I wrote: "Last year I finished this race with a time of 52:29. This year I'm fully expecting to bring in about a 45 minute time. I've been training 6 mile runs at about 50 minutes, so maybe it's expecting a little much, but we'll see." - me
Official Results:
Overall: 26 Time: 43:41 Pace: 7:02 Age Group: 3/6 Sex: 23/70
I really could not be happier with the results of this race. I decided that when I went out there this morning that I was just going to leave it all on the course. I was going to push it as hard as I could and hope for the best. It wasn't the easiest strategy, but it paid off in the end. One thing that was different about this race was my focus. I got off to a fast start, bringing in the first mile at 6:41, and I really thought that it was going to hurt me later in the race. Instead of letting myself get down though, when I would feel my breathing start to get ragged, or my stride start to tighten up I would relax. I used the same method that I've been using on the bike. I mentally went through a checklist and relaxed my body and controlled my breathing. I concentrated on the little things that I could control and let the rest go.
It was definitely not an easy race. The race takes place every year at Lunken Airport around the airport and golf course. It is a flat fast course with long stretches of straight path. Along some of these stretches the path is lined with trees on both sides. This makes for some pretty boring running. It's kind of like running in a tunnel where you have no sense of how fast you're going. It made the stretch between the mile 2 marker and mile 3 marker seem to take forever. After that third mile I was definitely wondering if I had pushed it to hard early on. With a 20:41 for my first 3 miles I knew I was either in for a 10K PR or a blow up in the last couple of miles. Fortunately for me it was in those last couple of miles that I caught a break, or more correctly a break caught up with me.
A guy pushing a running stroller comes cruising up alongside me. I was obviously a little surprised at first, because he was cruising along so easily. I gave him a nod and made a comment at how well he was doing as he cruised by and right behind him a guy came along. He said to me "he's my pacesetter". I said cool, and let them move a little ahead. I heard one of them say something about a 7 minute pace. At that I picked up my pace and let the pace setter lead me in to the last mile. I hung with them as long as I could, but fell off a little bit in the last mile or so. Without that little boost though I probably would not have been able to hold that pace until the end. So my thanks go out to the mysterious pace setter that I never caught up with after the race.
Here are my splits from my watch:
mile 1: 6:41 mile 2: 7:04 mile 3: 6:56 mile 4: 7:14 mile 5: 7:13 mile 6: 7:05 mile 6.2: 1:25
With this new personal record I have really set the bar for the Thanksgiving Day Race! It has me pumped though, so with this 8 week training program I'm hoping to bring my running game up to the next level and maybe break 40 minutes.
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