With four weeks and a day to go until the marathon, I was determined to follow Coach Carl's instructions for today's workout to the letter. After a 20-mile long run two weeks ago, and 18 miles last Saturday, I was grateful for the "drop-back" week, to "only" 12 miles.
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| Gotta save some energy for the 23-mile run next weekend! |
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| The trail was renamed in honor of the former First Lady in 2018. |
Bonnie and I arrived about 90 minutes before the start of the race. After picking up our race numbers and some dynamic stretching, I set out for an easy run on the Michelle Obama trail. The air was a little foggy as the trail passed through a wetland next to the South River, but I really enjoyed the easy pace in the cool temperature. I forced myself to take walk breaks every few minutes, every time my per mile pace dropped faster than a 10 minute mile. After three miles, I had reached the intersection with Clifton Church Road, turned around and returned to the start of the race. I had about a mile to go when I saw race cones and volunteers on the trail, as if the race route was going to be on the trail. That was a new twist - previously, the race had gone out-and-back to a school at the end of the dead-end road, and I had assumed that today's race would be no different.
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| 6-mile warmup at a 10 min / mile pace, great route! |
Realizing that the 8 am start time was approaching, I picked up the pace a bit, to get back to the parking lot for the race start. To my surprise, the start of the race was far from the previous location - it was probably another 1/4 mile to the east. I followed the rest of the participants and discovered that the start was on Panthersville Road. I arrived just in time to watch wave A start. I felt a pang of regret that I wasn't racing this morning - but quickly put that aside as I found my way to the front of wave D, 11:00 min / mile or faster, intending to continue running at a 10 min / mile pace.
We gradually moved up to the start line, and I was near the start of the timing mat when the airhorn sounded. I thought that I began with great restraint. Then I checked my watch about 1/4 mile in, after we turned onto Clifton Springs Road, and I was running at a 9 min / mile pace! Nonetheless, the effort felt easy, and I decided to just stick with that pace. Later on, I regretted missing the opportunity to practice my marathon race start at 10:00 min / mile maximum pace. But I was now committed.
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| 5K race route |
To my surprise, we turned into a bus parking lot, ran downhill for 100 yards or so (past an abandoned football stadium), and then turned around to run uphill, back out of the lot. Not the most scenic route, but finished mile 1 in 9:03. After turning back onto Clifton Springs Road, almost immediately we turned onto Wildcat Road, on the old race route. I just kept moving at an easy pace, slowed down to a walk at the water station, and then discovered why the race route was changed for this year: the gates on the road to the school were locked. I later heard that the Atlanta Track Club was denied permission to enter the school grounds just a few days before the race, and had to scramble to change the route. I guess there must have been a security concern about opening school grounds on a Saturday.
But the change in route was an upgrade from this point: we turned onto the Michelle Obama Trail for the return route. This was relatively flat. Although the path was only about 12 feet wide, by this stage of the race, we were spread out enough so that there was plenty of room to run. I passed the mile 2 marker at 9:12, at an easy enough pace so that I had brief conversations with some of the other runners along the route. Yes, I was mostly passing people who had started in front of me, probably mostly in wave C.
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| Good advice for an easy recovery week run! |
I spent part of mile 3 chatting with Dung and Kathy Nguyen, who have run every Atlanta Track Club Grand Prix race for several consecutive years, and were running this race together, as they typically do. As we neared the parking lot, completing mile 3 in 9:21, I decided to throw in a 15 second stride, and picked up my pace. It felt so good to "let off of the brakes" after 9 miles of easy running, and after 15 seconds had passed, I just kept running fast. Actually I stepped up the pace just a notch, for another 15 seconds, as we made a couple of turns through the parking lot. And then with the finish line approach, yet another burst of acceleration into the finish line, moving at more than 10 miles per hour! Even so, I was outkicked by a young man going into the finish, not that I was racing anyone. Official time, 28:16, 9:06 min / mile average pace.
What was that about total recovery week? Oops, my exuberance got the better of me. Fortunately I was lucky this time: no strain or injury. Perhaps because I was thoroughly warmed up, and I was accustomed to running strides by this stage in my training, I probably maintained decent form through the last 45 seconds of the race. After getting a bottle of water and unpeeling a banana, I set out for the last 3 miles of my workout, running another loop of most of the race route just under a 10 min / mile pace, skipping the bus parking lot.
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| 3 mile easy pace to finish the 12-mile workout. |
Although I've been extremely busy at work (and this race report is posted nearly 2 weeks after the race), I've maintained the marathon training program, in fact I haven't missed a single workout! During this stressful time, my runs have been my cherished hours of "me" time. Everything is nicely falling into place for the marathon on March 1!
