I took a quick look at the course map and plugged the route in to gmap-pedometer.com to get an idea of the elevation and wasn't surprised that it was hilly (there really isn't a part of Raleigh that is flat!). I still wanted to improve on my 10K PR of 46.15 and with the RunRaleigh Half Marathon only 3 weeks away (where I hope to run at an average speed of 7:10/mile) I decided that I'd be really happy if I could finish under 44 minutes (7:04/mile) given how hilly the course was.
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| 270 feet of elevation gain over 6.2 miles |
It seemed that the weather and the other 2 races in Raleigh on the same morning had kept the crowd smaller than I had expected when I signed up and received #1200. I warmed up for a mile, threw in some strides and even managed to chat with Officer Ken who had been assigned a busy intersection right near the start line. I set my Virtual Partner for 7:00/mile and headed to the start line ready to go.
As we lined up at the start line and I found myself right at the front I noticed that there were relatively few familiar faces. The 5K and 10K started at the same time and the other runners at the front were talking about how hilly the course was going to be but I couldn't tell whether they were running the 5K or the 10K. After some trouble with the starting pistol (the guest starter eventually ended up just saying 'BANG' in to the microphone) we were off and running and it was raining a little, but not much.
Mile 1: 6.19. The race started out with a quick sprint to the corner and a left turn on to Litchford Road. I had noticed a huge puddle on the corner during my warmup and decided that there was no point trying to go around it as my feet were going to get wet anyway so I followed the other runners ahead of me who just plowed straight through it. Positions were quickly established as runners fell in to their rhythm and we headed down the first hill.
Mile 2: 7:13. Just past the 1 mile marker the downhill became an uphill and we began to climb 170 feet over the next 1.75 miles. I worked on keeping my effort under control through this section and was passed by one guy who turned out to be the last person to pass me in the entire race.
Mile 3: 7:23. The majority of this mile was uphill as we turned off of Litchford in to North Ridge and reached the highest point of the course at 2.66 miles. I still felt pretty good at this point and had passed one runner that had struggled to get up the hill. I knew that the next couple of miles were mostly downhill which helped me deal with the fact that I'd lost 36 seconds over two miles and was only just ahead of my target pace.
Mile 4: 7:04. This gradual downhill section of North Ridge was pretty as we ran by the golf course and the huge houses and I noticed that my breathing had returned to normal and the pace felt easier. I passed a young high school cross country runner and noticed that the female leader was gradually getting closer (she had been a long way ahead earlier). I did a double take on my watch when I passed a sign that said "Mile 5" instead of "Mile 4" and wondered how many 10K runners would be caught out by that obvious mistake.
Mile 5: 6:48. We left North Ridge and made a right turn back on the Litchford for the 2.2 miles back to the start/finish area. I felt great at this point and stretched my legs on the downhill section. We started to come up on the slower 5K walkers and I was forced to run down the middle of the road to pass them as they were walking 4 and 5 wide - why people do that I have no idea. I could see the final hill looming in the distance and the female leader coming closer and closer.
Mile 6 + 0.2 : 7:31 + 1:25. I got to the female leader just as the final hill began and she obviously took it as her queue to speed up as she suddenly found another gear and moved away from me up the hill. I quickly found the hill hard going and my legs felt heavy for the first time. I worked on maintaining good form and trying to not work too hard but I was slowing quickly. At more than one point during this climb I really felt like I wasn't going anywhere and wondered whether the hill would ever end! It finally did and we made the right turn back towards the start finish line but I had absolutely nothing left in the tank and couldn't find any extra speed. We passed the 3 mile marker for the 5K at least 0.1 of a mile too early and weaved our way through the parking lot to the finish line which I crossed with a time of 43:44.
My finish time of 43.44 is a 7:02/mile average which I was really pleased with. The two big hills on the course had been tough which made the a 7:02/mile average even better and bodes well for the RunRaleigh Half Marathon. Oh, and it rained for the entire race but it didn't really bother me - it may have even helped keep me cool. My shoes were soaked from the puddles, but I didn't have a single blister or even really notice that my feet were wet when I was running.
I felt like I had to be in the top 15, if not the top 10. I tried to check with the timing company but they were taking a long time to calculate the results so we decided to hang around for the awards ceremony and eat some free Chick-fil-A biscuits.
To cut a long story short, the awards took a really long time and when my age group came and went without my name being called I was confused. I talked to the timing company and they didn't have a time for me (I was down as DNF). I was disappointed as when we looked at my age group, I would have won by over 6 minutes and would have received a medal. They assured me that they would fix the problem and took my information.
I waited for the results to be posted and I still wasn't included and my emails so far to the timing company (connectrace.net from GA) have been ignored. It looks like I was 8th overall. Hopefully they'll fix the problem.
Update: The timing company has fixed the results!
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