"One Mile at a Time"
That was a mantra from the late Jerome Scales, an enthusiastic and inspirational runner ambassador for the Atlanta Track Club, who served on the Board of Directors until his untimely death from cancer in 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has limited possibilities for permitted runs on public roads, the race moved this year to a state park, the McIntosh Reserve between Carrollton and Newnan, Georgia. I ran a 5K there in August 2020, so was fairly familiar with the location and the route published for the race.
As the day for the race approached, I had some reservations about driving 75 minutes early in the morning, as a virtual race was an option. I was planning to run 12 - 14 miles for the day at an easy pace, and was not completely sure where I would get the extra 6 - 7 miles in addition to the 10K race route. And I wasn't really racing. But I decided that I wanted - needed to be around some other runners in a situation where I felt I would be safe with the strict physical distancing and mask-wearing protocols required by the track club.
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| Running in the age of COVID: temperature checks required before the race. |
75 minutes of driving in the dark was worth it. As I parked my car in the field around 7 am, I immediately cheered up to see the familiar signs, banners, and tents announcing an official Atlanta Track Club event. It was nice to see some familiar eyes and hair among the staff, even behind their masks. There was now enough light to get in a few easy miles. To my surprise, there were quite a few water puddles on gravel paths and in the field. It had drizzled a little on Thursday in Atlanta, but it must have rained quite a bit harder and/or more recently in west Georgia. I was glad that I had opted for my third pair of shoes, instead of one of the two newer pairs.
As I warmed up, I saw Jacque Hartley getting in some extra miles, even though she had just run a 39.3 mile race last weekend - very impressive! I managed a couple of loops on a portion of the race route that hadn't yet been coned, and then a little trail running along the Chattahoochee River. By 8:00 am, I had run only 3 miles, but my legs were warmed up and I was ready to take on the 10K. My goal was to practice running at my goal marathon pace, 9:45 - 10:00 min / mile pace. To work on pace discipline, I had decided on two go-slow goals: finish the first mile no faster than 10 minutes, and finish the 10K distance no quicker than 60 minutes. I took a position on the back row of a group of 25 runners starting in the third group, at 8:10 am.
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| (Top) One of the other heats, one runner next to each blue cone. (Bottom) My start: I look a little cold. |
Thanks to Atlanta Track Club for the photos!
The airhorn sounded. I started my watch as I began moving very slowly, even before I crossed the timing mat. To my surprise, the grass was frozen as it crunched under my feet. Fortunately it wasn't slick, but that meant that I had to deliberately force myself to go more slowly. About half a mile into the race, I was finally running slower than 10 min / mile pace. I found myself running alongside another runner, matching each other step for step. I started up a conversation, sort of needing to explain myself why I was running so slowly. His name was Jared, and he was also taking it easy, because he was recovering from a couple of stress fractures.
I was pleased to complete the first mile at a conservative, conversational pace of 10:08. I had hoped to run the second mile just a few seconds faster, but as we approached the Chattahoochee River, we scrambled up a bluff, and so that slowed me down just a bit, to finish the second mile in 10:25. Not a problem, this run was all about pace discipline. I waved to Tes Marshall, one of the course monitors in that section of the race course. The course took a little jog toward the river, past a campsite with a single tent where the campers were cooking breakfast over an outdoor fire. I joked, "Here's our barbecue and beer / fuel and hydration station!"
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| Nice trail coming up from the river |
We headed back onto the road, up a second hill toward the start-finish area, for our second lap. This time the grass had thawed, and the field was now a little muddy. I was glad that I was in one of the early waves, because this field was only going to get worse as the morning went on. I picked up the pace just a bit, covering miles 3 and 4 in 9:49 and 9:36 respectively. I started to get a little thirsty, and regretted leaving my water bottle in the car. I wasn't going to have trouble finishing, just wishing that I had planned a little better. But as I came through the start-finish area once more, I spotted a table with several dozen 12 ounce bottles of Dasani water. Like an elite runner, I swooped up a bottle without hardly slowing down, gradually drank down a few ounces over the next mile. 9:43 for mile 5.
I was doing well, close to marathon goal pace, not too fast. I was definitely on pace to finish just a bit slower than 60 minutes. And then I started to think, what if I speed up just a little bit in the final 1.2 miles? I held back a little, as I noticed that the ground was slippery only when I tried to run a little faster. But where I could safely do so, I was running a little faster. As we turned back toward the river, I picked up the pace just a little bit more. I started to think, maybe I should try to finish just under 60 minutes. No, don't want to hurt anything. But people will see my time on Strava, and on the Atlanta Track Club results page. No, this isn't my goal race, that's the marathon on February 28.
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| The track was a little muddy. This photo was probably taken later in the morning, well after I had finished. |
Anyway, going back and forth in my mind, faster / slower, there was the left turn to dash to the finish, at the six-mile marker! The grass was dry, so I picked up the speed. There was a woman ahead and to the right heading for the finish line: could I catch up to her? Yes! Keeping much more than a 6-foot distance as I passed to her left, I began looking for the finish line. My watch had signaled mile 6 completed in 9:14. I saw 59:4x on my watch, then 59:5x as I approached the finish line. Mentally I hesitated. The pace chart on the Garmin showed that I slowed down just a bit: crossing the finish line as I literally looked at my watch click past 1:00:00, stopping the watch at 1:00:02.2.
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| Other runners heading to the finish line from a later wave |
I guess I ran the 10K slower than 60 minutes. But I started the watch a few seconds before the starting mat and stopped a few seconds after the finishing mat. And later in the afternoon, the Atlanta Track Club official results showed 59:57. Did I succeed or did I fail?!
Ignoring my obsessive - compulsive time tracking, I felt good, and had no difficulty starting up again to cover 3 more miles, to total 12.3 miles for the day. Later on, Coach Carl told me that he was glad that I had some fun with the race. So in addition to suffering no injury, and completing the recommended mileage for the day, I'll accept this as a complete success!
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