Saturday, October 31, 2009

10K (6.2 Miles) Race Report

My wife is away in New Mexico visiting family so I was all by my lonesome this morning. The race was the Monster Mask 5k/10k at the Sam Houston Race Park. It is about 25 minutes from the house. For breakfast I had a whole wheat bagel with Peanut Butter and a 100 calorie muscle milk I left around 6 am and stopped for some coffee at a gas station and then was on my way.

The temperature when I left the house was 47 degrees. That is downright cold to us Texans so I layered a couple of shirts and a jacket but still wore shorts. I figured I could drop the clothes off at my car before the race started. I got there and the packet pickup was nice and smooth.

The 5k was first at 7:30 and then the 10k at 8:15. I tried to get into the 5k but it was too late and they wouldn't let me do it. So, I just did an easy warm up run while the 5k was going on.

At about 5 minutes after 8am we started lining up for the 10k. I wasn't sure where to line up so I started in the middle of the pack. This was probably a mistake because it took me over a minute to even get to the start line. I was not sure if the time started at the gun or when I crossed the start line. Luckily I had on my Garmin so I started the time when I hit the start line. Now I realized I was actually a lot faster than I thought because I was bobbing and weaving around all the people who started in front of me. After a mile I looked down at my Garmin and saw I did the first mile in 7:50. Not bad considering all the lateral running I was doing passing people!

The 2nd and 3rd mile had us swing back around to the start line and then run under a road and through an underground tunnel and then loop around a lake. We did this twice. Around mile 5 I was feeling a little uncomfortable and my heart rate was at 185 bpm! If this was a training run I would have backed off some but since this was a race I decided to push it! My last mile split was 7:25!

Overall I finished the 6.2 miles in 46:31. This is a pace of around 7:30/mile. Both of these are personal records for me and I was very pleased with my results. The official times or results have not been posted on the website yet but I think I did pretty well overall and in my age group. I passed a ton of people and I was only passed one time the entire race! According to the website there were 920 people registered. I think that included 5k only runners too so I am not sure how many were in the 10k. I will let you know when the results are posted!

Tomorrow morning I am planning on running 15 miles. I feel pretty good now and with the extra hour of sleep (turn back your clocks!) I should be okay. If I wake up tomorrow and feel beat I might postpone the 15 miler!

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff
*** Update ***
Results are in and I finished 37/320 overall and 9th in my AG. My chip time was 46:20! Not sure how many were in my AG, hopefully that will be updated soon!

5 comments:

  1. AWESOME!!! I had the same experience with my 5k that I did a while back where you need to weave in and out of the pack to the starting line. Like yourself, I am not sure how the start is marked (starting gun or chip). I didn't hear any chips going off during the start so I think it was the gun.

    Anyway, congrats on your PR. I had a feeling that you were going to hammer the run. Somehow, race day makes one go faster. You definitely have found your niche in this whole fitness thing. Since you are doing so well with your running I can now live vicariously through you!!!

    I am impressed that you are going to do 15 miles after you 10k today. Good luck on your run tomorrow.

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  2. Boomer - I am starting to feel a little beat not sure if the 15 is going to happen!

    I finished 37th out of 320. It is amazing at how far we have come since we began this whole crazy fitness thing!

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  3. Jeff Great write up! Congrats on your new PR. Wow those were some pretty fast miles. I need to do another 5k or 10k soon. Thanks again for the inspiration.
    Chuck

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  4. Whoa! 37 is a great position. Congrats big time my friend.

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