SafeRun 10K Raleigh, NC March 6, 2010
SAFE is Sexual Assault Free Environment. This is the second year for this race and I wanted to add a quick 10K check after my business trips and right before the half marathon in race terms. It also supported the premise that I wanted to hit 12 races this year and since I had not run one in January, adding a second to March meant I’d be “on track” with three races in the first three months of this year.
The race started cold. It was probably 38 degrees as I walked around. I’d taken the time this time to purchase some runner’s tights and a pair of running gloves. The Anderson Creek Club race just told me I needed to do a better job managing my cold weather running. So, I dropped a few bucks on some gear and here was my chance to try it out.
I came to the race alone. The second one like this and I understood. It was early, cold, and getting Colleen and Haylie up to stand in the cold to watch me run past them seems a really onerous task. Also, this was a pretty small race. There were only 22 registered runners in the 10K so unless I fell over dead I knew I’d finish fairly well. Besides, a 10K should always be less than 50 minutes for me and it just seems a lot of effort to get Haylie up, fed and bundled up to get her out there to be a handful to manage over that short a time period. Still, the loneliness (HAHA just like my blog name) sucks a bit. I’d like to feel like I had someone there to if nothing else talk me down as right up to the race I tend to be very nervous and when I’m alone I just pace. So, that’s what I did. I put on my headphones and paced around, stretching and doing what I could to warm up the muscles.
I hadn’t run much these past two weeks and I was even more nervous. I had no idea what this race would bring. So, when the gun fired, I started out at what I considered a fairly slow pace. Still, at the first mile marker, my time was just over 7:30 so I wasn’t running too slowly in terms of where I wanted to be.
The course was much more hilly than I had expected. They weren’t severe climbs, but they were long slow climbs. My legs started to ache and I could tell it was a direct function of not spending enough time running to hit the road for a tempo run. Still, I pushed on. At one point, I’d counted 7 people ahead of me and considered finishing 8th as a reasonable place for where I was physically. Of course, I did not realize until we completed the first lap (the 10K was a two lap where the 5K ended) that there were three people ahead of me running the 5K. That explained their pace looking so blistering.
A little after mile 4, I got passed. Sigh. I hate when people pass me, because it indicates I’m still struggling with the notion of the kick in my run. A second person passed me on the last hill, when my legs were burning so hard I thought I might actually consider walking. I just let him go as I was focused on not stopping. So, I had considered that I would now finish 10th which in a race this size was disappointing to me personally. Of course, that’s when I discovered the nature of my miscalculation. With the three people in front of me that ran the 5K, I actually finished in 6th place!
Final stats: 6th overall 47:52 total time. 7:43 mile average. I was 6th fastest male overall and the only runner in my age group. Because this is such a small race, they only gave awards to the top two finishers and the man that won finished in more than 7 minutes faster than I had. Effectively, his pace was such that he finished a mile and some change ahead of me. Maybe as much as 1.5 miles. I was mildly disappointed. Not in the race, nor in my performance, but in the cavalier way I’d approached it. I slacked off during the two weeks prior to the race and it showed. It made the race effectively a waste of a check point as I have no idea how I’ll handle the half marathon. I do know for sure that I’ll likely not be getting closer to the goal for a marathon, which was below 95 minutes for a half marathon. That also frustrates me more than a little.
Cheers!
posted by Derek Botti @ 5:34 PM
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