Official Time: 1:37:56
Actual Time: 1:37:38
After going back and forth all week on whether or not to run this thing I finally decided to do it on Friday.
The plan was to head out and take it easy - putting in an 8 minute mile pace or more. And that's how it started. But at about halfway I felt pretty good about the effort and tried to turn in a strong reverse split. And that's pretty much how it turned out.
There was no chip timing so the time on my watch is what I'm relying on. Doing the math, it looks like I averaged 7:27 for each mile over the whole race. My first mile was at just more than 8:30 and my last one around 7:00 even. Extending that time out to a marathon would put me at right at a 3:30 race.
My official time was good enough to place me 71st place overall and 11th in my age group.
This one started out brisk to damn chilly. I arrived about 40 minutes before race time and it was still dark. I had my $3 Albertsons long sleeve shirt on over my running shirt and it was enough to keep the cutting edge off.
About ten minutes to racetime I draped the shirt over the lip of a dumpster and headed to the start line. Gotta say, without even that minimal amount of protection, every time that breeze hit it was not pleasant.
There were only about 700 folks in the race so the start wasn't overly crowded and the atmosphere was pretty laid-back.
I was expecting the panjandrums to bloviate before the start like in the New Times 10K but they just hit the horn and it was on. Most of us were a bit surprised when we heard it, to be honest.
I kept it casual for the first few miles. I was real wary of the calf and didn't really see the need to surge out ahead of things. I did do some passing but nothing agressive.
The route was essentially one long loop with a five-mile or so straight shot on the long sides. They had us in the inside lane with traffic moving on the two outside lanes. A few bozos in a hurry cut across our route to get into side streets but, for the most part, traffic was light and folks were understanding.
There were occasional folks on the route urging us on, mostly families waiting for someone to come by ("Come on kids! Lets go see Daddy suffer in agonizing pain!)
Since I wasn't running this one all out I never had that 'Oh God' moment but there were a few stretches I felt lagging. One biker stopped on the route gave me a high five on the way by. It helped a lot.
To avoid the major intersections at the end of the route, they had us follow a butterfly access to a bike trail underneath the road. These inclines, although not overly steep or long, were a pain. They really threw you off your pace at that stretch of the end of the race you wanted to keep the ball rolling.
My biggest worry, my left calf, performed better than expected. It was clearly still there but in the background and not overly painful. I wore the Asics and hoped the support would help keep the problem at bay.
And it seemed to... up till about mile 8 when I started to really feel it come to the fore. At about mile 10 it was pretty bad but not at the level of last Thursday when I cut my run short. I was going to give the race up if it got worse but from there on it kind of stayed the same so I gritted through it.
The other problem that emerged was the blisters on the ball of my feet that the Asics have become notorious for.
Overall I am glad I ran it. I got a much better sense of what I will be dealing with come Jan. 14 and a clearer idea on what needs to be worked on before then:
- Water stations: Walk through them. Spilling all over myself ain't a pleasant option with the chilly morning air. I don't lose really that much time so why bother?
- Fluids: I am probably going to have to carry a bottle to drink from for the first section of the marathon. The water stations are pretty far between and keeping the hydration levels up matter. Also, it's nice to have it there to help wash down the gels right after you choke them down.
- Pacing: Starting slow works. Having more in the tank later makes it a lot easier to pick up the pace when it matters. But, it is clear I have got to run the beginning at a good pace or it will give me too big a time difference to make up.
- Clothing: Gloves and chullo will be handy if the temperature is at all like this one was.
Conditions:
Start: 7:30 a.m..Surface: concrete/asphalt
Weather: sunny
Temperature: 51 degrees
Humidity: 13 percent
Wind: 11 mph
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona
Shoes: Asics Gel Kayano XII