Saturday, February 10, 2018

Dash for the Beads 10K

Race: Dash for the Beads 10K
Watch Time: 58:17
Official Time: 57:02
Pace: 9:08 min/mi

Comments: "Hey! Why don't I do a 10K?" I said to myself one day while out running.

"There's one coming up right in the neighborhood and I can just walk over to it," I said passing a sign for said event.

"It will be a nice casual tune up and a lot of fun," I said as the warm winter sun dappled my face.

I should never listen to me.

I'm certain the Dash for the Beads is a charming neighborhood event on most years. This was not most years. As I expected going in, it suffers from the chaos of smaller events. But this iteration of the event featured one really rough complication; the weather.

The temperature at 6 a.m. was right at 60 degrees. Almost ideal. By 8 a.m. it had plummeted more than 20 degrees. By race time it was hovering in the mid 30s and still falling. And there was a nice torturous breeze to go with it.

I walked over to the race and by the time I got there my face felt frozen solid. I knew I had to dress for the run but the throwaway sweatshirt wasn't blunting the breeze. Thankfully they had a warm event tent. I waited inside until about 10 minutes before the race start and headed to the starting line. It was just as cold as before.

Then the race start was delayed. We waited. And waited. And waited. I was not the only runner who started going into pretty violent chills. Finally, a full 15 minutes later we got to go. Of course I went out too fast in a desperate effort to warm up.

The first half of the race was a mess. A lot of hills (that I expected) which kept me from finding a comfortable groove. I did focus on keeping a constant pace on the hills and not letting the early ones burn me out. And I was still running too fast which didn't bode well for the second half of the thing.

Then, just before mile 4, I started to feel in control. It kinda came out of nowhere and surprised me. I found my pace was strong and I started reeling in a few of the folks who had passed me early. Then I ran into the hoards of 5K walkers complete with strollers, dogs and little regard for anyone trying to pass them. Dodging these morons took a good minute off my time.

I finished under an hour which was my unspoken goal. My average pace was in striking distance of 9 minutes per mile which I would be overjoyed over if it holds going forward. All in all, a strong effort for my return to racing.


Conditions
Hour: 9:45 a.m.
Surface: asphalt
Weather: overcast
Temperature: 38 degrees
Humidity: 88 percent
Wind: 3 mph gusts
Location: Dallas, Texas
Shoes: Brooks Glycerin 15

Injury update: nada