Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Closing out 2015 with a Win!

My original plan after the EWEB half was to finish up 2015 with Club Cross Nationals in San Francisco. I, however, got some food poisoning and only made it about halfway through the race before, ahem, let's just say nothing good. It was a little disappointing because my fitness has been getting better and better since October. I decided to hop into a local 10k this past Saturday to try and capitalize.

The race on Saturday was part of the Eugene Holiday Half Marathon. That race started at 9 and then the 5k/10k started at 9:15. Due to construction on the bike path the course was on, the half marathon course had to change 24 hours before the event to a double loop of the 10k course. While it was impressive of the race to be able to make this change, it made for a more difficult run for me. Within the first two miles of my run, I was weaving in and out of runners all the way back to the finish line. It is really too bad because the course was a nice, flat, out and back on the Fern Ridge Bike Path. It cost some energy having to move around runners in other events.

When my race went out, one runner shot to the front. Another runner and I sat back 5-10 seconds or so. I did not know how fast I was running but my goal for the day was somewhere around 35:00, or 5:38 pace. I would have been satisfied with something in the 35:30 range, or 5:43 pace. The runner I was side by side with said that the runner in front of us was in the 5k. We were leading the 10k and by the first mile we were well clear of everyone else and not far behind the 5k runner. I hit the first mile in 5:34. This is 34:35 tempo for 10k. I just went out hard enough for this to have an adverse effect on my run. It would have been better to start 5:40-45 and then work down. By two miles I had a big gap on second but I had slowed with a 5:46 mile. 5:40 pace is where I wanted to be but I was already heading in the wrong direction. My third mile was a 5:51 and I went through 5k in 17:50. I was on pace for 35:40 which would have been a satisfying effort but after the turnaround I was pretty spent. I went out a little too quick and paid for it. It was the way that I got to 17:50 at 5k. Had I run even to that point, I believe that I could have run a little quicker on the way back and ended up closer to 35:30. I, however, ran a little slower the second half after miles of 5:53, 6:01 and 5:58. For a 10k, I would like my fastest (not slowest) mile to be from 4-5. That is a good point in a 10k to make a big move and then you only have one mile left to the finish. It was my slowest mile of the day. I split 68 in the last .22 of the race to cross the line in 1st place overall in 36:11.

I was happy to come in first but the gap to second was about a minute and should have been more. I did not run a smart race and it was difficult in the second half to keep up the pace without anyone to run with. I also had to move by a lot of people on the bike path during the second half of the race. I'm happy to get the win but I know that if some other fast folks in town had shown up I could have finished 10th. I was hoping to be comfortably under my PR- a 35:58 training run from back in spring of 2014. I ran 36:13 this summer for 12th place at Scandia. I ran 36:11 for 1st this past weekend, Place is a big motivator but I would rather have finished 5th on Saturday and have run 35-whatever. It was still, however, a solid run to close out the year, especially running for the win solo. I'm happy to close out 2015 with a win. 2015 was a strange year. I overcame the dizziness that had plagued me in 2014 and the beginning of 2015. I ended up with PRs in the 1500 and half marathon. I didn't quite get there in the 5k and 10k but I am very close. I am excited for 2016 and I am hopefully going to start with it off with a bang chasing a fast indoor 3k on January 2nd!

Happy Holidays!