2009 River City Run 10km
Decatur, AL
April 11, 2009
Official Results
Every runner looks forward to a race where they can showcase their hard work in ideal conditions. Nothing speaks fast times more than the River City 10k in Decatur, Alabama. This course is very flat with limited turns and is held in mid April, when the heat and humidity are typically not a factor. If you happen to get so lucky to get temperatures in the low 40’s with overcast skies and only a light breeze, you had better take advantage of it because it will be a long time before everything will line up so perfectly again. If all northern Alabamians has a running resume, their 10k personal best time would most likely be at River City.
For the 2009 edition of this race, there was the added element of it also being the RRCA Alabama 10km State Championship, which meant that the competition would be fierce. The competition in conjunction with the perfect weather and course conditions left runners with an opportunity to give it everything they had and race all out for fast times.
For me this was my last tune up before traveling to the northeast to run the Boston Marathon. Last year at River City I had cut 80 seconds off of a soft personal best 10k time, running 36:37, which at the time seemed like I was flying along. I parlayed this uplifting performance in Decatur with a decent first attempt at Boston. Comparing my training and racing leading into River City 08 and River City 09 are like comparing apples to oranges. Yes I had the miles and the long runs and a few dress rehearsal races before my 6th place finish (of 168 competitors) of 2008, but that seems like a different era of my running career. Since then I’ve logged 3800 miles, run 44 races and drastically lowered my personal bests at every distance I’ve attempted. Modestly, I’ve gone from winning my age group to being at least in the chase pack behind the winners. The times are now faster and the expectations are now higher than they have ever been.
Lining the toe of my new lime green Saucony Fastwitch racing flats up to the starting line, I new that I was in for a fight from beginning to end. The field was not deep, but it was top heavy. In warm ups, I estimated that it would take a sub 37 to make the top 10 and a sub 35 to make the to 5. Based on my training and recent race times, I planned on trying to run a pace that would put me somewhere behind the top entrants, with David Riddle, Josh Whitehead and Tyrone XXXX figuring to round out the top three. I had gone old school with my race plan on this day, as I had done recently with writing my projected splits on my left forearm. Today the splits were not extensive, as it was my intent to run very even. I simply had written, “530ALLDAY.”
After an odd start where the race directing yelling ‘go’ did not coincide with the horn, which made the front runners take a stutter step instead of a good push off, we were headed down the road. It didn’t take long for David to state his case to win, taking off smoothly and effortlessly to a low 5-minute mile. He was chased by Josh, who notoriously likes to rabbit or front run at races before coming back to the pack. As expected, Tyrone chased behind, but surprisingly, Hirbo Hirbo was running stride for stride with him. I had competed against Hirbo several times last summer, losing to him in a sprint to the finish at Da Do Run Run, where he took me in the last 100 meters, and more recently where I crushed him significantly at Dam Bridge Run 10k in October. I knew he had been racing extensively, but I didn’t expect him to start so quickly. I followed along, running right at my goal pace as we rounded the first corner and headed out of the park.
I was completely taken aback when from out of nowhere; Heath White accelerated passed me and ran out in front by 20 meters. Heath had not beaten me since this race last year, as he had somewhat fallen out of shape. That said, Heath is an animal and has run amazingly fast times and won this race in 2008. I let him go past just so that I could keep running with even effort. I ran through the first mile in 5:32.
As we headed west almost half way through our second mile, I had noticed that our pace was slowing behind Heath. Somehow he was starting to fade already! I increased my leg turnover and ran past him, but in the process of following him, it has cost me several seconds, thinking that he was running where I wanted to be. As I ran by, he jokingly said, “This five-thirty stuff is not for me!” Not looking back to see who it was, a runner that had been running right behind me since the park exit laughed at this statement.
We turned made a southern turn and faced the steepest hill on the course that lead up to the two mile mark. Whoever was running behind me was staying with me stride for stride and said something about the hill, making a reference about the fact that it wasn’t a hill. In reality it is not a hill; not by my standard definition of a hill that I use in training, but when running at 95% of VO2Max, it seemed like Everest. By the time we got to the ‘summit’, the runner behind me had changed his tune and said that it was a killer! We rolled through this mile, with the slow in pace behind Heath, the slight hill and the beginning of the ‘middle-miles’ stretch in 5:39.
Our next mile was all about discoveries. The mystery runner behind me finally reveled himself to be John Nevels. I had known John for quite some time, as he had run on our 4 Guy Century relay team at Delano12 last year and from other races in the past year. I have to say that I have never been so surprised in a race, as I was by John. I hadn’t seen him much since his 100-mile race at Pinhotti in November and when out of sight, out of mind. I couldn’t believe that he was running 5:30 pace along side of me after two miles of a 10k. To his credit, he was not only running well, but he passed me and pulled out in front by 10 meters. This meant that I was now in 6th place overall, matching my place from 2008, only what would be 90 seconds faster if I could hold onto this pace. I used John’s display of speed pull me along behind, trying to stay within striking distance as the race progressed. We went through the third mile in 5:33, putting us at 16:44 through three miles.
The 4th mile was mostly a blur in my memory. Maybe this was because I was trying to just get through the middle miles and make it to the end where I could start my long surge. Chasing John through the neighborhoods was great motivation to stay strong and I came through with another 5:35 mile putting me at 22:17. This was far behind my 4 mile split at Damn Bridge where I had set my 10k personal best last winter, but I was still running strong on this day, whereas the last two miles in Florence where uphill, then rolling into the finish after going out at 5k pace in the first half of that race. On this day in Decatur, I was right where I wanted to be at, time-wise. At the end of the 4th mile we made our way out onto the main road and right into a headwind.
This headwind was the fiercest that we had faced all day. The wind had been swirling and seemed to be working against us with each turn, but now it had cranked up the intensity and it was standing us straight up. John clearly was struggling into the wind as he was leading and I was trailing, though not close enough to draft. I sensed that he was slowing, so I decided to pass. I knew that a passing move into the wind is not the best racing move, but I was feeling strong and figured that I had to strike while I had a chance. With his young legs he certainly would out-kick me at the end if I left the window open. I passed decisively, as you should, and opened up a small gap, before bring the pace back down to where we were before the wind. I ran through the aid station and made the left turn onto the uneven back roads of the park toward the finish. As I pulled away, John yelled to me, “Go get ‘em Eric.” I motioned back to him with my right hand in the air to acknowledge him and accept his words of encouragement. I didn’t know if this meant that he was going to drop off or not, but it was nice to hear. What I think he meant was that Hirbo was within line of sight and had slowed significantly, coming back to us whereas with a strong push, I might be able to catch him. Our 5th mile a slow 5:39. This brought our overall pace up to 5:35.2 pace with a long windy mile yet to run.
I was now running in the zone where my mind knew that my legs were working hard, but that I could sustain it for another 7 minutes to the finish. The question would be if I had enough to go out and get Hirbo, as he was coming back to me, but not enough for me to overtake without a sustained push. We were running on uneven footing which made it difficult to pick out a decent line, so I felt like I was veering side to side to fine a nice path on the blacktop needed repairs about 20 years ago. John had not fallen off at, but instead felt like he was catching his second wind and closing the gap quickly. After looking back at my 5:42 split for this mile, I realize that I was actually slowing down, which in combination of John increasing his speed, made that gap disappear quickly. It was obvious that I wasn’t going to close on Hirbo, but now as we rounded the final corner into the home stretch, John was again passing and moving ahead. I gave him the encouragement that he gave me a few minutes earlier and told him to go get him (Hirbo).
I think that John may have started his final push too soon, and as we again ran into the swirling winds again (now coming from the west). I was not speeding up that much in my final kick, but John started to slow. It was not time to think about this and analyze what was going on; we were in the last 400 meters and I jumped at the chance to run passed. I got a little lift from this and actually picked up the pace as we ran alongside the soccer fields and toward the final turn, and the finish. I was not looking back, but I couldn’t hear his footsteps behind me as we approached the crowd and I made the turn and sprinted toward the finish. As I crossed the line, I stopped my watch at 34:54. I took a few staggering steps trying to catch my breathe and John came through six seconds later. Our long hard fought battle ended with less than 1 second per mile of separation between us. I was 9 seconds off of my personal best, but I held 5:36.98 pace over the 6.214 mile distance, which was inline with my race plan. I had not left anything in the tank, and laid it all out on the line in this race, especially with my last push toward the end. I am very proud of my time and my 5th place finish and impressed beyond belief with John’s outstanding performance.
A few other notable performances were put in on this day as well and they deserve mentioning. These include Greg Reynolds making a wrong turn, getting lost and still running a sub 36. Emily Hardin beat Candace Jacobs and along with David, who outlasted Josh, each earned state championship honors. Training partner and overall good guy Marty Clarke took the male masters honor as well. I don’t think that I heard a single complaint about any of the fast times that most people turned in. Mother nature did her job to keep the conditions near ideal and the course did not disappoint.
So now post race, I am staring right into the face of the Boston Marathon, coming off a near personal best 10k time, yet feeling slightly under trained for the specific needs of the marathon. In hindsight I should have logged more long runs, more tempo runs, more quality runs at marathon pace and focused less on racing every weekend (River City was my 5th race in as many weeks and 10th in 11 weeks, with three of them being 50km ultra marathons). But I can’t change where I am, I can only do the best with what I have and do it on the worlds largest stage ~ The 113th running of the Boston Marathon.