saturday, march 31, 2012
NABI Chasing the Sun 10K
Race: NABI Chasing the Sun 10KOfficial Time: 46:15
Actual Time: 46:21
Comments: Since January, I've been doing a race each month and extending the distance each effort as well. So I was due for a 10K and this one in central Phoenix fit the bill nicely. It's the third running of this race so it wasn't too large a field (151 runners but you had to deal with the slower 5K folks at the end) and the course was pretty darned flat too boot.
I didn't sleep well at all and was woken up at 3 a.m. by the asshole kid down the street riding his motorized scooter up and down the block. So I ended up just getting up and getting ready for the race since it started pretty early. The downside was I had that unpleasant overtired feeling all the way up to the start.
I started at the front and held a straight line as the faster runners eased by on the left side, then dropped in behind them. This had to be the smoothest start I've ever enjoyed in a race of any size.
The run went straight west for a full mile meaning the sun was in our eyes the whole damned way (well, it is the "chasing the sun" 10K). While annoying it did kind of help me focus on the pace because, for all intents and purposes, I was flat blind.
At the turn I could see again and get a better fix on the folks around me. There were three or four runners ahead of me and I spent the next mile and a half reeling them in. This really helped me keep my pace in the 7:30 range I wanted.
But by the end of the first lap (we ran the 5K course two times) I was pretty much on my own and my pace suffered accordingly. I lost a full minute on the next three miles and even a reasonably strong push at the end couldn't get me back under the 45 minute mark I was hoping for. But I still kept it under my old marathon goal pace so that's something.
Obviously, beating my overall pace in the 5K I did last January shows I've made reasonable progress but, yeah, it's tough to be overly excited given how far my times have fallen. The most encouraging thing about this race is that despite the slowdown on the back half, I felt pretty strong the whole way and in pretty good control of the run.
Conditions:
Start: 6:40 a.m.
Surface: concrete/dirt/grass
Weather: clear
Temperature: 64 degrees
Humidity: 33 percent
Wind: calm
Location: Wesley Bolin Memorial Park, Phoenix, Arizona
Shoes: Adidas Supernova Sequence
Injury update: My right hip and butt have been sore for a few days now.
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