July 15, 2023: Westside Beltline 8K

"9:25." That was my goal for today's Westside Beltline 8K, 9:25 min / mile pace, at least for the first four miles. That would get me to the finish line in less than 47 minutes, maybe faster than 46:52, which was my time on this course one year ago. Last year's race was rough: I thought I would maintain a sub-9 min / mile pace, but had fallen off of that goal by mile 3, and struggled to finish. 

It was warm and muggy this morning, about 90% humidity, and 78 deg F at the start of the race at 7:30 am. About 30 minutes before the race start, I went out for an easy warmup, about 1/2 mile outbound on the race course, then 3 strides on the return trip. Part of my warmup route was the challenging uphill block on Matthews Street, where I slowed to a walk. I told myself, "In today's race, I will not take a walk break on Matthews Street." 

Before my warmup, with M.C. extraordinaire, Ronnel Blackmon

I started with wave B again this year. The airhorn sounded at 7:32 sharp, Ronnel calling out "Go-go-go-go-go!" We were heading northwest on White Street. I kept my pace easy, checked my watch a few times as the pace dropped from 10:00 to ... 9:25! Perfect, I stuck with that metronomic pace. Other runners streamed past, but I let them go by, confident that I would pass some of them later in the race. I was running on the left side of the lane, next to the cones separating our route from a single lane for auto traffic. At one point, a 25-foot gap opened between me and the crowd of runners ahead of me. I was very conscious of leading a subgroup, hearing dozens of footsteps just behind me, but resisted the urge to fill the gap. My watch displays pace to the nearest 5 seconds, so if it showed 9:25, that meant that I was running between 9:20 - 9:25 min / mile pace; if it showed 9:20, meaning 9:15 - 9:20 min / mile pace, I slowed down a bit.

After we turned left onto the paved Beltline, the mile 1 alert sounded: 9:22! That was as close to perfection as I could have hoped for. "9:25" I kept telling myself, as I ran along the left side. About 14 minutes into the race, I saw the water stop, pulling to the middle of the lane, holding out my right hand to accept a cup of water. Unfortunately for me, four runners immediately ahead of me took each of the cups that two volunteers were holding in each hand. But I heard one of the volunteers call out "Sir! Sir!" as he sprinted from behind to bring me a cup. "Thanks!" I said. I took a short walk break to drink the water - I thought it was 30 seconds, but the Garmin graph showed just a small blip of a dip, perhaps less than 10 seconds. 

I resumed running, working over to the left side of the path. On a gentle uphill section, I passed Jessie Abraham and then Susie Hill, saying each time "We love hills! We love hills!" That didn't seem to inspire anyone other than myself. I just kept chugging along, 9:23 for mile 2. This was going really well! I could have run faster at this stage, but today's race wasn't about being a hero in mile 2. Having refreshed my memory of last year's difficult race by reading my blog report last night, and the more recent memory of struggling through the mile 6 of this year's Peachtree Road Race, I stayed on plan. "Patience!" 

This year the race route proceeded all the way to the north end of the paved Westside Beltline, at Lena Street. (Within a couple of years, this path will continue straight for another couple of miles!) 2.42 miles at the turnaround, 22:35 elapsed, almost halfway. I ran uphill over Martin Luther King Drive, passing several others who had slowed to a walk. That validated for me that my patient start, "9:25", had been the correct strategy for me. 9:15 for mile 3, 28 minute elapsed! I hadn't been looking as carefully at the watch, but no worries, that wasn't way off of the plan, and would get me to the finish line a few seconds faster than last year's time of 46:52. My heart rate was 165 bpm, a little high, but with less than two miles to go, on a familiar route, I felt that I could hold on to this pace. I was running only 8K or ca. 5 miles today, vs. 10K / 6.22 miles earlier this month.  

After passing the underpasses for Interstate-20, I slowed down at the water stop, taking another walk break, but only 15-20 seconds according to Garmin, I guess I need to count to 30 when I do this again. Getting back up to my cautious pace, we passed under a couple more bridges. The lead 5K runners passed us on our right in the northbound direction. They started at 8:00 am. I tried to calculate, with my 28 minute headstart, how fast would a 5K runner need to run to catch up to me? The answer was that a 47 minute 8K finish from wave B would correlate to a 19 minute 5K finish from the front of their wave A. So some of them were likely to pass me before I finished. 

The route curved past the "Crayola" section and uphill to the intersection with White Street. A volunteer called out "Just a few more miles!" as the mile 4 sign came into view. Then I realized that she was cheering for the 5K runners, who had not yet completed their first mile. 9:21 for mile 4! I hadn't thought too much about my plan for the last mile. I hoped to speed up a bit, but at that moment, the route was gently uphill. "Don't force anything, relax and glide" I said to myself. After cresting the small hill, I felt my pace increase ever so slightly. I knew that we had one more hill ahead of us, so I still needed to bank a little energy. Making a diagonal left onto Matthews Street, this block was probably the steepest uphill section of this race course. "I love hills!" I thought to myself, as I shortened the length of my stride, maintaining ca. 180 step / minute cadence. Several others took walk breaks in this block, but not me, not today! I was so glad that I had covered this section during my warmup earlier this morning, I was psychologically prepared for the challenge. Sure, I slowed down a bit, but keeping my cadence kept me moving forward. Turning right into the runner lane on Lawton Street, the route continued going uphill. This is where I had taken an unplanned walk break in last month's Monday Nighter. But not today! I knew that after cresting the Lawton Street overpass, it was all downhill to the finish line. 

I definitely spent the last two miles in the maximum heart rate zone,
but still had enough energy in the bank to finish strongly!  

"Hammer time!" Today my legs responded well, taking full advantage of the gradual downhill. I saw Katie Winter up ahead, I wondered if I could catch up to her. One tricky part of any race on the Westside Beltline is the 180 degree U-turn at the intersection with Donnelly Avenue. I was on the left, Katie was a few steps ahead and to the right, and there was another runner in the mix as well. To avoid colliding with anyone, I grabbed the pole to help me make the tightest possible U-turn, while allowed me to turn without slowing down, getting ahead of Katie and the other runner in just a couple of steps! I don't know if that was a legal move, since I definitely felt a "slingshot" effect on my speed. But I didn't interfere with any other runners while making that turn: that would have been a much bigger faux pas.

Heading down the ramp to get back onto the Beltline, I heard a motorcycle behind me. Shortly after making the right turn at the bottom of the ramp, I stayed to the left side of the Beltline, as the motorcycle passed on my right. I guess that the 5K leader will be passing me soon, I thought. Before that happened, I saw the 3 mile marker for the 5K. "Great, less than a minute to the finish line for me!" and I accelerated some more. The first two runners in the 5K passed on my right, running a sub-6 min / mile pace (the winner finished in 17:33). My own pace had increased, now sub-8 min / mile, as I could hear sounds from the finish line. Ronnel saw the 5K runners approaching. I'm sure that he meant well when he announced, "8K runners stay to the right!" But as I moved over to the right side of the Beltline, the 3rd 5K runner nearly ran into me. "Sorry! I was just following instructions!" I thought to myself, not having any breath to spare to actually speak. A 4th 5K runner passed me, then it was my turn to cross the finish line. The clock showed less than 18 minutes, now on 5K time, but that meant that I had finished in less than 46 minutes! 

This was a really good time trial, showing me what I can currently realistically run. 

Official time, 45:44! And more than my time, I was thrilled with my pacing. The "9:25" strategy paid off, I banked just enough energy to have a fast, fun finish. The only people that I recall passing me in the last half-mile were the first 4 of the 5K runners, so that was a big win for me. Officially my average pace was 9:12; on the watch I measured 9:15 min / mile.

    

A slice of the 8K results

60 - 64 male age group: I'm in the middle of a bunch of fast old men!