April 12, 2008
Decatur, AL
Despite all previous beliefs that a short distance race should not be attempted on the weekend before a marathon, I performed substantial research on the topic. I found in Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas that a hard workout can be undertaken 10 days prior to a marathon. With the Boston Marathon on a Monday, I decided that I could capitalize upon my training and run the River City 10k in Decatur and still have 9 full days of taper and recovery prior to the race; so I signed up.
I had another good week of training leading into this race, finishing up with another Thursday night tempo run. This time I got to chase Riddle, Reneau, Caitlin and Dink for 7.4 miles before a cool down. I wanted to go all 10 miles, but thought it was best to cut the tempo off short, especially after coming in at 6:35 pace. I took Friday as a rest day before this race.
Another reason for the late minute sign up was the awesome weather forecast with temperatures in the upper 40's, floating into the 50's by late race morning. This is very cool for Alabama in mid April, so I wanted to take advantage of it again. Plus from what I have heard, this was a very flat and fast course; the fastest 10k course in Alabama...
I was coming off of a good performance last week with an 8k PR on a very difficult course. I had thought that it would be possible to break my existing 10k PR (37:49 set at Bellin 10km in 2006). I had several tiers of goals for this race, with each letter getting more and more difficult
A) Break existing PR
B) Run sub six minute miles
C) Run sub 37:00
There was a decent head wind from the west by race time. This affected us on the way out in mile 1 and would affect us on the home stretch, with this loop course. Starting out right away, I went out strong, trying to make an initial move on the group and possibly hold on late in the race. By the 1/2 mile mark, we were cruising along at a fast pace and were in single line form. I was very close to Marty Clarke, with Donald Bowman ahead of him, and then breaking away from the park were the top 3 runners, including Jason Reneau and Tyrone Harris. We went through the first mile in 5:51.
At this point I started to think that if I could continue to run fast in the early miles, I would just have to hold on late in the face (and fade) but still be able to break goal A. I powered through mile 2, but began to fall back from Marty. Based on the direction of running, I could see a shadow behind me. I initially thought it was Rob Youngren, but later in the race when I got a chance to peak I saw that it was Dink and he was making a surge. Mile 2 was at 5:50 pace. I was now 19 seconds ahead of goal C with 2 miles down. I was able to take some water in this mile, as the temps began to rise and my throat was slightly parched. Bowman and Marty both took water ahead of me as well.
Mile 3 was running mostly to the east with a tail wind pushing us along. This was the fastest mile, clocking 5:43 pace. I stayed within sight of Marty, but could not tell where Dink was. I could no longer see anyone ahead of Marty in the pack.
Mile 4 had another water stop, but as I made the corner, I dropped the water cup that was being handed to me. This turned out to be a fatal mistake that I would realize late in the race. The water would not have helped with hydration, but it would have helped to dampen my mouth and throat, which were now dry in the heat. The split in this mile was 5:52.
The second to last mile was around the golf course and the pavement went from a smooth blacktop surface to a rough grade. This bothered me slightly, as my push off was not as clean with each step. I came through in 5:50 anyway, knowing that as we would turn back into the wind late in the race, I had to make somewhat of a push here and then just hold on into the 20-25 mph headwinds.
I was running equidistant from Marty, but both he and I knew that even if I made a charge toward him, he would be able to outkick me in the end. I tried to push, but I think so did he. We came through the 6th mile with only a short stretch to go in 5:52, which would be just about race pace average. At this point I was doing the math in my head and I knew that even if I could hold in to 6 minute mile pace coming in, that I would achieve goals A, B and C.
I think somehow my GPS splits were slightly off, as in the end I clocked 6.28 in this certified 6.214 mile race. I still ran 5:50 pace in the last stretch, but clocked a slow 1:36. I think that after 3 miles, my GPS ran slightly long, maybe making my splits slightly longer than they actually were documented.
Splits
Mile 1: (255+254)=551
Mile 2: (254+256)=550
Mile 3: (250+253)=543
Mile 4: (256+256)=552
Mile 5: (254+256)=550
Mile 6: (257+255)=552
Mile 6.214: 1:36
I think that I surprised a lot of people with my 6th place finish. Not that anyone was paying attention, but I think if people were, they would have thought I would be more in the mid to high 37's and not a mid 36. My final time was 36:37. I finished 6th of 166 people.
That makes two 4th place finishes and a 6th place finish in my last 3 races. That also makes 2 PR's in 2 consecutive weekends. All of the training I have been doing is really paying off.
I was not the only one to have a great day. Tyrone came back to win, Shannon and Tom both PR'd. Plus Blake had a very good day in his racing flats and Caitlin was the #1 female.
I'd like to thank the fast guys and girls of Tuesday and Thursday nights for making me run faster than I thought possible and helping me to realize my potential. Somehow I have found another level to my running. Especially thanks for Dink for helping me and showing me that I can do it, if I try. You the man.
I hope that I can take this next level to Boston next Monday for the marathon.
Name Age Time
1 Tyrone Harris 34:13.9
2 Mitch Jones 34:38.9
3 Jason Reneau 34:49.3
4 Donald Bowman 35:47.2
5 Marty Clarke 36:28.2
6 Eric Charette 36:37.4
7 Dink Taylor 36:59.3
8 Caitlin Heider 38:15.3
9 Blake Thompson 38:43.3