Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

Today I ran my first 10K.  Well, it was billed as a 10K, but as I was timing my mile splits I figured out the "mile" between mile 5 and 6 was about .2 miles short!  So I ran 6 miles.  What it lacked in distance it made up in terrain, because the first and last miles were through twisty, narrow, somewhat hilly, and soft dirt trails.  So it was not a course to get your best time.  Of course, since this was my first it was bound to be my best time.

Anyway, my goal was to use this race as a way of figuring out what my 10K level was so I could calibrate my training toward my 10K goal race in the fall.  So the plan was to go out at a very controlled, moderate pace, hold it for three miles, then see what I could do over the last half of the race.  The one thing I absolutely did not want to do was to go out fast and crash.
There were 184 participants, not an overly big bunch.  I started out fast, well within the top 10 runners, though well behind the really good ones, about three of whom took off far in front.  After about the first mile I settled in with about four to five other runners, one of whom also was named "Steve", and who seemed to be known by all the race volunteers, who all yelled out, "Go Steve."  After a while, knowing it wasn’t me, I started to get irked.  I made it my goal to beat the guy.  Around mile 4 I passed a guy who looked about my age, along with a guy around 20 (it’s great to pass guys who are 20), and set my sights on catching the other Steve, who looked like he might be my age.  I thought if I did that I would definitely be the top over 40 finisher, because I knew the guys who were far ahead were a lot younger.  So I stayed right on Steve’s shoulder and felt pretty good about being able to catch him at the end.  With 200 meters to go, out of the dirt trail, I took off, and when he saw that I was going to try to beat him he took off too.  I was still maybe 5 yards behind with 50 meters to go, but I ran as fast as I could and beat him by .1 seconds at the finish line. As it turned out, his "chip" time was a bit faster than mine, because he lined up at the start farther behind the starting line than I did.  It also turned out he was a lot younger than I thought.
My finish time was 40:42.  Assuming it was about 6 miles, that’s a 6:47 pace, so I assume translated into a real 10K it was the equivalent of a little over 42 minutes.  Because of the terrain, though, I ran at least one minute slower than I would have on a flat, faster surface, so I would describe it as about a 41 minute effort.  That was good for 7th overall out of 184, 1st out of 15 Men 45-49, and first among all Master’s age (40+) runners.  I actually beat everybody over the age of 34.  I was very happy with that result.  I’m not completely certain but it may be the first time in my life I actually placed first in any athletic event, even in an age group, so that was good.

Next up is an 8K this coming Saturday. Since that race is part of the PAUSTF circuit, it will have a very competitive field.  I will not be winning any awards in that race!

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 3:13 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.