Although I want to gradually rebuild my mileage, I've struggled with heat this summer. Nonetheless I am running several times each week, and trying to build enough strength to run a double-digit long run every other week. But over the past couple of months, I had run such relatively short distances, that my first 10K run was only a couple of weeks ago. And for scheduling reasons, almost all of my weekday runs have been in the evenings, when it's been in high 80's. I try to tell myself that I'm building my heat tolerance.
This morning's 10K promised to be a test of my heat tolerance, with temperatures predicted to be 70 deg F at 7 am and rising to 79 deg F by 8 am. I was grateful for the early 7:30 am start, even though it meant leaving the house around 6 am to get to Marietta, about a 30 mile drive away. Since it was Memorial Day, there were a lot of police on the highway. I saw a lot of blue police lights, even in the light traffic early in the morning. A half-mile before my exit, a police car sped out in front of me to chase down another car - I was just glad those blue lights weren't intended for me!
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| Finisher's medal |
I arrived about an hour ahead of the starting time. The volunteer gave me my bib, the shirt, and then, my finisher medal! So I went back to the car, and drove home. I wanted to get an early start on writing this blog report.
Alternate ending:
I paid for the opportunity to earn the medal by running the miles, so I stuck around. David Bloomquist and I went for an easy warmup run along the first mile of the race route. I might have gone a little further, but decided that I should get back to ensure that I could use the port-a-potty before the race started. Very good decision: the line was long, and I barely made it before it was time for the official race start! I don't know about the dozens of others still in line, only five minutes before the start.
For today's heat management plan, I carried a 10 ounce bottle of cold Nuun on my running belt, and a handheld bottle that contained a lot of crushed ice, and a little cold water to fill the bottle. I wasn't certain that carrying the extra weight was good for my speed, but had a feeling that I wouldn't regret it later in the race. I didn't see anyone else carrying enough water to run a full marathon, but that was my plan and I was sticking to it.
This race started with a 10 second countdown and several blasts of an airhorn: there was no doubt about the start. I crossed under the timing banner about 15 seconds after the official start. We wound through the parking lot (I wonder how that would look on a USATF-certified map), avoided tripping over several speed bumps, and made our way onto East Piedmont Road, heading in the southeast at first, facing into the rising sun. Although the temperature was 73 deg F, I felt the occasional light breeze. I was pretty careful not to push too hard in the first mile, which I finished in 8:25. I was a little annoyed that there were no mile markers along the route, so I had to rely exclusively on my watch. It wasn't clear if we should run in the right lane or the left lane, but most runners were in the left lane so I joined them as well. The outbound stage of the route was well-protected for the first mile, without any cars at all. I took my first sips of Nuun at that moment, even though I wasn't thirsty. The hand-held water bottle was a little heavy, with the crushed ice sloshing inside the bottle.
Although both the 5K and 10K courses were out-and-back, it seemed like a long time before I saw the leading 5K runners returning, perhaps 13 minutes on my watch. (The 5K winner finished in 19:19.) After climbing the first significant hill, we reached the 5K turnaround. Only about half of the runners turned around, and a good number continued along the 10K route. Shortly before completing the second mile, we started up a long hill, 80 feet climb over 0.5 mile. I watched my heartrate pretty closely, and despite the exertion of climbing the mill, it remained in the low 160s, which was sustainable. Finishing the second mile in 8:50 (17:15 elapsed), I wasn't going to set any speed records today, but I felt OK, taking another couple of sips of Nuun at the top of the hill, at the intersection with Allgood Road.
Heading downhill, I didn't pick up much speed, but wanted to bank the energy that I would need in the second half of the race. Before long it was time to climb the next hill, on the way to Sewell Mill Road. I found myself slowing down even more than I had expected, but I didn't want to tire myself out too early, so I gave in to a 9:19 mile 3 (26:34 elapsed). And discovered that my bottle of Nuun was less than half-full! While running downhill I decided to add some cold water from the hand-held (no ice left) into the Nuun bottle. Other than the awkwardness of taking off one screw cap and squeezing water from one bottle into another, while trying to run a 9 minute / mile pace, I avoided dropping anything. Although I need a better way to transfer while running, that proved very helpful in the second half of the race.
Shortly before the 10K turnaround, I saw David Bloomquist across the divider, heading back to the finish, followed by Kilsun Hogue, who I hadn't realized was running today. I gave them each a wave with my free left hand. Unfortunately I didn't think to count off how many seconds ahead they might be until after I had made the turn myself. Now I could feel the heat with the sun on my back. I took another sip of Nuun, which was diluted but pleasantly cool. After another half-mile, I squirted a little cool water on my head, neck, and back. That helped for a moment. All the while, we ran back up the hill through the intersection with Sewell Mill Road, then downhill for little while, then working our way back up the hill to Allgood Road, the highest point of the race. I finished mile 4 in 9:01, 35:35 elapsed. Nearly three minutes slower than the 4-mile race a month ago, but the temperature was 25 degrees higher today. I decided that I just wanted to maintain a 9 minute / mile pace for the rest of this race.
The warm temperature was bothering me by this stage. I kept sipping on the Nuun and squirting water on my head from the hand-held bottle, now approaching room temperature. At a water station, a volunteer handed me a cup of water, which I promptly poured over my head - I still had enough fluid to drink. Another substantial hill, which I remembered from the course map: was that the last hill, other than the slight uphill going into the finish? Now I was occasionally sipping from the hand-held as well. Mile 5 took 9:20, 44:54 elapsed. I decided at that point that I would be happy with a 56 minute finish, but wondered what I might do better in my next two warm weather 10K races. I'm definitely carrying two water bottles.
We ran downhill for awhile. I managed to pass a couple of people in this section. The man was walking, the woman was still running pretty well, and I hoped that she wouldn't pick up her own pace and pass me later on. The sixth mile seemed to go on forever: then up ahead I saw the blue lights of the police cars marking the turn into the parking lot near the finish. Unlike my attitude two hours earlier, now I was so happy to see those police lights, even though they were at the top of a hill! I tried to pick up my pace, didn't really do much but perhaps that deliberate attempt kept me from slowing down too much. Shortly before the turn, my watch signalled mile 6 in 9:10, 54:04 elapsed. Two minutes to go!
I made a left turn on the approach road to the parking lot. No one was directly in front of me, but I sensed someone coming up from behind. I made a sharp right turn as soon as I entered the lot. I thought I saw a man dressed in white just behind me. Pick up the pace, I said to myself, and I surged ahead just a bit. Then he himself surged forward, passed me, and kept moving quickly. The finish line came into sight, but at that point I gave up, I wasn't going to catch him, and just ran steadily toward the finish line, crossing at 56:05 on the clock, 55:55 on my watch, 55:49 official. So I managed a sub-56 minute finish!
That run took just about all of my energy. I was soaked from head-to-toe, mostly with sweat, and both water bottles were nearly empty. But my conclusion was that I paced the race pretty well for the conditions (and for my current conditioning), and I definitely made the right decision to carry the extra water.
Some runners got their results right away: David learned that he was 1st place in his age group, at 51:31, and Kilsun was the first female grandmaster at 54:04. However, my result didn't show up on the computer. I would have been concerned, except that officials tore off a strip from my bib as soon as I crossed the finish line, so I knew that they had a record of my finish. After I drank another bottle of water and ate a banana, I decided to stick around for the awards ceremonies. The 5K awards took awhile, and my cardiovascular system had recovered, so I decided to run a cool-down mile, which really helped my legs.
Finally it was time for the 10K awards ceremony. I wasn't expecting much, considering that today's finish was 6 minutes slower than my 10K personal best, and nearly two minutes slower than my best time on this course (54:02 in 2015, I had looked it up yesterday). As they called the male 50 - 54 age group winners, Kilsun offered to take a photo on my phone "when my name was called". I told her "I don't think that I'm winning anything" but reconsidered, as they were moving quickly through the names, and I might not have a chance to hand her my phone if I did win something.
First place: not me, no surprise.
Second place: not me, no surprise.
Third place: a pause, then I heard "Frank McDonald" Big surprise!! I walked forward to accept my medal, very happy to place, and thankful that Kilsun had asked for my phone in advance.
It turns out that the fastest runner in my age group was 10th overall (44:11), and won the 3rd place male masters award. To spread out the awards, the next fastest man in the age group ran 51:30, 40th overall, to win the first place age group award. Second place age group went to 53rd overall, finishing in 54:18, and then I was 63rd overall out of 204 10K finishers at 55:49. The man that passed me in the final seconds for 62nd overall was age 51, only sixth place in the 50 - 54 age group despite his great kick at the end. What a difference a few years makes! I managed to stay in front of the woman that I had passed in the sixth mile, she finished 28 seconds after me in 64th place overall, to secure 2nd place in her age group.
Alternate ending:
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| I don't know how anyone could get lost on this straight out-and-back course. |
For today's heat management plan, I carried a 10 ounce bottle of cold Nuun on my running belt, and a handheld bottle that contained a lot of crushed ice, and a little cold water to fill the bottle. I wasn't certain that carrying the extra weight was good for my speed, but had a feeling that I wouldn't regret it later in the race. I didn't see anyone else carrying enough water to run a full marathon, but that was my plan and I was sticking to it.
 |
| "THE SUMMIT AT PIEDMONT" I hadn't noticed that earlier. |
Although both the 5K and 10K courses were out-and-back, it seemed like a long time before I saw the leading 5K runners returning, perhaps 13 minutes on my watch. (The 5K winner finished in 19:19.) After climbing the first significant hill, we reached the 5K turnaround. Only about half of the runners turned around, and a good number continued along the 10K route. Shortly before completing the second mile, we started up a long hill, 80 feet climb over 0.5 mile. I watched my heartrate pretty closely, and despite the exertion of climbing the mill, it remained in the low 160s, which was sustainable. Finishing the second mile in 8:50 (17:15 elapsed), I wasn't going to set any speed records today, but I felt OK, taking another couple of sips of Nuun at the top of the hill, at the intersection with Allgood Road.
Heading downhill, I didn't pick up much speed, but wanted to bank the energy that I would need in the second half of the race. Before long it was time to climb the next hill, on the way to Sewell Mill Road. I found myself slowing down even more than I had expected, but I didn't want to tire myself out too early, so I gave in to a 9:19 mile 3 (26:34 elapsed). And discovered that my bottle of Nuun was less than half-full! While running downhill I decided to add some cold water from the hand-held (no ice left) into the Nuun bottle. Other than the awkwardness of taking off one screw cap and squeezing water from one bottle into another, while trying to run a 9 minute / mile pace, I avoided dropping anything. Although I need a better way to transfer while running, that proved very helpful in the second half of the race.
Shortly before the 10K turnaround, I saw David Bloomquist across the divider, heading back to the finish, followed by Kilsun Hogue, who I hadn't realized was running today. I gave them each a wave with my free left hand. Unfortunately I didn't think to count off how many seconds ahead they might be until after I had made the turn myself. Now I could feel the heat with the sun on my back. I took another sip of Nuun, which was diluted but pleasantly cool. After another half-mile, I squirted a little cool water on my head, neck, and back. That helped for a moment. All the while, we ran back up the hill through the intersection with Sewell Mill Road, then downhill for little while, then working our way back up the hill to Allgood Road, the highest point of the race. I finished mile 4 in 9:01, 35:35 elapsed. Nearly three minutes slower than the 4-mile race a month ago, but the temperature was 25 degrees higher today. I decided that I just wanted to maintain a 9 minute / mile pace for the rest of this race.
The warm temperature was bothering me by this stage. I kept sipping on the Nuun and squirting water on my head from the hand-held bottle, now approaching room temperature. At a water station, a volunteer handed me a cup of water, which I promptly poured over my head - I still had enough fluid to drink. Another substantial hill, which I remembered from the course map: was that the last hill, other than the slight uphill going into the finish? Now I was occasionally sipping from the hand-held as well. Mile 5 took 9:20, 44:54 elapsed. I decided at that point that I would be happy with a 56 minute finish, but wondered what I might do better in my next two warm weather 10K races. I'm definitely carrying two water bottles.
We ran downhill for awhile. I managed to pass a couple of people in this section. The man was walking, the woman was still running pretty well, and I hoped that she wouldn't pick up her own pace and pass me later on. The sixth mile seemed to go on forever: then up ahead I saw the blue lights of the police cars marking the turn into the parking lot near the finish. Unlike my attitude two hours earlier, now I was so happy to see those police lights, even though they were at the top of a hill! I tried to pick up my pace, didn't really do much but perhaps that deliberate attempt kept me from slowing down too much. Shortly before the turn, my watch signalled mile 6 in 9:10, 54:04 elapsed. Two minutes to go!
I made a left turn on the approach road to the parking lot. No one was directly in front of me, but I sensed someone coming up from behind. I made a sharp right turn as soon as I entered the lot. I thought I saw a man dressed in white just behind me. Pick up the pace, I said to myself, and I surged ahead just a bit. Then he himself surged forward, passed me, and kept moving quickly. The finish line came into sight, but at that point I gave up, I wasn't going to catch him, and just ran steadily toward the finish line, crossing at 56:05 on the clock, 55:55 on my watch, 55:49 official. So I managed a sub-56 minute finish!
That run took just about all of my energy. I was soaked from head-to-toe, mostly with sweat, and both water bottles were nearly empty. But my conclusion was that I paced the race pretty well for the conditions (and for my current conditioning), and I definitely made the right decision to carry the extra water.
 |
| David 1st place age group |
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| Kilsun 1st place grandmaster |
Some runners got their results right away: David learned that he was 1st place in his age group, at 51:31, and Kilsun was the first female grandmaster at 54:04. However, my result didn't show up on the computer. I would have been concerned, except that officials tore off a strip from my bib as soon as I crossed the finish line, so I knew that they had a record of my finish. After I drank another bottle of water and ate a banana, I decided to stick around for the awards ceremonies. The 5K awards took awhile, and my cardiovascular system had recovered, so I decided to run a cool-down mile, which really helped my legs.
Finally it was time for the 10K awards ceremony. I wasn't expecting much, considering that today's finish was 6 minutes slower than my 10K personal best, and nearly two minutes slower than my best time on this course (54:02 in 2015, I had looked it up yesterday). As they called the male 50 - 54 age group winners, Kilsun offered to take a photo on my phone "when my name was called". I told her "I don't think that I'm winning anything" but reconsidered, as they were moving quickly through the names, and I might not have a chance to hand her my phone if I did win something.
First place: not me, no surprise.
Second place: not me, no surprise.
 |
| I've medaled four weeks in a row! |
It turns out that the fastest runner in my age group was 10th overall (44:11), and won the 3rd place male masters award. To spread out the awards, the next fastest man in the age group ran 51:30, 40th overall, to win the first place age group award. Second place age group went to 53rd overall, finishing in 54:18, and then I was 63rd overall out of 204 10K finishers at 55:49. The man that passed me in the final seconds for 62nd overall was age 51, only sixth place in the 50 - 54 age group despite his great kick at the end. What a difference a few years makes! I managed to stay in front of the woman that I had passed in the sixth mile, she finished 28 seconds after me in 64th place overall, to secure 2nd place in her age group.
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| Bronze medal |
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