Baltimore 10 miler - June 21 (Read 904 times)

I just signed up for the Baltimore 10 Miler. I think this is the very first year for it. Any other RA forum junkies plan to be there?

How was it? I thought about racing it but it was expensive and I had a scheduling conflict this time around. Maybe next year.

The Baltimore 10 miler had a much smaller field (under 2000) than my previous 10 mile races (Cherry Blossom and Annapolis). There was plenty of room to run, pass people, or be passed. Here is the course and elevation profile (imported from my garmin): http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/md/baltimore/107158885671 The course was downhill for the first 2 miles, then flat. It was an out, around a lake, and back, so the last 2 miles were uphill! The breeze off the lake was welcome. The course went thru some interesting parts of Baltimore. Not the regular tourist stops I liked seeing the old architecture. The race had only one little extra leg to add distance. You know, where you suddenly see people going the other way and realize that you will be turning around soon. I like courses that feel more like you are going somewhere, instead of adding distance with lots of short extras. Crowd support was good! The local police were at intersections and many, many runners thanked them. The water stops were a little strange. I think the first one was very soon after mile 1! Out at the 5 mile mark, there was a table with one lone person frantically dipping cups in a cooler to hand to a growing line of runners. The other tables had plenty of volunteers and worked well. The starting area was marked with expected pace signs. I lined up in the 9 m/mile area and did the first mile in 8:16 while it seemed like the entire world passed me! I wanted to hold 9 all the way, hoping to speed up in the second half, and I consciously slowed down a bit in the second mile. Later, it was a struggle to keep up my speed. I set up my Garmin for 1 mile auto-laps and reported the times in my log. My splits are a little sad, and I'm still processing the information for 'lessons learned'. Afterwards, there was a shady place to have a beer, listen to live music, and relax. Post race food seemed plentiful. The watermelon was great. The premium was a black fleece with the race logo. Kind of strange to have a fleece in the summertime! Cost wise, it seemed about right for a 10 mile race. $50, which included the premium. Next weekend I go back to the same general location for the Dreaded Druid 10k with the best race premium around: tech shirt with very cool original celtic design artwork.

I did this one, too. Those last two miles were absolutely brutal. I think between the heat and hills, I lost it. Not my best performance, by far! Oh well, at least I got in a decent run and can say I ran the "inaugural" running of the Baltimore 10 Miler!