I ran my first 10,000 meter race today.  Not a 10K but a track 10,000.  That's 25 laps for anyone who is counting.  This was an open meet with mostly college students participating so I anticipated getting left at the gun and lapped frequently.  However, there were only 6 men and 4 women running so we all started together.

One of the major challenges of this race is that you don't know exactly when you are going to start the race.  Unlike what I suppose is the case at major meets and what is the case for all road races, this was a rolling start of events.  The women's and men's 100, women's and men's 110 hurdles, and women's and men's 800 preceded us.  Moreover, in the 100, there were a couple of heats.  I got it badly wrong.  I finished my warm up and it was obvious we were still 15-20 minutes from the start.  Well hell.  I didn't want to keep running and fatigue but I didn't want to cool off completely.  I settled for cooling down and then jogging a bit and then cooling down and then jogging a bit.  In the end, I was stiff and cool at the line rather than loose and warm.  Lesson learned.  I'd be better off with an abbreviated warm up that at least puts me at the line loose and warm.

The gun fired and all of the men and two of the women blasted out ahead of me.  My goal was to run splits of around 1:35 and I hoped to go under 40:00.  At 400 meters, I was at 1:32 which I knew was probably unsustainable so I backed down a bit.

Mistake #2 came at the end.  Rather than hit the "store" button on my Timex Ironman, I hit the "clear" button.  Oops.  Regardless, I was a metronome in this race.  I am willing to bet that 20 of the 25 laps came in at either 1:36 or 1:37.  I recall running four laps in a row at one point with every lap recording 1:37.  Other than the first lap, I recorded none faster than 1:34 and none slower than 1:38.

Several people who have run a 10,000 before advised me to just focus on one lap at a time and that is what I tried to do.  It seemed like every time I came around the track, I would tell myself that I was nearing my breaking point and I needed to back down for just one lap to regain my bearings.  Every lap, I kept pushing in the first 100 meters of the lap in an attempt not to slow down a lot and every lap, I kept clicking off like a metronome.

The guy who won lapped me while I was on my 5th lap.   I recall that on the first lap, the lead female runner hung off my shoulder for the whole lap and I was well into my 3rd lap before I could no longer hear her.  I think I lapped the trail female runner around the 6th or 7th lap and at some point, I lapped the lead female runner.  Normal track etiquette applied.  The runner in front holds the line and it's your job to get around.  As I was lapping one of the runners, I heard her coach tell her to pick it up a bit every time someone went around.  Hmmm.  I decided to try that a bit myself but I wasn't terribly successful as the lead men were running so much faster than me.

At any rate, there was one male runner who got about a 100 yard lead on me and it just stayed at that for the rest of the race.  I'm a bit irritated with myself that I didn't really attempt to pick him off.  I need to get in touch again with my competitive fire in that regard but I think I was intimidated by the race itself and was content to keep clicking off metronomic laps.

Ultimately, I started picking it up with 800 meters to go.  I finished lap 24 in 1:31 and lap 25 in 1:24 which is a 5:38 pace and I did at least close the gap on the guy in front of me in those last two laps.  He ended up beating me by about 50 meters.

I had two cheering sections.  A couple of my students were at one end of the track and they'd cheer every time I went by.  A member of our local running club who ran the 10,000 in college was at the other end and she'd cheer me every time I went by.  I wanted to smack them when they'd yell at me to keep going yet I looked forward to them being there each lap.  I have no explanation for that bit of contradictory feelings but I thanked all of them afterward and I was really grateful for their support.

My finishing time was 40:06 which makes me even more irritated that I didn't push harder in the middle sections.  Again though, my splits were killer even so I can't argue with that.  My calves started cramping something fierce afterward and hurt more than I have ever felt.  Our local runner who ran in college said that's fairly normal after a 10,000 because you kept turning in the same direction so many times at such a hard level of effort.

I am celebrating as I do every race by allowing myself to eat whatever I feel like eating for the rest of the day.  I scarfed down about 3/4 of a large pizza.  I just opened a 2 year old bottle of The Lost Abby's "Judgement Day Ale."  It's a Belgian Quad in a 22 ounce bottle that checks in at a modest 10.5.% a.b.v.  I pulled it out of my wine fridge which maintains everything at a constant 54 degrees which is perfect for aging and is also the perfect serving temperature for bigger beers.  The aging has done a marvelous job of hiding the alcohol a bit as the forwardness of the alcohol is the one thing some folks didn't care for in this brew.  It is one hell of a beer.

I am really glad I did this race as it pushed me way outside my comfort zone.  I have resolved to do at least one thing each year from this point forward in my running that is outside of my comfort zone.  So, that's my only advice for folks.  Do something that gets you outside of your comfort zone.  Will you make some mistakes?  Yep.  I certainly did.  But you may feel great about the fact that you got out there and did something for the first time.  Given the chance, I will certainly hit the track again.

LTH, great job on getting out there and competing! Way to go!

I agree with LRB, I think the 10,000m would be a tough race mentally because of it's length.

Ya, loved the mini brew-review amidst the RR! 

Being that 10K is my favorite distance I am almost certain that a true "race" is the only way I could get that done.  I have a hard time running 12 laps on a track, much less 25.  I think I might literally go crazy.  They'd have to meet me at the finish line with a straight jacket and throw me in a padded room for a while til I calmed down.   LOL

That's awesome that they had an open meet with what sounds like a full complement of races!  We have a few "all comers" meets in the summer, but they're not affiliated with the University, and it's mostly about fun for the kids (so the mile is the longest race).

I appreciate your analysis of the differences between a road 10K and a track 10K.  I imagine that the laps do make it easier to focus on pace and to break the distance down into those little chunks as far as maintaining pace.  But with everyone lapping everyone else, that does sound like it would be harder to focus on picking a target and running him or her down like you would in a road race.

Congrats on the race and the awesome splits!