaks are obvious on the pace chart. Hopefully my surges after the second walk break are also easily seen. |
After crossing Irwin Street, I picked up the pace all the way through the finish line. Cheerleaders and spectators encouraged us forward. I surged again, and again, crossing the finish line with one last burst of speed, 50:58 on my watch, 51:13 gun time, 6.12 miles on my watch. Official chip time: 50:51, which is my fastest time on this course.
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| Strava splits show the elevations for each mile. GAP = grade-adjusted pace |
That was a little more exertion than I had expected. Perhaps I should have taken it easier with another half-marathon coming up in 8 days from now. Khalid greeted me with a high five after I picked up a bottle of Powerade, then Brian Halter from Coach Carl's training group asked me "Did you crush it today?" I was not yet recovered and not sure what I said before I asked "Do I know you?" How embarrassing, when he said his name and I focused on his face, then I realized, of course. I definitely ran harder than I should have for today. Fortunately I regained my equilibrium after a few minutes, but I was particularly careful to alternate stretching and walking until my legs felt good again.
The good news is that I discovered that I can bang out two consecutive sub-9 minute miles even while running uphill. If I manage that in next weekend's half marathon, I'll have another excellent race.
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| I like the simple design of this year's race shirt. |
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