2015 Amherst 10 Miler Race Report

I don't get why people don't like this race, you get great New England weather, copious hills, and even a dirt/mud road! It's a little bit of everything to satisfy everyone...or perhaps no one.

In any case, I showed up...

I showed up race morning feeling like I should not have been training through the race.  On top of that, I shoveled off my roof Saturday afternoon, followed by a very nice dinner with Elizabeth on Saturday...and that first bottle of wine was so good we opened a second one! One day I'll decide if that is a lesson worth learning.

The weather was surprisingly wonderful though. The drive out left me wondering what to expect since Western Mass got a few inches of snow on Saturday night, but by noon the roads were clear with the exception of a few puddles. The first good running weather in weeks and I show up with a mild hangover...say hello to the idiot everyone!!

Anyways, I finished a good 4+ mile warm up, got in a few strides, some stretching, and a meeting with Bert...and off to the starting line.

I had a good spot about one row behind the fast doods, with no intention of getting stuck behind anyone or being forced onto the icy shoulder of the road. After the initial hub bub of the first couple hundred meters, I began searching for a pace that I felt like I could hold - but the road undulates enough during the first mile that I was still in 'search mode.' I passed the mile marker at about 5:51 feeling fine, but not sure if this would be my pace.

There were a few folks that started to pull away from me during mile 2 that I thought about following, but I stayed conservative. Both the first and second miles have long steep downhills, and I tried not to be overly aggressive in taking advantage of those. Mile three is a challenge, and I wanted to be comfortable as I entered the all uphill section of the race.  About 3/4 of the way into mile 3, I began to get a little worried - my quads were tired. They were burning a bit as expected, but they were tired...and I didn't like that.

Once I crested the hill, I sort of zoned out as best I could to get myself relaxed. I wasn't feeling great and I wanted to stay quick, but get through mile 5 and then take inventory.  Since the next couple miles also included the dirt road section, which was mostly single file, this worked in my favor. I focused on one runner and just tried to match his pace. It was messy and a little slippery trying to get around people, but I was able to gather myself together by the end of mile 5 and I felt pretty good.

One quick note: I totally misread my watch. There are a few screens to scroll through, and I somehow read one that was keeping time of....what I do not know. It read 29 low at 5 miles, when in actuality I was at 31 and change. After the race, I was thoroughly disappointed in my stupidity. In reality though, it wouldn't have mattered much - I hit a bad patch and needed to recoup. I'm glad the race worked out this way as I was able to recover and I think this could be useful in future races.

Mile six, seven, and eight followed an up down pattern, but I was able to mix in some quick miles so..it is what it is I guess.  Apparently 'search mode' was a race theme as far as pacing goes.

Mile nine has a long flat stretch followed by a long uphill - I felt tired but strong (if that makes any sense) during this section and I began passing a lot of people.  I ended up making a pretty hard push to the finish from ~8.5 on.  I continued passing people and made a strong push during the last stretch to get even with 3 runners who were about 200 meters ahead of me at the start of the final mile.  I passed 2 of 3 runners, and it would've been 3 of 3 if not for a 15 foot section of ice right at the finish!  I ended up spinning my wheels about 10 feet before the timing mats and just kind of said 'eff it'...I've been dealing with that type of road under my feet all winter and of course it shows up during my finishing kick...whatever.

Ice behind me. Me = not happy. Other guy...not happy?

Splits:

		Elevation
		Gain	Loss
1	05:51.8	82	95
2	05:45.4	13	80
3	06:53.1	251	--
4	06:31.4	92	99
5	06:03.6	16	23
6	05:38.8	14	128
7	06:11.2	24	56
8	05:39.3	21	121
9	06:19.5	131	6
10	05:29.8	27	64

Final time: 1:00:21
Pace: 6:02/mile