Four Seasons 5k/10k

Time: 114:29
Distance: 20 miles
Race Times: 5k - 16:13, 10k - 31:20

Rented a car late last night from the airport. Drove most of the way down to Dallas, stopping in some hotel parking lot just off the freeway. Slept for a couple hours before driving the rest of the distance. Arrived at the Four Seasons Resort and Spa well before dawn. Used the bathroom and should have stolen some coffee but didn't want to get kicked off the premises. It was an incredibly nice hotel in a decent location surrounded by a golf course and rolling hills.

I did my w/u for the race in the really nice neighborhood across the street from the resort. I bet a few members of the Dallas Cowboys live over there. W/u 20:02 nice and slow. Today's running is going to be more of a workout. Tom wants me to get in around 30k worth of work consisting of the 5k, a little jog in between, the 10k and then another 5 more miles.



The 5k was first at 8:15. The pace went out really slow for the first mile, partly b/c it was uphill but mostly b/c nobody really wanted to take the lead. There was a group of about 7 through the mile in 5:27.70. I was in yellow and surrounded by a group of Luke's Locker guys in orange. I never saw a two or three mile split so I just have the final time that can be found here. It was a little difficult to get moving the last 400m. My legs were cold and stiff. Clint Bell gave me a good run but I was able to kick past him the last 150m. After the race I quickly put my pants and long sleeve back on to head back on the course. I probably ran just under two miles in 11:44. Hit some water and a bathroom before getting ready for run number two.

Just before the 10k I saw that John Ekulan was there. However, one of his buddies expressed that he was only training two days a week. I wasn't sure how the hills were going to be or how fit John was, but I wanted to get in a good effort and win another $150. As usual, John took the pace out hard up the hill and went through the mile fast than my 5:07.70. Over the next mile I worked up to him and we hit two miles in 10:08.12 (5:00.42). We ran together for about a mile just settling into a decent clip. We made a left hand turn and were going slightly uphill when John just decided to stop, drop and tie his shoe. I couldn't tell if he really needed to tie the shoe, or if he just wanted to tie it. Anyway, that was the last I saw of him. I went through 4 miles in 20:37.73 (10:29.61 two mile split), 5 miles in 26:01.38 (5:23.65) and finished in 31:16.90 (5:16 or so). I'm not sure if the mile markers were accurate but there was a significant hill between miles 4 and 5. It also looks like I closed the last 1.2 miles in 5:16ish which I don't believe. Either way results are here.

Once I was done, I switched into the Nike Zoom Elites, had to take a few photos with the 2nd and 3rd place finishers, and was off to re-run the course. I wasn't happy about having to get back on a rolling hilled course, but it was going to be a good day of training. I hit splits of: 11:29.29 at two miles, 23:09.51 at four miles (11:40.22) and basically shut it down from there. The next mile was 6:06.95 and final was 5:55.44 for 35:11.90 total for 10k number two. I rushed over to the food tent to see what was left. Surprisingly, a good amount of bagels, yogurt and granola bars were still on the table.