RaceFest Recap

Time: 69:48
Distance: ~11.7 miles
Race: 33:59 for 1st

W/u: 21:46 for ~2.5 miles
C/d: 24:03 for ~3 miles

Meagan has a nice recap of the morning activities before heading to the South Park Mall for the race. We found a choice parking spot in the Rotunda lot and were half worried about being towed but figured getting the tow truck through the crowds would be a huge effort. I dared the facility to take my ride.

About 4 minutes into starting our warm up we spotted John Compton who was doing the same. We put in just under 20 minutes together prior to the race. I kept an eye out for other guys who would be near the front of the race, it's something that all road whores do.

I came to the starting line about 10 minutes prior to the gun going off and joked around with one of the race timers. Dr. Duffy and Dr. Greenapple were on hand taking pictures of the starting line. I gave Greenapple my toothpaste colored waterproof Gore jacket to cover up his Craft jacket (take that Meagan)! The field was split by a median with the half-marathoners on the right and 10kers on the left. Aaron Linz lined up to my left, another decent looking kid stood to his left, Meagan, Alice and Rebecca stood behind me. I had felt pretty sluggish on the warm up but seeing all the runners and spectators near the start brought some life back into my legs.

When the gun went off I settled in behind Aaron, John and a mix of 10kers and half-marathoners. I wasn't look to force the pace and knew the guy who had a 20 meter lead wasn't running the 10k. I felt relaxed on the fast downhill opening mile and wondered what the first split would be. The clock read 5:06 but my watch was 5 seconds back. That's the fastest mile I've run in weeks and would be of the day. During the second mile I found myself in the front of the chase pack that included John, Aaron, and the half-marathoner who would go on to place second. I didn't want to be near the front so I quickly dropped back and let the others do the work. Aaron started to fall off around the 10 minute mark which had me glancing over my shoulder several times.

Miles two and three are mostly uphill and the splits showed it. I was content to lead the 10k and watch John bridge the gap up to the leader who he quickly overtook. During the third mile I made a solid push to try and catch John before the split but could only get to within a couple seconds. At every turn I would I look over my should to see who was chasing. Dean Otto was at the 3.5 mile mark cheering for the runners with a big cup of coffee in hand. At some point around the 20 minute mark it started raining again but I was unconcerned. I went through 4 miles running over 5:30s and feeling comfortable. Aaron yelled that he was coming for me just beyond 4 miles but by that point I had about a 20 second lead. It was going to be difficult for him to make up that deficit in 2 miles the last of which is mostly uphill.

I felt strong the final two miles but knew I wasn't running a particularly fast time. My goal was just to make it to the finish line to collect some dough. I missed the 6 mile mark as it was on the other side of the road.

Splits:
5:11, 5:34, 5:36, 5:32, 5:21, 6:44 (1.2 miles) for 33:59 total.

After the race I cooled down with Meagan and Brian Pratt who finished third overall. Meagan and I swept the 10k each winning a cool New Balance jacket that we can't wear and some cash. During the cool down we looped back in time to see John take the half-marathon title. Scott Dvorak put on a great race and handled the weather challenges well. I'm content with the effort but know that I have a lot of work to do before my next big race at the Capital City Classic 10k otherwise I'll get my doors blown off. I'll need to run at least 2 minutes faster in order to finish with my head held high. The real work begins next week.