Short version: Yesterday I ran the Riverbank Wine & Cheese 10K. It was an impromptu race and it went well. I ended up with a 53:55, which was a 36 second PR. Placements were 34 of 148 OA, 11 of 95 F, and 3 of 31 40-49 AG.

Ridiculously long version.  I’m at week 10 of my (Pfitz 18/55) marathon plan and have been feeling burned out and sore lately.   I saw that I had 11 miles with 7@15K  on my schedule for this weekend. The thought made me sad, so I decided to see if there was a race I could do instead.   Plus, I really felt like I needed some data point to see how my training was going.

Atlinks showed that Riverbank was hosting a 5K and 10K “Wine & Cheese” race on Saturday.   The courses were described as having “a bit of roll” with a “bonus hill for the 10K.”   So, not fast and flat, but the “wine and cheese” part sounded good. Also, the organizer’s website proudly advertised that the local theatre had volunteered its bathrooms so it was a “Port-a-Potty free zone.”   Flush toilets? I’m in.

The race was about an hour from my house, so I was up early. Up early and full of doubts. I had taken Friday off, but still felt stiff and sore getting out of bad. I debated whether to go. I finally convinced myself to at least drive out to the race and see how the warm-up went.   I got to the race in plenty of time and picked up my bib. After availing myself to the complimentary toilets I did a 1.5 warm-up with 4 sets of strides.

The warm-up didn’t feel so great. It was a little over 60 degrees and I was already sweaty and breathing harder than I should. I debated again, whether to do the race, but finally wandered over to the starting area. I was still debating when I hear someone yelling “wonk, waah, wonk” through a blow horn and then the gun went off. A group of us were looking at each other momentarily confused by the abruptness of it, and then I made my decision. I pressed start on my garmin (this was gun time only race) and joined the herd jogging out of the starting chute.

Well I was in it now, so I figured I might as well give it a real effort. My plan was to keep my pace around 8:40, understanding I would likely give some time back at the “bonus hill.” Even with the lost seconds out of the start gate, I figured this pace would put me at or near a PR.   The course was a set of winding loops through a nice, tree-lined neighborhood. It was mostly shady which was great and all the twists and turns really got me focusing on running the tangents.   The course was well marked and each mile marker featured a volunteer who yelled out the time. It was a thankless looking job, but a nice perk I had never experienced before.

As crummy as the warm-up felt, it must have helped, because I ran a solid first mile – 8:32 by my garmin, and 8:37 by the mile 1 yeller. It felt a little too fast, actually, so I dialed it back a bit and settled down into my planned 8:40 range.   At the 2 ½ mile point, I cast a longing glance at the 5K turn-off, but decided I would hate myself if I gave into that temptation.

So I kept on chugging along. Although I felt like I was working and breathing hard, I could see I was hitting my paces and had a chance at a PR if I could hang on. The course was rolling, but I didn’t mind that.  At a little after the 3 mile marker we went down a steep downhill. I happily cruised down it, but at the bottom I could see mile 5 marker on the other side of the road. Ahhh, I thought, that would be the “bonus hill,” nicely position for the last mile.

By mile 4, I was running with a small group of runners; a couple of women who looked like they could be in my age group, and tall man who was sweating profusely. The 4 of us passed and re-passed each other a few times over the next couple of miles until we got to the bonus hill.   I told myself it would all be over soon and headed up.   I dropped the two women for good on the hill, but Mr. Sweaty and I were neck-in-neck heading into the final ½ mile.

Then I heard a funny sound and looked down to see that, of all things, my shoelace had come untied. That has never happened before. Just keep going, I thought. Flap flap flap. Keep going, Flap, flap, flap.   It was completely untied now.   This is crazy, I realized. I’m not going to risk a face plant down the stretch for the sake of the 5 seconds it’s going to take to tie this thing. I lurch to a halt, tie that damn thing up, then lurch back up. Mr. Sweaty has pulled 20 yards ahead and I never was able to catch him again.

I turn the final corner and see the finish line. Mr. Sweaty is putting on a heck of kick and caught and passed two more men. Good job Mr. Sweaty! Then I see the clock. It’s still showing 53 minutes and I have a chance to break 54 minutes! My eyes were glued to that clock as I kicked it in. When I passed the clock under the finish sign it read 53:48. I slowed down and jogged to the end of the chute and turned off my garmin. It turns out that the end of the chute was actually finish time point, so I ended up with an official time of 53:55.

Still, I was happy with my performance. It was nice to PR on tired legs and I was pleased to take 3^rd place in my AG.   The biggest disappointment was that there was neither wine nor cheese at the finish line. Apparently there is some festival later that day where both would be had in the plenty, but it was just water, fruit and cookies at the finish.

For those stalwart readers, here are my splits and picture of me heading towards finish line.  Finally, a floater!

Nice race.

And it looks like you kept very close to target pace.  congrats!

Sounds like a great decision to race it, imagine if you were fresh!  Your sentiments about the Pfitz plan sound familiar, the people who see it through though seem to do well so hopefully you will too.

Has there been any word from the organizers as to why there wasn't any wine or mutha fuckin cheese afterwards?  That's false advertising or misleading at best.  I would have been cheesed. 

Well thank goodness you showed up, and thank goodness you managed to amble your way over to the starting line, and started the race, and didn't take the 5k turnoff. In running as in life, we mostly regret the things we did not try, rather than the things we tried & failed. And of course you did not fail, you got a flippin' PR out of it, and would've even beaten tall sweaty man if your shoelace had cooperated.

In my (very limited) experience, if your body is in (or getting in) marathon shape, you will often surprise yourself & exceed expectations in shorter races, despite the fatigue. Very nice job.

 

Oh yeah, I would've been whining about the lack of refreshments too!  

Cyber, Sly, SF and Hoglife - Thanks!

LRB and JK -- I hope you're both right about Pfitz.  It was good to know that I"m not too sore to race at least.

Dave -- Yes, I'm very glad I decided to race.  I don't think I would have beaten Mr. Sweaty, however, even with the shoe lace.  He really kicked it in something fierce.

And, yes, the name was misleading, wasn't it.  I see "Riverbank Wine and Cheese" and I"m envisioning myself under a tree by a flowing river, nibbling on cheese and sipping wine.  The reality was a bottle of water and a banana in the movie theatre parking lot.   I understand now, that the race takes it's name from the Wine and Cheese Festival that is held that afternoon and evening.   The volunteers were so nice and friendly though, I would have felt bad about complaining.   Also, they did give out one bottle of wine to the male and females  winners of each race, so some got wine.  The rest of us, I guess, just got cheesed.  

I love that picture of you! I think it's the first time that I see you. :-) You look very athletic, and also graceful there. And do I recognize a top from the Runningskirts company? I may have the same one. :-)

You did magnificent! 3rd place AG in the middle of Pfitz? You rock, woman! Frustrating regarding your shoe lace, but look at those great splits in spite of it! Bravo, OOTB!

Was there at least a riverbank, then?

I love your description of the internal dialogue, how you had to negotiate just to get to the race itself.  It just goes to show that even when we're feeling like that, we really need to just tune that voice out and just go run!

Congratulations on the great PR despite the "bonus" hill.  Hope you had some "bonus" wine when you got home!

PS- Are those the two women behind you in the pic?