I woke up this morning at 0500 because Nathan let out a yell. I went to his room and held him for a minute but he wanted back in his crib to be covered up. I brewed a cup of coffee, ate a banana and got dressed. I met my neighbor at 0600 and we drove to the Fairgrounds, arriving at 0620 or so. I did a two mile warm-up, hit the restroom and stretched a bit. The temps were nice, 59 or 60 at the start.
The plan for today was to go out easier than I did last year and to try to pick it up around the 5K mark. I ran splits of 6:35, 13:22, 20:13, 20:54, 27:06, 34:08, 40:50 and 42:06 at last years race. I wrote them on my hand last night before bed so I had a reminder of where I wanted to be at each mile mark.
After the National Anthem and the start I settled into a relaxed pace. I had no one I was gunning for and I just made sure I didn't get caught up in the excitement. I hit the mile in 6:40.56, which was a bit faster than I wanted but I felt good and wasn't in any distress. I eased up heading into the park and let myself flow down the hill as we left to head towards the cemetery. I eased up the first decent hill and hit mile two in 13:28.01 (6:47.45), about six seconds slower than last year.
I noticed that Joy was slowly coming back to me at this point but didn't really care, I just wanted to continue to drop 6:45 miles and see what happened until I could make a push during mile four. I used another downhill to my advantage as I entered the cemetery and came up on Joy right around the three mile mark. I crossed three in 20:09.32 (6:41.31). Just as soon as I caught her she spurted away and I let her go as she is known to run negative splits. I hit 5K in 20:49.17 and eased up the hill heading out of the cemetery. Once I crested the hill I surged and tried to maintain heading toward the four mile mark. Last year at this point I eased up too much. I crossed four in 26:55.99 (6:46.67) and was about 13 seconds ahead of schedule. I caught Joy at this point and passed her for good as I surged down the hill but slowed down once I hit the last major uphill going into Lincoln Park. I surged once again as I crested the hill and started to feel a bit of discomfort. Instead of slowing I surged again and told myself I only had ten more minutes to go.
I rounded the corner to the five mile mark and passed in 33:39.86 (6:43.87) to find myself nearly 30 seconds ahead of last year's time. The last 1.2 is a bit muddled but I think I passed a guy, got passed by another guy and passed two others as I entered the gate to the fairgrounds. I remember clicking my split at the mile to go mark and aside from that I only remember snippets of the last bit. I remember rounding the corner coming to the six mile mark and passing in 40:18.69 (6:38.83) and being too far out to catch the two guys ahead of me. I gave it a good shot and ran the last .2 in 1:11.95 to finish in 42nd place (six worse than last year) and in 41:30.64, a PR by 36 seconds.
I ran from the "mile to go" point in 6:25.64.
Today's time puts me within 1:45 of my PR from 1997 when I ran 39:46 after a night of debauchery.
I placed second in my age group and I feel pretty good about my chances of going under 19:00 at the PPR. I'm thinking 18:45-18:55.
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7 comments:
Really, really awesome job. You executed a perfect race plan, and I'm thrilled for you. In my response to last Saturday's entry, I noted that you listed 41:30 as your 10K goal back at the beginning of the year. Congrats for achieving it.
As an aside, I'd just mention that I have great memories of Abe's, even though I often ran poorly there. Basically every year, it was the Sunday after the first week of cross country practice, and so it was a time of great anticipation for the coming year. Lots of high school kids were going to be there (though most did the 2 mile in those days), and I always wanted to see how we matched up. Typically, I was finishing an 80+ mile week, and inevitably, I almost always ran poorly there (though I think I had a good race my senior year of high school).
But that's all way off the subject. Congrats on a really impressive race on what is definitely not a particularly fast course. Can't wait to hear how things go for you at the PPR.
Awesome, way to hit your splits! Im looking for a 1st place age group for you in the polka pace race...beat Havanas cross country/band coach for me!
You better set your goals a little higher than outkicking Coach Caton. He's several years removed from running the kind of time you're after.
Thanks John. Visualization is key. At the risk of sounding New Age I ran that race in my head about twenty times the week before I actually ran it. It seems that when I really key in on a race like that I perform like I imagine. It really freaks me out.
Unless Coach has been juicing since July 4th when I last saw him I doubt I'll have to worry about having to sprint him down. He can still run low-20s though.
As for your PPR prediction, that sounds about right based on your time at Abe's. Don't let those bricks slow you down, and take advantage of the down hill and flat (I know, we debated this last year) last 1.4 miles.
I spoke to him briefly at my friends graduation party in havana briefly. He was drinking colt 45 out of a can. i dont think he knew who i was.
That sounds like Coach alright.
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