At about 6am, the Subaru made it's way south to Narragansett filled with three tired runners and one tired dog. I enjoy carpooling to a race. You get to talk about how training has been going, expectations for the race, and the discussion in general seems to revolve around running...if it weren't for the 6am start, I could get used to that!
Once we arrived at the race, there was plenty of time for a warm up with Kevin and Jon. A quote from Obi Jon Waldron's Blog,
the runner eclectic, is a good start to how I feel about this race:
"Some races represent the culmination of weeks, months, or even years of planning. And some races pop up in the schedule at inopportune times, conflict with the demands of a busy schedule, and frustrate efforts at proper preparation."
The Grand Prix races are so stacked that I rarely train or taper for them, unless it happens to line up nicely with marathon training. This race didn't line up with anything, but I still expected to run well after the summer mileage. After the warm up and a few stiff strides, I walked into the mass of runners and made note of a mildly tight left hamstring.
When the gun went off, it was a a mess to squeeze together and make sure we all crossed the starting mat. I safely made it over, but could feel the rush of runners who then tried to make up some sort of perceived lost time by sprinting ahead of me only to promptly slow down when they realized they couldn't hold their 800 meter race pace for 5 miles...go figure.
After turning out of the parking lot, I noticed John Sullivan, who beat me at the Level Renner 10k, and he once again put a bit of a gap on me in that first mile. The terrain was varying, but I kept it quick coming through at about 5:26, only a second or two behind him. I could feel Kevin on my heals, but other than that, there were no familiar faces around me.
My left hamstring/glut felt like shit, and though I wasn't altering my stride, I was still worried. The second mile slowed as I tried to find an effort and rhythm that seemed sustainable. With the second mile around 5:42, I ended up leaving a big gap between myself and John. I expected he had my number once again and focused on running my own race. I had one other runner that was running beside me, and he was frequently accelerating, moving in front of me and then decelerating, which was annoying. That provided some motivation to increase my pace, and so with a 5:35 third mile, I was able to drop that guy.
I hit a bit of a rough patch during the fourth mile. It was a mostly uphill mile, but it was basically nothing...almost not worth mentioning...I don't recall being passed by many people here, but this was still a mental lapse on my part. I ran 5:52, and I see no reason why I couldn't have been 10-15 seconds faster. One of the benefits of the slow down was that a female runner who was chasing down two of the leaders came even with me and we worked together to close the gap for her, and for me to get back on pace. John Sullivan was well ahead of me, but I could see that the gap was shortening during this fifth and final mile.
For the first quarter mile of the fifth mile, I focused on gathering some...I'm not sure what to call it...mental energy? After we made a final left turn, there would be three quarters of a mile of a pancake finish and I wanted to be ready for a sustained effort. I forget exactly what I said to the girl, but it was something along the lines of 'how about a sustained kick over the last three quarters to catch them?', meaning the females ahead of her...I wonder if that was annoying or not.
Anyways, I was passing people and felt much better than I had during the fourth mile. I saw John Sullivan quickly approaching and knew that I had just a bit more gas than him on this day. The next familiar singlet I saw was that of Stephanie Reilly. She actually seemed almost out of reach, but I felt surprisingly relaxed and once we made our way into the school parking lot I had a solid kick that allowed me to pass her and one other guy. Final mile in 5:38.
Watch Splits:
5:26.68
5:42.75
5:35.85
5:52.78
5:38.71
9.95
Final time 28:26 for 107th place.
Elizabeth did well also, coming in at 36:26. A job well done after dealing with a hip injury the past few weeks.
