November 12, 2022: Eastside Beltline 10K

I enjoyed running this race every year from 2013 - 2019, but the 2020 and 2021 races weren't held due to the pandemic. However, in planning the return of races to the Beltline this year, the Atlanta Beltline Partnership and Atlanta Track Club negotiated co-hosting the races. I had complained in this blog about the course often being less than 10K distance, so I was happy that the Atlanta Track Club would reliably take care of the race details. 

My plan for today's race was to practice some marathon racing skills, specifically a conservative start, and running continuously except for 30-second walks through water stations spaced around 2 miles apart. Coach Carl recommended this as a "checkpoint race" to set workout paces going forward. I didn't think to ask ahead of time exactly what that meant, but assumed that a quality consistent effort was what would be most helpful. That meant that I wasn't going to try to set a new personal record on this course. Instead I planned to take the first two downhill miles very easily, aiming for no faster than a 9 min / mile pace. I decided to set my watch to kilometer splits, for smaller units more easily tracked, so that translated to no faster than 5:35 / km. 

Coach Carl's instruction for today's race

It was foggy when I left home around 6:30 am, but the sky was clearing by the time I arrived in midtown Atlanta around 7 am, so I made sure to bring sunglasses. A cold wave is on the way but has not yet reached Atlanta, so at 60 deg F this morning, I decided to wear a singlet and no cap, to try to stay as cool as possible. 

Selfie before the start with Linda Bode Phinney,
Kimberly Harrell, and Stephanie Batson

The races began with a 3K out-and-back race at 8:00 am. Meanwhile the 10K runners lined up in our corrals on Krog Street. I began in corral B along with Linda, Stephanie and Kimberly from Tucker Running Club. Ronnel Blackmon was the master of ceremonies. Officially the honored guest was Andre Dickens, the new mayor of Atlanta, but Ronnel's energy was more of what I needed to wake up for this race. Wave A started at 8:25 am, then about 2-1/2 minutes later, Ronnel started off our race with an airhorn blast and his shouts of "Go!Go!Go!" As my plan was to start very conservatively, that was a good test to rein myself in for today "Patience!" I had helped myself a moment before the race officially began by circling around to the back of wave B. As we approached the starting mat, I continued walking until a few steps before crossing. 

Ronnel taking a selfie with wave B

In past years, the first half-mile of the race was heavily clogged. But because of the track club assigning runners to waves, this year the road was wide enough to handle the runners, even with me being back in the corral. A few of the 3K finishers were still coming in as I entered the Beltline from Irwin Street, but they only had about 3 feet of the width coned off for them, and we had the remaining 15 feet, which was enough space to find my comfortable pace. I hadn't intended to pass people in the first mile, but heard greetings from Carol Gsell as I passed her, and then caught up to Linda Phinney and ran with her for awhile. We caught up with Kimberly Harrell and Stephanie Batson and ran together with them for most of the first 2 miles. Near the Kroger on North Avenue, a woman cheered and her dog howled as we ran by. I said "I'm gonna feel like howlin' like that dog on the way back." Stephanie replied "I'm already feeling like that!" But with Stephanie and Kimberly pacing us, I ran consistently, all the way to the water station where we got separated and I moved in front. I was pleased that I had run the first three kilometers in 5:49, 5:34, and 5:33, about 17 minutes total, instead of trying to bank time on the downhill section. "Patience!" 

Crossing Monroe Avenue, we ran behind Park Tavern on a dirt and gravel bed, on a section of the Eastside Beltline that has not yet been paved. It had rained quite a bit yesterday, so I was concerned that this section might be muddy, but in fact the surface was fine. The dirt sections were damp but there was no standing water anywhere. I had been trailing just a few feet and to the left side of another runner, content to pace off of him, but he heard my footsteps and invited me into conversation, so we ran side by side for a few minutes. It turns out that he normally runs the Beltline with his wife, who runs on his left side, but she is several months pregnant so not racing today. I congratulated him on his child to come. Unfortunately I didn't think to ask his name. I tried to keep my effort easy, perhaps not quite easy conversational pace for me, and my heart rate was beginning to creep above 150 beats per minute, into my threshold range. "Patience!" In the past, we had run about 1 full mile on the gravel section. To my surprise, this year the route took a left turn onto the black asphalt path into Piedmont Park. For a moment I was wondering if the race route had been cut short, as this was normally the return route, but then we turned north on the path. This small change not only improved the surface but also (probably) would get the right distance for a true 10K race. The runners on our left were returning from the turnaround, mostly the faster wave B runners. 

Markings are kilometers, not miles

I ran pretty consistently for the rest of the northbound stretch, reaching the turnaround and the mile 3 marker at 27 minutes elapsed. 5:36 and 5:42 for kilometers 4 and 5, so 28:15 for the first 5K. Could I negative split? That would require running the same average pace for about 150 feet net uphill. So I took it easy through Piedmont Park, not wanting to burn myself out before the toughest final three kilometers of the race. "Patience!" Still I was getting warm, so I wiped my face with a small towel, that I had run back to the car to get this morning "just in case". That was a good decision, although I had trouble finding a good place to stash the towel away where I could easily grab it when needed. As we emerged from Piedmont Park on 10th Street, I really wanted to take a walk break. I knew that the water station was just a couple of minutes ahead, and pushed through the remaining distance to wait for the water station to walk for 30 seconds. 5:38 and 5:48 for kilometers 6 and 7, when I had actually wanted to run closer to 5:35. But the walk break at the water station was at the end of kilometer 7. 

Elapsed time was 39:40. If I could run the last three kilometers at 5 min / km pace, that would get me through the finish line in less than 55 minutes. But even though I was prepared for it, the uphill was challenging. Kilometer 8 in 5:49, as I passed the Kroger and the howling dog. Oh, that dog was a-howlin', my legs were startin' to howl as well, as I crossed over the North Avenue Bridge. Now I'm trying for less than 56 minutes. I'm continuing to press forward, but I hear the conversation of a couple of women in Spanish approaching from behind, and then passing me. I couldn't follow what they were saying, but one women then moved further ahead. Occasionally she would call back to encourage her companion, while I tried just to keep the two of them in my sights, trying to maintain their paces. Oh, the pain! I could feel that I was beginning to "redline", was wiping my head fairly often, holding the towel in my right hand, then my left. Kilometer 9 in 5:54, my slowest kilometer of the race. And at 51:30 elapsed, now I'm just trying to finish in less than 57 minutes. 

"Five minutes to go" I said to myself "you can do this for five more minutes!" My body wanted to take a walk break so badly, but I reminded myself "you can walk all you want in five minutes!" The image of Daniel Do Nascimento collapsing in last week's New York City Marathon flashed through my mind, but I fought off the negativity with "Just four minutes to go! Maybe less if the course is short!!" I just kept running, noticing familiar landmarks of the last section of the course. Then the mile 6 marker came into view. I wondered if I could run any faster, "for just two minutes"? Without consciously commanding my legs, I accelerated into a stride. Wow, it was a surprise to find some pep left in the legs! Within a few seconds I had caught up to and passed one of the women that I had been following since she had passed me after North Avenue. "Less than two minutes to go!" and I forced my cadence to stay steady and fast. Approaching Irwin Avenue, I put on another stride to pass the the second woman, at the same point where Rich Kenah (Atlanta Track Club Executive Director) was cheering us into the last 100 meters. 

I didn't do this as I passed people.
On the advice of counsel,
I will neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have thought about it ....

Ironically Coach Carl's workout for me last Tuesday night was three miles of "stride the straights, jog the curves," always a tough workout over 12 laps, but the muscle memory was fresh. Now my mission was not to get passed running into the finish. Just then, a young man flew by on my left - but he was not someone that I had just passed, so I ignored him. People were cheering, a woman called out my name "FRANK!!!" as I passed - I don't know who you were, but THANKS! My concern was that some people seemed to be cheering for someone immediately behind me. So I kicked in with one final stride, crossing the finish line at my top speed for the day. Just then I heard Ronnel announce "FRANK!" as he called out the names of finishers. I wobbled to a stop: 56:43 on the watch, 56:40 official. Fortunately the distance was 10.00 kilometers on my watch, so this year the route wasn't short! 

That was harder than I probably should have run today. But I was pleased that I didn't quit on the return, and that I was "Patient!" enough in the first part of the race, banking just enough physical and mental strength to finish strongly. 

Almost a negative split! 28:15 for the first 5K, 28:25 for the last 5K running mostly uphill. 

Official result