Finally, A Decent Race

My running watch will hold 100 splits. I of course erase the routine training run as soon as I log the details. However, over the past couple of years I've accumulated about 50 splits that I've been unwilling to part with. They represent some fine days and some fine runs/races. My marathon PR was in there (20 something splits in itself), my 2-loop (Greatwood loop) PR was in there, my best ever 4.4 mile training run on the course I used to run in my old neighborhood, and many others. It was nice to scroll through the numbers from time to time and think, "if only I could do that again". Since this morning's 10 Mile Race was the first major race of the season I decided on the way there to wipe the slate clean and start over. My hope was that I'd have a good number to start the collection all over again. As luck would have it, I pulled it off.

The weather, while not perfect, was "cooperative". Upper 60s at the start I'd guess, and relatively dry. My strategy was to target a 6:24 pace through the first 5 miles and try to go negative on the second 5. But a 6:07 first mile got in the way. It wasn't uncomfortable though, even though I wisely backed off the accelerator after that. Somewhere early on, in either the first or second mile, I found myself running beside Mark Conran, a solid master runner. We exchanged greetings and settled into a nice pace, side by side. The next several miles were about where I wanted them to be - steady Eddy. I hit 5 miles at 31:53, a 6:23 pace, and felt good. Mark was still there. By mile six I was starting to think about what I needed to run 1:04 flat (or really just better than 1:04) since I had set a stretch goal of a 1:03 something. I knew by the end I'd need to be 1 minute better than a 6:30 pace so I started adding up all the seconds I'd been under a 6:30 pace thus far. Somewhere around mile 7 I told Mark what my plans were. By mile 8 we had 58 seconds of the 1 minute we needed. A 6:28 mile nine would just about guarantee the 1:04 if I could just do a 6:30 final mile, which I knew would be easier than a 6:28 mile nine. Mark was still shoulder to shoulder. He was working hard, but then so was I. Mile nine was a 6:26 - 1:04 was in sight now. Time to get everything that was left. I drained the tanks and Mark came in right behind me. Did I mention he's 48 years old, 4 years older than me? Two years ago he ran a 1:15 out here. He just keeps getting better and better.

The stats:

*I finished 41st overall and a disappointing 6th in the 40-44 year age group, but I can't do anything about the other runners. I ran the best race I could run.
*My 5 mile splits were (get this) - 31:53.45, 31:53.94. For some reason the five mile mat didn't pick up my chip. Too bad. I'm proud of that even pace.
*Total time: 1:03:47.
*Previous 10 mile PR - 1:04:30 (December 2005)

*Here are my mile splits:
6:07, 6:25, 6:26, 6:31, 6:24, 6:24, 6:18, 6:27, 6:26, 6:19.

A special note about my running partner, Steve Schroeder. Steve has historically done well in the shorter distances but hasn't fared as well in races of 10 miles or more. The pattern has repeated itself so many times that he had almost resigned himself to the notion that his talent was short stuff and he was destined to be an also-ran in the longer distances. I've been trying to convince him otherwise. Today was critical to the paradigm shift. Mission Accomplised! Steve ran his best 10 miler by 4 minutes! A 1:04:38. It's gonna be a great fall Steve.

Congrats to everyone who had a nice race today. Let's do it again in two weeks!