NE Roadrunners 10k

Northeast Roadrunners Winter 10k was today. I think it should be renamed, as this race brings connotations that Spring is here, rather than of it still officially being winter. Nonetheless, it was sunny, brisk and there was, like yesterday, a sharp wind blowing about the river.

Looking around at the start, there was no-one I recognized that would give me competition. There were maybe 200 runners, and upon two voice commands we were sent off down the bike path along Kelly Drive – 3.1 miles out and 3.1 back – sharing the course with the cyclists, walkers, rollerbladers etc. who usually are on the path on a Sunday morning.

Some guy I didn’t recognize surged to the front. I tucked in behind him and Kevin F. followed me, and we were off on a pace I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold. Lead Guy seemed to be keeping this pace easily, but I made an effort to stick with him in case he was over his head. Kind of like poker where you stay in with someone just in case he is bluffing. Kevin fell back at about the half mile mark (the bike path is marked every quarter mile) and I started losing Lead Guy a little before the mile mark, which passed by in 5:26. By this time we were battling the fierce headwind that Kelly Drive is infamous for at this time of year, a headwind that inexplicably will come at you no matter which direction you run in. The combination of the wind and a certain let down of losing Lead Guy slowed me down over the next two miles: 5:53 and 5:39. Lead Guy kept his lead, about 100 meters, but wasn’t working to extend it either.

The next split was the 0.2 in 1:15, which included the turnaround (5k in 17:31), and gave me an opportunity to see that third place was about 200 meters behind me, a good cushion but one that I was not comfortable with. So I picked up the pace to make sure I would not get reeled in and to try to finish under 35 minutes, which for some reason seemed important to me. This was aided by the wind, which for the most part was indeed a tailwind. Splits on the way back were 5:29; 5:29; and 5:25 – lonely and uneventful.

I came in second overall in 34:36. One second slower than when I last ran this race in 2004. About 30 seconds behind #1, a non-gregarious guy named Jeremy Adler who, upon googling his name, ran alot faster at USATF X-C Nationals a few weeks ago than he ran today, and almost two minutes ahead of the #3 guy.

I try hard not to read too much into this race, which was not run under the best of conditions and came a day after running 22 miles. A part of me hoped that all the mileage I’d been racking up would somehow propel me into doing an effortless sub 34 time, but this was not the case. More realistically, it shows that I am in 1:15 shape for the Cesar Rodney half-marathon next Sunday, and has me in realistic striking distance to PR or even get into the 1:14s. Other than that it was a good opportunity to stretch my legs.

And finally, the race, along with the 4 mile run to the race and the 2 mile post-race cooldown, pushed my weekly mileage to 91. The first time in my life that I had a 90 mile week. And it just happened, it wasn’t something I set out to do. Plan for this week is to go for easy mileage tomorrow, a track workout on Tuesday, and then start a mini-taper for Sunday’s race.