Swinging into marathon training mode, today's race was my fourth 10-mile run since the beginning of September, and the first time to race this long of a distance in 2022. I knew that I wasn't in shape to run a personal best, not even to finish my typical "goal" for this race of 1:30, but felt that I could probably push a 9:30 min / mile average pace for a 1:35 finish. We arrived at "ass o'clock" as Bonnie likes to put it, and I ran an easy mile from Bonnie's office (free parking!) to the start area, envisioning what the last mile of the race would be like.
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About to enter the starting corral. As my little private joke,
I'm wearing the Morningside Mile shirt. The slogan is
"Dude, it's only a mile!" |
This is a fairly big race: over 2600 people finished the 10-miler, and over 700 completed the associated 5K race. Even though it's always dark when we begin at 7:15 am in Atlantic Station, there is a buzz of energy as we line up in our waves to run. I had a wave B bib, and decided to start toward the back of the wave, although was probably in the middle by the time last-minute arrivals joined the wave from behind. Right before we began, Daniel Yee, a k a "The Running Cat" ran up to say hello. I haven't seen him at that many races recently, but in fact ran into him at the grocery store not that many weeks ago! Daniel's blog is what inspired me to start my own blog back in 2014.
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| Just 9.99 miles from the finish line |
As the airhorn sounded for wave B to start, the people in front of and around me actually began running before we reached the starting mat - and then we had to slow down almost immediately after our chips had registered! Not to worry, I was looking for excuses to keep my pace slower, knowing that I had miles to go before I took an afternoon nap (revising Robert Frost). But as we turned onto 17th Street, Bryan Greenberg in his Maryland Terrapins running kit caught up to me, and we chatted for most of the first mile. I was happy to let the other runners stream past. Meanwhile, Bryan was taking selfies with friends along the way. Ours is on Bryan's Strava page, a bit blurry either because we were running so quickly, or perhaps because it was still dark which required more time to collect enough photons for the image.
Shortly after we turned right onto Peachtree Street, Bryan loudly announced "Mile 1! Nine to go!" and then dashed ahead, for good. I was pretty happy to see 9:37 on my watch, so I ran the first mile responsibly. After we crossed the bridge over Interstate 85, we had a gentle climb to the Shepherd Center near mile 2, and the downhill on Cardiac Hill. I was enjoying the landmarks on the right side: Varasano's Pizza, then further down the route, the Aramore, where Restaurant Eugene used to be located - the site where I proposed to Bonnie back in October 2009, fond memories to reflect upon as I glided down Peachtree Road. I kept tapping the "brakes" all the downhill until we turned right onto Peachtree Hills Drive, with a little uphill section that I had no trouble scrambling up. At this point I had run 9:15 and 8:51 for miles 2 and 3. My memory was that the next miles were uphill, but in fact they were rolling hills up and down, mile 4 in 8:59 which was a little faster than I expected, but I didn't feel like I was really exerting myself. By this stage we were on Lindbergh Road passing the MARTA station.
Probably for the first time for a race of this length, I decided not to carry a water bottle. The weather was pleasantly cool, I had hydrated well the day before the race, and I could trust the Atlanta Track Club to have well-stocked water stations. The other new thing is that I was carrying a packet of UCAN instead of a GU gel, which I planned to take around mile 6, the same location that the race organizers pass out gels. I was running continuously, slowing to 30-second walk breaks at the 2-mile water stop and again at the 4-mile water stop. That was a technique that worked well in my personal best marathon in 2020, and wanted to work up to taking walk breaks only every 20 minutes / 2 miles. At my pace, I figured there was no point in trying to drink liquid while running, as it was most likely to go down my windpipe or all over my shirt, neither of which would do me any good. Shortly before reaching the 5-mile marker on Piedmont Road, as we came up from the I-85 underpass, I began to feel a bit winded for the first time, and decided to take another walk break. Frankly I was thinking that I would be good to have a few more seconds elapsed before I crossed the mile 5 timing mat, if I was trying for a consistent or negative split race. Indeed I saw 9:25 for mile 5 and 46 minutes elapsed on my watch as I crossed the timing mat (official time was 46:05), so a consistent split race would be 1:32. That sounded like a good goal.
The only problem was that with all the downhill running, I thought that the rest of the race route would be net uphill. It turns out that the 5-mile marker was nearly the same elevation as the start (2 feet net lower than the start/finish), but my incorrect impression was not good for my mental outlook. So that should have been good, especially as we ran downhill again for another half-mile or so, but after that stage, I saw everything as uphill or level (at best) for the next few miles. We turned onto Montgomery Ferry Road, running through the upper-middle class Ansley Park neighborhood. I had once thought of this area as my dream neighborhood, provided that I could one day afford the mortgage on a million-dollar home. Instead I'm out in the suburbs, but at least we have an affordable mortgage that we can pay off before I retire. Then a left turn onto Monroe Drive, passing the mile 6 marker in 9:31 before crossing through the busy intersection with Piedmont Road.
This is where I decided to take the UCAN, assuming that the water stop would be just ahead as we turned into Piedmont Park. Knowing that one should never try anything new on race day, I had taken a UCAN packet around 6 miles in on one of my easy weekend runs a few weeks ago. But I had never taken UCAN while running 9:30 min/mile pace and while not taking a walk break. It took several sips to get it down. And as I made the right turn into Piedmont Park, that was just enough disruption for some of the UCAN to go down the windpipe. I began choking, trying to cough up to clear my throat while running. I'm worried that the people around me might think that I'm suffering a COVID coughing spell. And the UCAN tasted incredibly sweet. It didn't taste like that when I was running easy 11:30 min / mile pace a few weeks ago. I've read somewhere that taste is much more sensitive when one is under exertion. Where was that water station? I could hear people cheering up ahead, but it was just a few fans, not a cheer group at a water station. It was another tenth of a mile before I finally reached the authentic water station, and could properly wash out my mouth and clear my throat.
The UCAN debacle shook my confidence. Now I focused on how tired I was feeling. My race day preparation had not included mantras, another big big big mistake. As we ran through Piedmont Park, other runners were passing me, as I moved more slowly along at a 9:55 pace passing the mile 7 marker. Oh well, just a 5K (or less) to go. I figured that 1:32 was out of reach, so now I was just getting to the finish, trying to learn as much as possible from a race that suddenly wasn't going that well. On the bright side, there was an enthusiastic cheer group from Atlanta Run Club above the Active Oval. A couple of guys that had just passed me responded enthusiastically. I managed a small smile. If there was one big downside to this year's race organization, it was the missing cheer groups. That was one of the best things about the 10-miler prior to the pandemic. A great cheer group would propel me up a hill; string 10 of those cheer groups together and I'm dominating the 10-mile distance. Without the cheer groups, it's just an extremely hilly 10-mile race.
We emerged from Piedmont Park and began to make our way up the 12th Street Hill. I looked up: the hill looked like it went up forever. I've run this hill in several races, so it's not unknown territory for me, but the walk break felt so good. So good! And after 30 seconds, while I should have begun running again, I just felt like walking. My rationalization was to save myself for the last two miles. And frankly I just didn't care about burning myself up on the hill when there was no longer anything at stake, with the negative split well out of reach. I didn't even really care about the 1:35 goal any longer, at least not until I neared the top of the hill to make the left turn onto Juniper Street.
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| Gone, but not forgotten |
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| Juniper Street today |
The race route on Juniper Street was only 4 blocks. But my mood was depressed when I saw that two beloved Midtown Atlanta restaurants, Einstein's and Joe's on Juniper, were demolished. At one time, those restaurants were some of our favorite post-race spots, but I guess they didn't survive the pandemic. Apparently the land is so valuable that a 40-story residential tower will be constructed in that block. I guess that's called "progress" but what a shame to lose local "character". I needed 11:01 to get to the mile 8 marker. Of course most of my time was lost on 12th Street, but I didn't make up much of it on Juniper.
Right turn onto 8th street: and uphill toward Peachtree Street. And after crossing Peachtree Street, we kept running uphill! I didn't expect that. Oh well, I no longer expected anything except to get to the finish line. Shortly after Peachtree Street, we passed the final water stop. 30-second walk break - and that wasn't the only walk break I took in mile 9. Finally turning onto West Peachtree Street, I knew that there were 9 blocks running north to turn onto 17th Street and what I hoped would be a fast final mile. But first I had to complete mile 9. Uphill to 10th Street, then more uphill to 12th Street before reaching the crest and gratefully running gently downhill. I was none too fast, but trying to keep up with and occasionally pass people. Around 1:25 elapsed, I realized that I might make it to the mile 9 marker before the time of my 10-miler personal best of 1:27:25. If I could do that, I would be satisfied. And with 9:41 for mile 9, I was at 1:26:20 elapsed as I passed the marker.
Did I have an 8:40 mile left in my legs, to finish in 1:35? I decided to go for it. Fortunately the additional walk breaks had saved an opportunity for a strong finish, which was the only race goal that was still tenable. Turning onto 17th Street, the overpass over the I-75/I-85 connector was taller and longer than what I recalled from my easy run at 6 am this morning. But I wasn't going to slow down this time. As we passed the intersection with Spring Street, I could see that the police were holding back a long line of cars. A couple of drivers were honking, one with the horn continuously blaring. That driver was so enthusiastically cheering us! Of course, that's putting an optimistic spin on it: probably the driver was not a runner and was just impatient that traffic was tied up by some ridiculous running thing. I was probably one of those drivers a decade ago.
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| An older Atlanta Roller Derby team photo |
Once we were into Atlantic Station, I tried to pick up the pace, although I think I was probably passed by more runners than I passed myself. Music was playing, "All Star" by Smashmouth. That was fine, but I would have been happier if it was the Atlanta Roller Girls cheering us into the finish. I don't know what it says about me that I'm positively motivated by a tall woman on roller blades with tattoos and a dyed mohawk yelling at me through a bullhorn. Anyway, a couple of turns led into the finish chute. Just 10 seconds out from the finish line, a young woman jetted past me on my right. Talk about saving her effort until the end! Fortunately no one else passed me as I finished, holding my arms in a small celebration while simultaneously stopping my watch.
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| 0.001 mile to go |
I was totally out of it, someone tried to hand a medal to me as I walked past. Then Lindy Liu caught my attention and I accepted the medal from her, picking up water and Powerade before leaving the finish area. I felt stunned, a bit fuzzy in the head, as Bonnie walked up to check on me. After stretching and taking a few photos with other finishers, I jogged an easy cooldown mile back to Bonnie's office. I was still out of it for awhile, probably not until after I had changed into dry clothes at Bonnie's office.
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| With several finishers from Tucker Running Club |
Overall I ran the 10-miler at 1:35:15 chip time. So I ran 46:05 for the first 5 miles, and 49:10 for the last 5 miles. Not the best way to run any race! But it was a good learning experience to absorb at the start of marathon training. In some ways, I don't think that I really expected to run an average 9:32 min / mile pace after not running a long race distance in several months. Still, I could have prepared better for the race route and elevation, and perhaps not pushing myself at all uphill in the first 5 miles.
