Mebane on the Move 10K, September 12, 2009

I told myself as part of the training that I’d need a couple of checkpoint races.  Something to assess how well or how poorly the training had been going.  After two really bad respiratory infections (one massive sinus infection and one acute tonsillitis) I realized that I was tearing my body apart and massively scaled back my training regimen.  I had to accept that it was my own fault my body was broken and that the two infections had ravaged my body over the summer.

Mebane is a small town about 50 miles from the house.  That meant we had to get up pretty early and I always feel guilty about having Haylie up early to haul her into the car for one of these.  Still, I don’t know how to do it any other way short of Colleen not really running and I like that she’s at least willing to run the 5K portion of these races.  So, we’re up before dawn to drive to this race.

I was a bit nervous.  I hadn’t run competitively since the Mother’s Day race in Garner, and my legs were still sore, especially in the knees from trying to push myself in the wrong way for the half marathon.  I just wanted to be able to remind myself that despite the feeling that I’d destroyed my body, I was still in reasonable shape; that I still had it in me to run a competitive race.

The race started and I was off.  Despite feeling that both knees hurt and my hips were tight, once the running started, I didn’t really notice it.  I hate my headphones.  The ear buds didn’t do well with the amount of sweat and these new ones don’t fit tightly enough so I can hear roar as I run.  Oh well, I’m supposed to focus on the running anyway.  Something was different though this time.  I didn’t look for a shoulder to follow.  I wasn’t trying to use someone else’s pace.  I was running my race.  A couple of runners did try to pace with me, but I mostly ignored them as well.  The run wasn’t a significant challenge over the first 5K.

Made the turn where the two deviated.  This was actually my first race where both started at the same time and I suddenly realized that I was being paced by 5K runners, and they were no longer anywhere near me.  I was somewhere in the top 20!  Was I sure of that?  I could no longer see the lead runner for the 10K, but I was pretty sure there were no more than 20 ahead of me.  I disappeared from the 5K runners with a renewed zeal.  My legs didn’t feel nearly as heavy.

Ugh!  Hills!  I had never been in Mebane, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there seemed to be a lot more hills than I wanted. LOL I think this is my fatal flaw in treadmill training.  I’m not effectively training for hill ascent and descent.  Still, I managed a couple of passes and continued at what seemed to me a fairly consistent pace.  A Grand Master runner passed me and for the first time in the race, I thought about him being my “shoulder to follow” which is how I describe a runner that is running either slightly ahead of my pace or at my pace in front of me that I don’t want to lose sight of.  Unfortunately, that was about mile 5 and I realized his pass was likely to stick.  I didn’t see how I’d be able to catch him and his distance in front of me, while growing quite slowly, was growing.

By the 6 mile mark, I realized I had nothing left for the kick.  Another flaw in my training.  A friend of mine that ran cross country in school told me the premise was to run the second half faster than the first.  There would be no such thing here.  I couldn’t even be sure I’d run it in the same time.  My legs were heavy and as I crossed the finish line I was glad the race was over.  Still, I was really happy.  At mile 4, the race looped and I got to see the lead runners, and a good bit of those ahead of me.  I had finished in the top 20 overall!  My first top 20 finish in a race since I started.  NICE!  My time?  The slowest I’d run all year at 46:29, a pace of 7:30.  I finished 18th overall and 2nd in my age group.  Another gift certificate for my efforts!!

I could not believe how well I did.  I was really surprised by how this race went.  I needed this race.  I’m in better shape than I had considered and still in a good place.  I love the 10K distance!!  I am sure this will be my preferred race distance moving forward.

Cheers!