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.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 39:52
Pace: 9:57 min/mi

Comments: Much better weather today but still pretty chilly out. I waited a while but didn't want to put this off all day. I also did my daily upper body workout before the run. That is going to take a bit of getting used to.

No land speed record today. No negative split. The only big positive was keeping it under 40 minutes. But I really wasn't planning on having a world beating effort today. With the 10K on Saturday I just wanted some solid miles and not too much fatigue.

The real breakthrough was hitting more miles this year than I amassed in all of 2017. That might be more of a reflection on how little I did last year but I'm pretty pleased nonetheless.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 42:48
Pace: 10:41 min/mi

Comments: I intended to go out yesterday for this run but felt like butt the entire day. Kind of like a really bad hangover day without the hangover. For now, I'm chalking it up to the hard runs on the weekend and the travel schedule. I'll revisit that diagnosis if the issues drag on at all.

As a result, I decided to keep this one slow and deliberate. I expected a slog and a slog I got. It was also on the cold side which made things that much more miserable. But I felt good about the effort and I'll wait until Thursday to decide where I am at physically.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 37:49
Pace: 9:27 min/mi

Comments: Weird little run but, in the end, very satisfactory. I knew I had to get today's run in to meet my goals but found myself more hesitant than usual to get out the door. I also didn't follow my routine of eating at least and energy bar before going out.

I knew I had a pretty strong pace but, at the end of the first lap I was feeling like I might not be able to sustain it through the planned run (or, possibly, even finish). Then I got a boost out of the downhill and found myself cruising through the second half. I even considered going for six miles but decided to play it safe.

Split-wise, this was a very strong effort with every mile faster than the last. The sub-9:30 total pace was not my best for this run but the splits were far more consistent than on runs I've done this fast.