Deseret News 10K
I was not thrilled to get up at 4:30 for a race, but what can you do? I made it to the starting area in plenty of time to hit the port-a-pot before the long lines. I met up with the usual Logan guys + chad and did an easy 2 miles to warmup.
The race started off as expected, with old ladies in front and kids sprinting. Once that got ironed out, I settled into staying close to James. He slowly left me in the dust. This course is pretty dang fast with the first 5K loaded with downhill. I went thru the first mile in 5:14 and felt in control. I repeated the effort and was rewarded with another 5:15 second mile. I felt like I was on cruise control as occasionally during the flatter sections, my pace slowed and I wasn't able to get the legs moving. Its a good thing the course is downhill, as I didn't have much pep.
The third mile was much slower as the major hills stopped. 5:39. On a good note, I passed thru the 5K point in about 16:30 - a PR for the distance, but it cost me. I actually planned on going that fast in the hope that I could hang on for a great time, but it just didn't materialize. My fourth mile was run in 5:39 again, but I was losing it.
I think that about at this point, I went on auto-run and didn't make any effort to push the pace. I kind of slipped into mildly-painful mode instead of death-march mode that I need to be in. I need to get past the pain threshold. My fifth mile was a "stellar" 5:49. I did enjoy making faces at the parade folk camping out and had thoughts of cruel ways to wake them up (losing my stomach contents on them, stepping on the sleeping bags while singing BINGO). I think I was losing concentration or something. I tried to pick it up the last mile to catch the group in front of me, but I had nothing. 6:04 for the 6th mile and that made me mad. Mad enough to give a bit of a kick even though no one was around me. 1:08 for the last .21. My watch read 34:49 but the official results say 34:51.
Overall, I fell I had a good race. It wasn't what I had hoped for, but not too far off. I figured I would be between 34 and 35 minutes. I think I left some of my race at Draper Days last sat. I can't complain about a 3 min PR even if it was on a favorable course.
Things to work on: Focus and have positive thoughts. I think I need to incorporate more shorter tempos (3 miles really hard) to train myself to push past the pain threshold.
Total Time: 34:51 (5:37 miles)
Ave HR: 181 Max HR: 193
Place 49/2034 Age Group 9/128
After the race, Paul, James, Chad, Adam and I ran up to the zoo to try and cheer on the marathon guys. We totally missed them (Sasha, Steve O), but saw many people suffering along so we counted that. Ran about 5 miles for the cooldown then drove over to Chads house for some grub. Thanks Chad!
Post Edit: After reviewing the Online Results (as compared to the results printed at the race, my time has been adjusted to 34:49 (chiptime). I will now call my official time 34:49 | 