Runningnerds / Run Social Atlanta has hosted the Monday Nighter 10K for the past few years, literally on the Monday evening before the summer solstice. I've run this race in 2018 and 2019, suffering through the heat to finish with times of 1:05:20 and 59:33, respectively. This year's options were virtual races, either a 10K to replace the June Monday Nighter race, or a 5K to replace the Urbantree Cidery on Memorial Day.
I was excited about running a 10K race, as my last 10K was the Eastside Beltline in December 2019, but there was no way that I was running in the heat if I could avoid doing so. Even though today was the summer solstice, the temperature at sunrise was a pleasant 63 degrees F. Originally I planned to run 25 loops on the 400 meter flat track at Tucker Middle School, but on Thursday night Bonnie told me about a Gwinnett County park that she had recently discovered, Bryson Park in Lilburn. I checked it out yesterday morning during a short shake-out run, and it had a lot going for it:
- not too crowded;
- beautiful location within a few miles of the house; and
- manageable elevation profile - certainly not flat, but not as hilly as Lucky Shoals Park or the hills in my neighborhood.
I mapped out a route in the park that I thought would keep things mentally interesting and physically doable: five circuits of the "stadium loop" alternating with four circuits of the hillier "forest loop", going back and forth on a "connector" between each loop. To keep things a little more interesting, I would alternate directions on each loop. I also set the start point near the highest park of the park, so that my race would finish on a downhill stretch, and the overall route would be overall downhill.
After an easy 1.36 mile warmup covering an entire circuit of the route, concluding with two strides to ensure that I was fully awake, I lined up to start the virtual race on a straight pathway through the parking lot:
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| I must have taken this photo at the beginning of my warmup, coinciding with 6:25 am sunrise! 63 degrees F |
At 6:45 am on the dot, I was off and running! Beginning the first stadium loop in a counter-clockwise direction, I deliberately slowed down, remembering to pace myself carefully through the first couple of miles. Coach Carl had recommended starting out as a "tempo run", approximately half-marathon race pace, about 9 minutes per mile, or 5:30 per kilometer as my watch was set to metric units for this run. I was looking straight into the sun, glad to have sunglasses. I had opted to run without a cap to avoid overheating, and was hoping that wasn't a bad decision. Anyway the first loop passed quickly and I was out and onto the connector. This sloped gently uphill to pass the retaining wall for a basketball court, and then sloped gently downhill to the beginning of the forest loop. I turned right to run in a counter-clockwise direction, passing a playground and then heading downhill into the forest.
This part of the route had a few curves, so I ran downhill fairly cautiously, reaching a bridge crossing a slope stretching down to Jackson Creek in the distance, although I couldn't see it for the trees. Coming off of the bridge at the lowest part of my race route, I made a left turn onto the sidewalk paralleling Jennifer Drive, for 200 meters running steadily uphill. "Take it easy," I told myself, as I thought that this was the harder direction for the loop.
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| Loooooong uphill |
Turning right onto the connector, I maintained a steady pace to complete the first circuit, 1.37 miles / 2.20 km in 12:30, 9:07 min / mile or 5:41 min / km, pretty close to the race plan. For the second circuit, I ran the stadium loop clockwise. Once again the sun was in my face, now on the north side of the stadium. That was unavoidable no matter where I would run this morning, but it was the one downside of running on a beautifully clear early summer morning. Nonetheless I felt pretty good, and thought about turning up the speed ever so slightly, especially heading down a gentle slope. Although the stadium loop was not flat, in fact showing 35 feet elevation drop from the west side to the east side, I never needed to work too hard while I was running uphill.
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| Bryson Park hosts several youth football teams, both soccer and American-style football. All play is on hold during the coronavirus pandemic. |
Back onto the connector, and then left to run the forest loop in the clockwise direction. I didn't pick up that much speed running downhill, but definitely felt the effort level decrease. That was good because after crossing the bridge, I had to climb nearly 60 feet to the playground level along a twisting route. But in my opinion, this was indeed the easier direction to run, because I could let things go while running a straight path downhill, and when I needed to watch my step running turns while heading uphill, I wasn't running that fast anyway, so nothing was lost due to the turns.
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| Although it rained a little yesterday evening, the surface wasn't slippery. |
Finishing the loop, right turn onto the connector, and racing back to the starting area, 24:45 elapsed, 12:15 for the second circuit, 8:56 min / mile or 5:34 min / km. Was I faster on purpose or was it because the second circuit was a little easier? I began the third circuit taking on the stadium loop in the counter-clockwise direction. The 5 kilometer alert sounded as I completed the loop, 27:57 (8:59 min / mile or 5:35 min / km). Already halfway done! Might I try to speed up a little? I noticed for the first time the rise in the connector but then gained momentary relief heading downhill, before turning right onto the forest loop.
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| Even though this was downhill, I couldn't run it very quickly with the turns. |
Running counter-clockwise, winding downhill through the turns and over the bridge, then back to run the long uphill to finish the third forest loop. This time was more difficult. I really wanted to take a walk break, but fought off the temptation. The problem was that turning left onto the connector, I still had to run uphill some more, until passing the basketball court. I was thinking that I really should have stayed with my earlier plan to run on the delightfully flat track. Bonnie was right about the pleasant environment of the park, but she was wrong about the hills, especially on the forest loop. Surely I could run faster and more easily if I didn't have to deal with these hills. But then I reflected on the marital advice that I heard years ago - and advice that I've freely shared since, on men and marriage:
"A man can be right, or a man can be happy.
But he can't be both right and happy."
I've generally opted for the "happy" choice over 10 years of wonderful marriage to Bonnie. And I was "happy" to crest the hill on the connector on the way to finishing the third circuit.
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| As there were a few sidewalks to choose from on the return route, I was glad to have noticed the fire hydrant as a landmark on the first circuit. By the end of the third circuit, sweat was running down my sunglasses, making it difficult to distinguish between sidewalks. |
I reached the start line at 37:00 elapsed, another 12:15 circuit although I didn't realize it during the race. So I managed the same speed even though I ran the third circuit in the more difficult direction! Running the stadium loop clockwise, I heard the 7 km alert: 39:04. I've run 3 km in less than 14 minutes. But it was cold that evening, and I had not run 7 km before that time trial, about 3-1/2 years ago at the beginning of a marathon training program. So 53 minutes wasn't realistic, but what about 55 minutes?
I ran onto the connector, then turned left to start the forest loop downhill. Again I didn't feel like I picked up much speed, but I definitely enjoyed a little rest break while letting gravity do the hard work. As I crossed the bridge, I heard the 8 km alert: 44:19 elapsed. Kilometer 8 was my fastest of the race so far, 5:15, having run an average pace of 5:32 min / km to this stage. But running uphill to the playground was a real slog. I was so tired: why didn't I sign up for a 5-mile virtual race? I would be done by now. I cheered up as I recognized that was my last time around the challenging forest loop.
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| From the forest loop looking up to the left turn that I would make onto the connector. Definitely uphill. |
"(Because I'm happy) Clap along, if you feel like that's what you wanna do"
(Pharrell Williams)
And upon completing the fourth circuit, my watch showed 49:05 elapsed, which meant that I had run the last full circuit as the fastest, 12:05 (8:49 min / mile or 5:30 min / km). But running the last stadium loop in the counter-clockwise direction gave me a little disappointing news at the 9 km alert: 50:04 elapsed. I needed a sub-5 minute final kilometer to finish in less than 55 minutes. I didn't know if that was possible. On the other hand, a kilometer is much shorter than a mile. Thinking "just 5 more minutes", I began to push my effort as I ran around the stadium loop, then onto the connector.
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| For the last couple of circuits of the stadium loop, I used the position of my car to find the right sidewalk through the parking lot. |
As I neared the highest point of the connector, I picked up my cadence as if I was running a stride. Up and over, and now downhill the entire way until the watch sounded 10 kilometers elapsed. As I had planned, I reached the intersection with the forest loop, and turned left to run downhill, now doing my best to increase my speed. "Wait for it, wait for it", listening for the beep of the watch to signal 10 kilometers completed, and ... "BEEP" there it was! 55:11 total time for 10 kilometers, 6.22 miles; 8:52 min / mile pace or 5:31 min / km). Although I didn't break my goal time of 55 minutes, I was happy to run a negative split race, with the last 5 kilometers covered in 27:14. I had just enough energy left to finish strongly, to take advantage of the downhill finish.
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| Very sweaty and very pleased with today's result. I'm wearing the singlet from the 2019 race, featuring a dinosaur wearing a space suit! |
When I submitted my result to the Run Social Distancing platform, I saw that I am currently 8th out of 30 participants, and 1st in my age group (male, age 55 - 59). Actually I'm the only one in my age group to have submitted a 10K result at this moment. With 2-1/2 days to go, it will be interesting to see how this turns out!
Edit June 29: 10th overall! No one older than me outran me, so I consider that a WIN!!
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| Top 24 participants shown Full results available at this link |
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