Cbus 10 Miler Race Report

Race day. Foggy. Warm. Humid. I put all of that aside and told myself that it was only 10 miles and the temperature wouldn't affect me that much over that distance. I dressed in shorts and a singlet and wore a sweat shirt to stay warm pre-race.

About 40 minutes before race time, I headed out for a short, slow warm up run. About a quarter mile into my warm up I realized I was already soaked with sweat. Even though it seemed cool the humidity was definitely going to be a factor. So I lined up with this knowledge in hand and I was mentally prepared to deal with it. I had also been warned that it was a pretty hilly course so I was ready for that as well.

I lined up about 4 rows back at the starting line and did a quick inventory of the runners around me. It was pretty obvious that there were a lot of seriously fast runners all around me. I reminded myself that this was a tune up race and I just needed to run my race and get as much personal information about my fitness out of it as I could. There was no need to try to go out too fast in an effort to keep up with the younger, faster guys.

The gun sounds and we're off. I settle into a reasonably fast but comfortable pace. We start out on about a quarter mile up hill and then a long down hill. I take what the hills will give me and run the first 2 miles in 6:54 and 6:59. My goal was to average 7:20 pace. I made a mental note that I had banked about 45 seconds and started wondering if I could maintain this pace for the full 10 miles. My question was soon answered by the severity of the first hill. Not a particularly long hill, just very steep. A few of the runners around me attacked the hill. I decided to play it smart and backed off the pace for the duration of the hill. Despite backing off, I still found myself breathing pretty hard as I crested the hill. Mile 3 split was 7:33.

We continued winding through a local park bike path and I couldn't help but notice that the course, despite being "rolling hills" was more up than down. I reminded myself to run at a controlled pace, keeping those around me close by but not worrying too much about staying right with them. Mile 4 and 5 splits, 7:17, 7:25.

I had noticed a guy who appeared to be in my age group, slightly ahead of me for several miles and I vowed to keep him in sight and eventually pass him. During mile 6 I did just that. We chatted for a minute or two when I caught him, discussing our pace and our goals and then I moved ahead of him, running mile 6 in 7:27.

I don't know if it was the continuous uphill running or if I just lost focus or a combination of the two, but mile 7 split was 7:44. I remember talking to another runner during this mile and asking her if she had ever run the Ashland Half Marathon because this course was reminding me so much of Ashland. In reality, Ashland is a much tougher course, but this particular mile had me thinking of Ashland. So maybe I just answered my original question about the uphill running and the split time.

Mile 8, getting tired, almost there but still so far away. I ask myself if I can keep pushing for another 20 minutes, and the answer is yes. I set my sights on a couple of guys who are a hundred yards or so ahead of me and set a goal of catching them. Mile 8 split is 7:31.

I spent mile 9 mentally pushing myself. Reminding myself that the guy in my age group who I passed in mile 6 is probably still right behind me and there is no way I can let him catch me. I'm still looking ahead and gaining ground on the 2 guys I had bulls-eyed during mile 8. My split is 7:29.

Mile 10. Suddenly there are 3 guys who came up behind me and we are all running neck and neck. I'm kind of pissed that I let 3 guys catch me this late in the race but I still feel strong and I know I've run a solid race and there's nothing I can do about it. They all pass me. I tell myself that it is OK because they didn't pass me because I bonked or faded, I'm still running my race.

The 2 guys that I had vowed to pass were still ahead of me and I was closing in. I focused on passing the first guy and finally did. In the process, i re-passed one of the 3 guys who had passed me. Little victories.

There is about a half mile left as we turn onto the final stretch. It's an uphill straight away. We can see the finish line although it's still a couple minutes away. I pass a runner and decide to pick up the pace. I'm still too far out for a final kick but I need to at least let that runner know that trying to stay with me is futile. The other guy that I was targeting is still ahead of me and at this point I'm not sure if I'll be able to pass him but he at least made for a good rabbit the last few miles.

I'm pushing up the hill and I can hear a guy coming up over my left shoulder. He's closing on me. I look at the finish line then look at my Garmin. Still .2 from the finish line. The guy is literally right on me. I have no choice. I put the hammer down and out-kick him to the finish line. A 7:08 last mile up a pretty decent hill. I finish in 1:13:19, 7:19 pace, hitting my goal despite a tougher than expected course.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this race. I ran smart. I ran hard. I had to dig deep both mentally and physically. I succeeded. If I can shave 10 seconds per mile or so for the race next month, I'll be very pleased. Great tune up.

Cbus 10 Miler Back Story

I ran the Cbus 10 miler yesterday as a tune up race for the Cap City Half Marathon next month. I wasn't really looking for a tune up race but a friend suggested it and in case you didn't know, it's very hard for a runner to say no, once someone suggests a race. So I ran the race and I'm glad I did.

A little background before I go into the race details. After coming back from a pretty nasty plantar fasciitis injury, I began training for the Las Vegas Marathon. I had a pretty decent training cycle and flew to Vegas confident that I would run a strong, respectable race. I was thinking 3:25 ballpark. Long story short, I was pretty sick the day before the race plus I still had the tail end of a nagging cold that I could still feel in my chest every time I ran. I ignored all of this and tried to convince myself that I would be fine on race day.

Race day started out great. I went out at a smart pace, felt pretty good and then totally fell apart after only 6 or 7 miles. It was very frustrating and disappointing but I realized that it was happening because I was sick and so I wisely made the decision to cut the race short and slogged my way to a very slow (for me) half marathon time.

My goal at the time had been to re-qualify for Boston and then focus on shorter distances for a while. I had been training for and running marathons non-stop for over 4 years and my body was tired and beat up. It was time to take a break and take care of myself.

About a week after the Las Vegas debacle, I saw an article about a New Years Day 5k where if you beat the race director, you got a free entry for the Columbus Marathon. I had never raced anything shorter than a half marathon and I had made a conscious decision to tackle some shorter distances, so I said, why not, and I registered for the 5k.

So I ran the 5k in 21:25 and did not beat the race director. I found this distance intriguing in a short-term, high density pain kind of way and thought, hmmm, if I could run a 21:25 without any 5k specific training, I wonder what I could do if I actually trained for the distance.

I picked a goal race and found a suitable training program and got to work. At first, I thought it was too easy. I was used to high mileage. But at the same time, I really loved doing the speedwork, and almost every workout was had some sort of speed specific goal attached. So I was no longer doing long distance runs but instead, short, fast runs. I really enjoyed it and before I knew it the day of my goal race was upon me. Along the way, I noticed that almost all of the nagging injuries and aches and pains that I had been living with for years had all but disappeared during the 8 weeks of reduced mileage. I felt faster, stronger, and healthier than I had felt in a long time. I felt ready to race.

That was until the night before the race. I started freaking out the night before the race because I still didn't feel like I had a solid grasp on exactly how to run this short distance and I felt like the margin for error was very small. I consulted my friends on Facebook and in a matter of minutes I had some very solid and useful advice from about 6 or 7 different friends. I now had the confidence I needed.

I went out on race day and followed the plan that I had formulated based on the advice I had received the night before. I felt much faster and stronger than I had on my New Years Day race and I ended up shaving a full minute off of that time. I was pretty happy with the result. I still had a pie in the sky goal of a sub 20:00 5k, but I also felt like I had done enough for now at that distance and decided to register for the Cap City Half Marathon. Which leads me to the 10 mile tune up race.