Home Run 10K Race Report

Bernheim Forest, near Clermont, KY. Goal: 42 minutes. Plan B: just PR (break 44:26).

The race was about a 40-minute drive from our house, so I got up at 6:00, and left home at 6:50. The race was scheduled to start at 9:00, and I also wanted to stop by a supermarket to buy a bottle of Gatorade. With all the race time crowd and parking complications, it was 8:00 by the time I parked, found the start, the port-a-potty, and was ready to focus on the race. Started the warmup at 8:30. It was still below 40 F, so I debated if I should wear long pants. I decided on shorts, long sleeve shirt and cap.

I lined up close to the front at around 8:55, but they had some technical difficulties with the sensor mats at the start, so they delayed the start until 9:07. The 5K and the 10K started together, so the start was a bit crowded, but the folks were surprisingly polite. At 9:07 off we went. The race started with a short uphill section, but the adrenaline was pumping hard in me, so I hardly noticed. After about 1/2 mile, we were going down a hill for about 1/2 mile, then up again. In fact the whole race course was like this: basically there was no flat section, just up-down-up-down. The first mile was a bit nervous altogether, and I tried really hard to stop the urge to go out too fast.

Mile 1: 6:31.

I planed to run the first few miles at a pace of 6:45, so this was too fast. I tried to go a bit easier in the second mile, and when we hit a steeper hill in the second half, I made sure I don't kill myself on it. The field has spread out, and I was only running with a small group of about 5-6 people.

Mile 2: 7:04.

The rolling hills continued and I saw my pace slowing dramatically (my average pace was 6:50 at one point in this mile), though I had an extra reason to be optimistic: I observed that my Garmin was underestimating the distance. I was hitting the mile markers earlier than my Garmin indicated. During the race I wasn't sure if it was the Garmin or the course, but now I have reasons to believe that the course was correct and the Garmin wrong. I know they measured the course with wheel, and the race was in a forest, so the GPS data is not that accurate (I know this for sure - when I look at the downloaded reference points, they are clearly off sometimes.) Also, the GPS doesn't take the hills into account. So at this point I just thought: if I can keep the average pace at or below 6:50, I can still run 42 minutes. The mile ended with a steep downhill. At the end of the mile, the 5K runners branched off so the race got a lot lonelier, but I didn't mind.

Mile 3: 6:45.

The next mile started with a steep uphill (elevation gain of 100 ft), and then a shorter downhill (elevation loss of 30 ft) (in fact it was even worse, because the downhill had a short up section in it). An older guy ran right behind me for most of the mile. Close to the 4th mile marker he pulled up by me and asked: "Are you struggling, too?" I said: "No, I'm OK." Then we ran a bit together.

Mile 4: 6:58.

The next mile started with a long, killer climb, and by this time I was really fed up with the hills. "Struggling guy" passed me and pulled away up on the hill. There was a turnaround point at about half of the mile, and the volunteer said at the turnaround "It's all downhill from here", which wasn't true, of course. But at least the second half of the mile was going down. I tried to accelerate, but I was nearly spent.

Mile 5: 6:56.

The last mile was mostly downhill, but it did have a nasty climb in the middle. I was close to my breaking point. I was afraid to start a kick, because I though I might totally die before the finish line. "Struggling guy" was almost out sight, and nobody was close behind. But at least by this point I knew I would at least PR. Since I didn't have much idea about the accuracy of my Garmin, I wasn't sure what my real average pace was.

Mile 6: 6:36.

For the last 0.2 mile, the 5K runners rejoined the course, which was a terrible idea. Do you know how it is when you meet the 42-minute 5K crowd at the last moments of a 10K? Walkers, all around the place, and so much confusion that I wasn't even sure where to turn toward the finish line (people were walking back, forth, and across the road everywhere). I had to ask at one point what direction the turn was. The last 0.1 mile was another climb giving the course a net elevation gain. Still, I ran the last portion in about 36 seconds, which my Garmin measured to be 0.1 mile. This means a 6 min/mile paced sprint.

Total time: 41:26, beating my expectation, my road and training PRs.

A note on the mile paces: since my Garmin was not that accurate, most likely each mile was in fact a bit faster.

Post-race food was bagels, banana, some other pastries, and water. Simple and effective. It was really cold once I wasn't running, so I went back to the car to change. We had to wait for quite long for the results, and when they arrived, they were all messed up. Apparently many 5K runners were in the computer as 10K runners. The organizers claimed they changed their minds midrace, but it is hard to believe that so many people did that. When they announced the 3 winners of the 10K, it turned out that all 3 were in fact 5K runners. They corrected this error, and then the announcer decided not to read the age group awards, but they just directed us to a table, where they posted the results, and everybody was to pick up their own prize. I appeared as 2nd place in my age group, so I was about the pick up the second place prize, but then some people told me that the "1st place" runner was in fact a 5Ker. After they said they were absolutely positive (they knew the guy, he was on their team), I surrendered my 2nd place prize to the "3rd" place runner and I picked up the 1st place prize (which is, by the way, a very nice framed certificate). What a mess! Poor 3rd place runner probably never knew he won.

All in all I am very satisfied. I PRd, broke my training 10K record, won my age group, and I ran 41:26 on a quite difficult course. And all this on only 35 MPW, and no speedwork, in the base building phase of the half marathon training. I am starting to think that with more specific training, a flat course, and some time for improvement, a sub-40 10K might be a possibility.