Lone Gull 10k 2015 Race Report

Photo Courtesy of Thomas Cole

This past Sunday I woke up early, had my cup of coffee, and ate some granola before heading off to Gloucester with Eli, Brian O'Donovan, and Raleigh for the Lone Gull 10k.  We arrived with plenty of time for a full warm up, and were fortunate to find a porto on a construction site that allowed us to skip the absurdly long bathroom lines back at the parking lot.

I've been feeling sluggish for the past few weeks, and instead of backing off the prior week I, perhaps stupidly, bumped up the mileage.  I still expected to improve on the 37:08 ran last year.

At the starting line I got in a few strides, and silently passed Jon Waldron as he seemed to be getting in the zone.  A quiet nod...

On the line, Wayne Levy was just ahead of me recalling the awkward start last year when the start was an obscure siren.  It would be the same this year.

For the first mile, I tried to stay relaxed, keep the pace quick, and find a comfortable rhythm. The watch buzzed and showed a 5:43 first mile.  I was hoping for faster, but I wasn't going to press the issue.

Miles two and three turn towards the bay and through some nice neighborhoods.  I didn't notice wind or a changing elevation and seemed to be settled at around 5:45s.  I don't recall the 5k split exactly, but it was 17:5x and I was disappointed.  I wasn't hurting too badly at this point, but my legs simply didn't feel springy...likely the result of the prior week.

From the start of the fourth mile until the end of the race, I took what the course gave me.  I was feeling uncomfortable, frustrated and once again, I didn't have any familiar faces around me - a theme for Grand Prix races this year (for me at least).

The last stretch on Atlantic Road had some brutal headwinds. There was a group of two ahead of me that I kept trying to reel in, but my increased effort yielded no results.  I glanced back to see if the group behind me was catching up, but it looked like I was neither gaining on the folks ahead of me nor was I losing any ground. That was good, but I tried to bear down and make up some ground on those ahead of me for the final push.

Photo Courtesy of Thomas Cole

My finish was underwhelming...the same as how I would describe my result.  Level Renner always has great content, and their recent posts regarding the Lone Gull 10k have been...somewhat comforting.  But not really.  I expected to do much better.

Splits:
5:43
5:47
5:42
5:57
5:52
6:00
1:13

Final: 36:23

Results

I believe that I have the fitness to go under 35 right now, but I need to do some sharpening to improve my recent results.  The blade is dull.