Saturday, June 4, 2016

Run for the Animals 10k - 2016 Race Recap

As I mentioned in my previous post - after putting in a monthly and weekly PDR prior to this year's Run for the Animals - I didn't want to just best my 10k PR (<38:10).


I wanted to demolish it. 


Pre-Race
However, in order to demolish anything I needed to get out of bed and get ready to race! After a 5 a.m. shakeout run of two miles in the city, I jumped in my car and headed out to the 'burbs. My dad had picked up my bib along with his bib (for the 5k) earlier in the week, so I met up with him at his house, put on said bib, and we headed over to the race in downtown Wheaton. After reaching the start area, I went for a half mile warmup with some striders. This was going to be the hottest, most humid race of the year - and I was starting to sweat, which is not a good sign, but I have felt hotter prior to other races.

My strategy was to negative split by running two six minute miles then gradually pick-up the pace and see what I had left after the mile two marker.

The national anthem was sung and we were off!

The Race
Mile 1: This was a dual 5k and 10k, so per usual, I had to relax and let the hordes sprint by me at sub 5 minute pace over the first 200 yards and then watch as a lot of them fell back behind me. Right before the mile "1" marker, a guy in my age group tried to make a move to pass me. As he came up alongside me, I could hear that his breathing was labored and yet mine was barely audible. I knew he was in trouble, but I still couldn't in good conscience let him pass me. I sped up slightly and I didn't see (or hear) him again until the race was over. 5:57/mile.

Mile 2: I started catching up to people I had seen way down the road earlier. 5:58/mile.

Mile 3: Things started to really spread out and then suddenly the 5k and 10k course split and I was running behind only one guy. 5:57/mile.

Mile 4: I passed that guy and there seemed to be a big gap between me and the next guy. So, I had to really focus on the arrows painted on the road to make sure I didn't make a wrong turn. Also, it was getting hot. When I grabbed water I'd take a sip, then splash the rest on my face for some brief relief. 5:54/mile.

Mile 5: The wind was entirely to my back this mile and it shows in my split. As we made the turn around a lake, I sped by the final runner that I would pass in the race. 5:50/mile.

Mile 6: The tailwind became a headwind, which offered relief from the heat, but also was working against my tiring legs. I knew I had a PR in the bag, but could sense I was slowing down and was afraid that it would result in a somewhat ugly positive split. I ignored my watch and tried to muster any speed that was left in my legs. I hate slowing down near the end of races! 6:03/mile.

Mile 6.21: Down the homestretch I could feel the burn in my lungs and my legs. It's no wonder - I have never held a sub-6:00 average pace over six miles! Soon enough I was almost at the finish line and glanced over at the race clock to see my time, but the clock was turned off for some reason. I stopped my watch and was done.  5:39/mile.
Finishing strong into the wind (see the flag on the left)!
Race Summary: 
  • Official Time: 36:49.393. Official pace: 5:56/mile
  • Overall Place: 12th out of 671
  • Age Place: 3rd out of 40 (another CARA race podium)
  • Fifth PR in a row in five different distances this year
  • Beat my PR by 1 minute and 20 seconds = PR demolished!
  • Mission accomplished!
Soaking up the PR
Post-Race:
I grabbed a cup of water and looked down at my watch to see what my finishing time was since the race clock at the finish line was blank. I saw that the first two numbers on my watch read "36" and instead of drinking my water I threw it up in the air for joy. One of the volunteers who saw me do this said to me, "PR?" and I said "Yes! Big time!" and she congratulated me. Then I gleefully skipped over to the results tent to get my results. After standing in line for 5 minutes, the results official told me that the 10k results weren't ready. When I went finally got the results printed out 10 minutes later, the piece of paper said I ran a 41:07!! I could see other people staring incredulously at their results and after speaking with them, they said their results were also wrong. I was not happy since I had actually PR'd and wanted the official results to reflect my real time. It made me feel slightly better that at least I wasn't the only one with incorrect results.

Since there was nothing I could do about my official time at the moment, I headed over to run the kids' 1/2 mile race with my niece and nephew. I ran most of it with my nephew who shot out fast and then had to slow way down. I tried not to coach him too much, but when he made a move (jokingly) to run on the grass to take a shortcut, I told him that I would 100x rather have him walk than to cut the course short. After he finished, I turned around and ran back to run with my niece and dad who were just finishing up. The crowd support was great for the kids and they each got a medal and a cool neon colored shirt.
Three generations of runners (10k, 5k and 1/2 milers)
We all went to breakfast at a nearby diner. After that I walked back to the post-race area to check my results and saw that they had finally posted my correct time on the results wall. There must have been a big computer snafu and hopefully they can get it straightened out by the next race. Anyway, before leaving downtown Wheaton, we all walked over to say hi to my sister's hair stylist Alicia - who is a reader of my blog and who I also see running with her training group on the Lakefront Trail from time to time!

Race Takeaway:
Despite the heat, I was able to hold pace, which bodes well for my half marathon PR attempt in July. Although the temps at that race figure to be a lot hotter, I have six additional weeks to acclimate to the heat.

Next up:
Grim Mile!

20 comments:

  1. Amazing race, Pete! You are on a roll! I hope they figure out the timing issues at this race. Last year, I believe the results were off in the other direction. Thanks for stopping by to say hello!

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    1. Thanks! Strange that they keep having problems with their results. Anyway, it was nice seeing you after the race!

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  2. Congrats Pete! You are on fire. Way to go sub-6 and rock a new PR! Crazy how the official times were wrong but I'm glad they got it sorted out. How great your dad and niece/nephew ran too.

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    1. Thanks Marcia. Yeah, it was a little disheartening post-race to run a PR time just to have it wrong in the official results. Luckily, all turned out okay! :)

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  3. Geez, Pete! You are on fire this year! But that's crazy about the finish times. I would have just cried if that happened to me. Ok, that's kind of dramatic but you know what I mean.

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    1. Thanks! Yes, I think there were quite a few runners who were about to cry! Especially the ones who ran PRs! :)

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  4. Holy crap, I can't believe you went sub-6 for the race (well, I can, because I can do math). Wow. Way to crush that PR!

    Which one is next? 15K? 50K? 10 mile?

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    1. Thanks! Next PR attempt will be at my "unbreakable" half marathon PR at the RnR in July!

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  5. Please give me of whatever it is that you are drinking. :-) Congrats again!!!

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    1. Water, lots of water! Oh yeah and a beer now and then. Thanks!! :)

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  6. WAY TO GO, PETE!!! You continue to make everything you touch/run turn into gold this year! Great job on holding the sub-6 average pace for the 10K distance! LOL at how you threw your water cup in the air - I would have totally done the same thing. That is really frustrating that your initial finishing time wasn't listed correctly, especially after waiting that long - but I am glad they finally got it corrected so you have independent PROOF of your accomplishment. =) YEEHAW!!!!!!!!

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    1. Thanks Emily! I am feeling that sub-6:00 pace in my legs now, since I never train at that pace, and the only time I run it is in short intervals with my puppy! Yes, it was funny that I threw my water in the air and that the woman knew that I had PR'd based on seeing my do it! Yes, so happy they got the results right. There were quite a few runners that were not happy until they were corrected an hour after the race! :)

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  7. What another wonderful and impressive accomplishment! That's crazy that the results were so wrong initially -- especially with chip timing (I'm assuming) -- but it's great that it got all sorted out. Good luck acclimating to the hot temps over the next six weeks! And I'm totally curious, given your big performance gains this year, how you're training now versus how you have before. Do you think your gains have been solely from your training differences? (Hey, blog post idea!) :) Anyway, great job! Hope you didn't douse a course volunteer in your water throwing PR celebration:)

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    1. Thanks. Yes, I don't know how a computerized system got the results so wrong. Thanks, I am acclimating well, however it has cooled off lately so I may have to add a layer on my runs until it warms up again. I should write a blog post about what I'm doing differently, I started a list just now as I started thinking about my new training tricks! Fortunately I was clear of the volunteer when I threw my water! :)

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  8. Woo hoo! AMAZING race! Nice job on the PR roll! And you barely slowed down in the 6th mile! It was totes the wind!

    I am happy they fixed the times. That would have bugged me until they did!

    Fellow lover of cold weather running... why a HM PR attempt in the summer?!?!

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    1. Thanks! To avoid my (slight) fade in the future I'll need to pay more attention to wind direction. If I had done that, I probably would have slowed down a tad during mile 5 when the wind was favorable - and saved a bit more energy for mile 6 when it was not. I like to feel like I'm at least holding pace at the end and not fading, but maybe I did as well as I could. Oh well, I'm always over-analyzing! :) Anyway fellow lover of cold weather running...I'm going for a half PR in the summer since it will likely be my only chance to do so until November. My half PR has seemed "unbreakable" for the last six years, so I'm over anxious to take it down while I'm knocking down my other PRs. I'm still worried about the heat, but am hoping I can acclimate a little more and also hoping there will be a nice lake breeze the morning of the race. :)

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  9. You will definitely acclimate, and I hope you get an unseasonably cool day for your race!

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    1. Thanks! Fingers are crossed. Getting my ice vest ready just in case! :)

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