February 13, 2016
Some friends invited Kandyce and I to run in the FroYo Run
in Tempe. It was two weeks before the
Phoenix Marathon, so we figured it would be suitable timing for a challenging
effort with enough time for recovery. We
both elected to run the 10k. In all,
about 15 of our friends entered either the 5k or the 10k.
Although I have run 10k many times in training, I had never
raced a 10k before, so I was uncertain what pacing I should aim for. Looking at my training data and talking with
some running friends, I decided that 42 minutes would be a challenge to hit
and that I should start out just slightly slower than the 6:46 average pace I
would need to hit 42 minutes and then accelerate as I warmed up.
The day was cool when we arrived, but by race time the sun
was up and it had warmed up just enough to take the chill off. I ran about ¾ of a mile along the lake shore
to warm up before heading to the start.
The race starts on the Mill Ave bridge heading North with a slight
incline. There were pacing signs in the
crowd and I kept moving forward to find my target time. There were very few people at the front of
the starting area. On my way up I found Kandyce
and a few of my friends, wished them luck and got ready to run.
At the starting gun there were maybe 15 people ahead of
me. I did not rush ahead; rather I just
started off in the pack and made sure I warmed up without any strains. As my heart rate rose, I gradually
accelerated and started passing people.
At the end of the bridge the route turned left and headed down a slope
to the main foot path and looped under to head East around the lake. I took care to watch my footing, but I
definitely let my speed increase on the hill.
The course leveled out and once I hit my target pace of 6:46, I tried to
hold steady.
About a mile in, I could see that there were six people
ahead of me. The closest ahead of me was
a woman about 20m away. She was also
running very steady and strong, but I could see that I was slowly gaining
ground. When I caught up to her, I
stayed slightly behind just for a few strides to recover slightly, then I
stepped on it to make a gap. After a
minute she was at least 100m behind. I
settled back into a 6:45ish pace.
The next two racers ahead of me looked like they were
running together. The taller/older one
in the rear was telling the younger one in front where to turn. It was as though he couldn’t see or read
because at times he almost took a wrong turn.
They were both running very well and I had to work just to keep the same
gap.
At we passed the half way point and started the second loop,
my pace was slowing slightly to around 7:00ish but I was gaining confidence
that I would be able to hang on and finish 6th overall, which would
be not too shabby and totally beyond my expectations! I didn’t know the ages of the runners in
front of me, so I did not know where I stood in my age group. At least three of the runners were 30ish or
younger, so I was pretty sure I had a podium spot in my age group. As it got harder to hang on to the pace, I
started to accept the 6th place and my thoughts swirled around what
was the least I could suffer and maintain that position.
I realized where my mind was going and so I switched my
thoughts towards trying to muster the mental strength to push hard enough to
pass the next two racers to move into 4th. I also thought that if I pushed too hard that I
could crack, they could pass me back, and I could also drop to lower than 6th. I quickly dismissed that negative thought and
decided that I wanted to see if I could win the battle of the brain.
At the McClintock bridge, the course turns North for a few
meters to get up on the bridge and then it heads South. At this point, I could see all of the other
runners in front of me. The leader was
well ahead, but still in sight on the overpass.
The younger runner in the pair ahead of me needed a little coaching to
follow the course though this stage so I was able to gain some steps. Once I was on the bridge, I was about 20m
back and it was a slight uphill rise. I
quickly decided to catch them on the climb and then try and gap them on the
descent. The noise of the traffic on the
bridge masked my footsteps as I approached, so I don’t think they knew I was so
close. When I was in their shadow, I
eased up just a bit to recover and wait for the crest of the bridge. Then as the slope started down, I accelerated
past the older runner and set my sights on the younger runner. I caught up at the end of the bridge at the
point where the course does a right hairpin and then heads through an aid
station before the home stretch. Again,
I took advantage of the fact that he had some difficulty following the course
on his own and stepped to the inside for the hairpin turn. Sounds harsh, but this is a race after
all! I did not grab water at this aid
station so that I could put some extra distance between me and them. About a quarter mile later I glanced back and
they were both well back. They didn’t or
weren’t able to respond.
It hurt. It was
getting warmer, there was about 2km left and yet I was hanging on. Even though it was getting much harder to
hold my pace, my mental victory to make the pass gave me wind in my sails and I
focused on keeping the hammer down. The
course had a few zigs onto the dirt so I had to be careful of my footing. There were people along the side of the
course and I couldn’t make out any racers ahead of me, so with less than 1km
left I did not see any possibility of moving up. Another check back and I was well ahead of
the two in back of me. Just. Hang.
On.
I somehow missed running through the FroZone water sprayer
tunnel. As I approached the finish
archway, I realized that the course was about 0.1mi short. I wanted to get an actual 10k time (OCD), so
I finished, and kept running through the end and along the trail to reach
6.2mi. Then I turned around and jogged
slowly back to cool down. I collected my
medal, some water, then went to watch for friends and Kandyce. I saw the pair that was behind me and I
congratulated them. I saw the woman that
I passed early on and she told me she tried hard to hang on but just couldn’t. She held on to her position though and nobody
else passed her. Then I saw KL come
through and a few minutes later TL and Kandyce came through.
A highlight of the recovery at this race is the frozen
yogurt of course! The medal was a silver
spoon. We checked the results and I
finished in 43 minutes flat for 4th overall and 1st in my
age group. Kandyce also finished 1st
in her age group and so did KL and a few others in our group. We hung around for the awards and received a
golden spoon medal for the age group wins!
The winner was EK, who I have trained with before, with a blistering
time of 37:48. The racer in front of me
finished 49s ahead, so was well out of reach.
All three ahead of me were younger than 35. The pair behind me finished 18 and 22 seconds
back and had the same last name, so I assume they were father and son.
I missed my target time of 42 minutes by 1 minute, which is
about 10s per mile, but I had a mental victory that I was very happy
about. I found I could dig deeper. I found that I could execute strategy to pass
with authority. I found that the energy
that comes from passing racers seems to compensate for the depletion of energy
that it takes to do it, and then some.
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