Doug's Run 10 km Race Report

Goal: not sure because of the hills, but thinking 42 minutes.

If you are a runner in Louisville, you certainly know Iroquois Park. A big hill in the middle of the plains, that was no good for farming or building, so the city surrounded it, but they never cut the forest. So we have this beautiful wilderness in town. Also, because it has a 2-mile steady uphill road, it is my favorite place to do my hill workouts. So I knew the course very well, and I must admit, I was very much afraid of it. To get the idea: the race starts at the foot of the hill, it goes up the hill, circles the top (but even that part is not flat), goes down on the same road where we come up, and then circles around the foothills, going through many "small" hills; but let me mention that these small hills used to be part of the KY Derby Half Marathon, and people always complained about the "difficult" hills at the beginning of the course. These are the same hills that are still part of the Papa John's 10 miler that I ran in the spring, and they are not negligible. But today, they were the easy ones.

There was one positive thing I didn't know about: the course had a net elevation loss of just over 10 meters (so it exceeds the allowed 10 meters for record eligible course). My (loose) plan was to run just under 7-minute miles for the first 3 miles, then try to average 6:30 (shouldn't be a problem for flat course) on the next 3, then all out at the end, and finish under 42 minutes (6:45 average).

The temperature was 48 degrees, and the sky was overcast, so it was perfect running weather. The parking lot was a half mile from the start line, so I got my perfect warmup by jogging to the start line, going back to the car to drop off clothes, finding a bathroom, and jogging back to the start line. I lined up in the front row in shorts and my lucky orange T-shirt (and my trusted Kinvara's of course).

At exactly 9:00am they started the race. They did make one mistake though that we only learned later: they forgot to start the clock, so all the finish times were off by about 1:20. It didn't matter during the race, of course. I had my Garmin to check my progress. I jumped out quickly as always, but then I restrained myself and let many people pass. I knew that the hill was long, and I can't kill myself in the first mile. I settled into this ~7 min/mile pace; but with the quick start, my average pace a bit faster.

Mile 1: 6:52

The hill continued into the second mile, and in fact it reached its steepest part. Up the hill I tried to pace off of a guy in a red shirt, but he pulled away on the steep part. I tried to accelerate some in the more flat portions in the second half of this mile, but my legs needed recovery. So I was just content not letting the red T-shirt disappear, and once I recovered by the end of this mile, I started to reel him in.

Mile 2: 6:49

A downhill portion here, and I just got relaxed and fast. I let my leg turnover increase, and when I felt even more recovered, I put in some power. I passed maybe two runners. We had some more serious climbs here (on the top of the hill), and it was hard to maintain control.

Mile 3: 6:17

Finally we were going down. A controlled, strong, downhill effort, but trying not to trash my legs. I think I caught the red T-shirt guy on the bottom of the hill, and I just powered by him. He told me in the finish "I tried to follow you, but man, you were moving!"

Mile 4: 5:58

We got to the foothills with its constant rolling terrain. It doesn't look bad on the elevation chart, but only because the big hill changes the scale. It used to be hard for me to run these in the spring, but I think I got better on hills. I was picking out runners in front of me and passed them, maybe two in this mile.

Mile 5: 6:20

I saw a guy in a white T-shirt maybe a 100 yards ahead, and I remembered that he passed me halfway up the hill. I decided to pull close, but I started get some side stitches, and I felt very tired and squeamish. I still got closer, but very slowly. We hit another incline, and I thought I would throw up. I just arrived up behind the white T-shirt, so I decided to stay on his heel without passing him. But he slowed so much on the hill, that just before the top, I charged out, and left him standing. I propelled down on the other side.

I saw another guy at about 50 or so yards ahead, but he pretty much matched my pace, so I thought I probably wouldn't catch him. Then I saw the 6-mile sign, so I thought: I got to try. Only 0.2 mile left. If I can't pass him, it's OK, but I got to try.

Mile 6: 6:18

I got close to the guy, and I expected him to speed up, but he didn't (or mot much). I passed him, and sprinted to the finish. It was far! 0.2 mile can feel pretty long...

Last portion: 51 seconds. Due to Garmin or course errors, this was certainly less than 0.2 mile, and I think I ran at around 5 minute pace.

Total time: 39:25. The clock showed something like 38:0x, but the main organizer immediately told us that the clock was off by 1:20. The exact time doesn't matter too much, because it was non-certified, non-PR eligible course anyway. It's still plenty hard, so I'm quite happy with the time.

I thought I was pretty well ahead in positions, but I haven't realized until the awards that I got 3rd place overall. I'm especially happy, because looking at the results, the runners behind me followed me only by seconds (like the last one I passed was only 5 seconds behind), but the next one up ahead was a minute away.

With this strong performance in my bag, now I must try for a PR on November 3. I think I will go out at 6:40 pace, and see if I can maintain it. Those three hills on the course don't scare me any more!