After driving two and a half hours home from the White Mountains on Saturday night, and getting home at ~11pm - I felt surprisingly ok on Sunday morning. The start time of 11am certainly helped, and gave me a chance to get at least a little bit of rest.
Once we found a parking spot, I picked up my bib and started a longer warm up. After about 3.5 miles, I stopped back at the car to remove some layers and though it was quite chilly it was warm in the sun - so I opted for singlet/gloves/LVL buff. I brought three pairs of shoes as well, and I wore the same Takumi Sen that I wore for the 20k. I've worn those multiple times since, with appropriate socks (ie, not the 'holy' kind...) with no blistering issues. Still, I was nervous that I had made the wrong choice as I made my way to the starting line. Long story short though, I had no issues other than the pre-race anxiety it caused.
On the starting line I saw a few familiar faces, but decided I would be running my own race. I felt pretty good, but the previous week had me feeling pretty tired and I wasn't feeling great pop in my stride during warm-ups. Still, I wasn't tired, and felt like a PR should be in the works.
Once the gun went off, I settled into a pace that felt like, "yeah, I could hold this for awhile." I didn't want to force the issue and so as the first few miles clicked by, I felt smooth and sustainable. I passed the 5k mark at around 18:20, and noticed that there were a lot of runners around me and ahead of me that I wanted to be ahead of, but again - running my own race. I was only passed by one runner...a guy from GBTC who bolted from the starting line because he forgot something. He passed me at probably the 5m mark, and after that I wasn't passed by anyone.
After the first couple of hills, we made our way to the solid stretch of road heading back towards the coast. I felt comfortable as I clicked off miles five through seven in 5:44, 5:44, and 5:42 respectively. From Cove Rd all the way along the coast, and back inland the wind was very steady. Last year was brutal, but this year was persistent.
I continued to pass a lot of runners during this stretch before I found that there was a large gap between myself and Joe O'Leary. After passing mile 10 in 58:38, I focused on closing the gap. He seemed to be hopping on the pain train, and I ended up passing him just before mile twelve and the final big hill. At this point there, I kept grinding and finding runners to pass. I spotted two guys well ahead that seemed to be maybe out of reach, so I focused on them as my last semi-realistic targets. Coming down towards the finishing straight I was making up ground well and I accelerated into the straight. I timed everything right, and passed them both within a few meters of the finish line. Here's the video.
I ended up splitting 35:56 for 10k, ~58:38 for 10 miles, and finished in 1:16:44 - all of which are PRs. This result takes over two minutes off of my previous hm PR, but I still think there is room for improvement. I'm still really pleased with the result though.
Splits:
5:49.98
5:58.83
5:59.44
5:59.54
5:44.65
5:44.13
5:42.77
5:53.72
5:50.51
5:54.23
5:51.91
5:45.49
5:47.48
42.44
Final Time: 1:16:44
Overall Results
Scott Mason Photos
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