31st annual Stratton-Faxon New Haven 20k (5k and kids race too) September 1, 2008 8:40 AM New Haven, CT Overall winner: Mens---James Carney (30)---59:11 (4:46 pace) Women—Jill Steffens (24)----just edged out Elva Dryer ---1:08:46 (5:33) The 20k race distance is not one I get to race a whole lot and it’s a nice test of endurance and speed. I ran this race a few years ago in torrential rain and coming off medical issues, so I was looking forward to this. Goals: Reach mile 5 by 35:50 and mile 10 by 1:11 and try and hit 1:29 flat or close---even pacing at 7:10 per mile Reach the finish by 1:30 Reach the finish faster than previous effort (1:36) Race with control Official CNYrunner stats: 1:29:45 (10/133 in 40-44 age group and 341/2090 overall) http://www.newhavenroadrace.org/html/2008%2020K%20results%20preliminary.txt I left my house at 5:30 AM after a cup of coffee, bottle of water and apple breakfast. I like to race feeling light when the race is less than a half-marathon. I picked up B at her house at 5:45 AM and made it to Iron J’s house by 6:15 AM as planned. B is an engineering professor with a husband in his last year of residency at Albany Medical Center. He knows how tough the schedule has been on her and left after his last rounds to get home in time for her to leave. They have two boys—five and three years old, so their lives are quite the balancing act. She is on sabbatical this year and wants to get her marathon time back down into Boston qualifying range (she’s 38). Anyway, Iron J spent the whole ride in the back reviewing her lesson plan for tomorrow’s first day of school. She’s a fifth grade teacher and was transferred to a new school. For the first miles of our road trip the conversation was about anything but the race.! As the New Haven exits came into view (it was 7:20 AM now) we shifted gears as the need to find comfort facilities and get our numbers and chips became urgent. This race is perfect for a beautiful day as the start/finish area is at the New Haven Green. It’s like the Hartford marathon with all the festivities right there in Bushnell Park. At the New Haven race you are surrounded by the collegiate gothic architecture of Yale (with some modern construction too) and the Green neatly divides the city’s sections in some ways. The pre-race registration and preparation went very smoothly. It did strike me as funny to see the elites in a fenced off area near the porta-potty lines for us common folk. It almost seemed as if the elites were a zoo exhibit----indeed rare species that strut like gazelles and know how to fly. B, Iron J and I jogged and then settled into the start area. The sponsors were announced and then Joe Shay, father of the late Ryan Shay, addressed the crowd and talked about how much Ryan loved this race, as did his widow Alicia, (she won it last year). I couldn’t hear everything clearly, but I was moved. I could actually see Twocat through the crowd----Your race singlet is a great beacon Twocat!---but I didn’t think yelling “Hey Twocat!” would be the right thing. A choir sang the National anthem and we were off shortly after. This is a chip-timed race due its size and championship status, so it took awhile to get up to race speed. I saw Twocat right ahead of me so I yelled to him and we ran together for a bit. That was nice and took the edge off my nerves. We hit the mile mark at 7:26 on the official clock and 7:10 on my watch. It did take a while to get to the official start line, so this made sense. Twocat picked it up here and I held my place and tried to keep him in sight as best as possible. Here are the miles I remember: Mile 3: 22:13----feeling pretty good here and in control Mile 5: 35:00----speeding up here and it feels too easy----control Karin, control Mile 6.2: 44:08---slowed down and feeling the sun now, but the breeze off the water and onto Ella Grasso Parkway feel good. I still feel good here and know I need to pick it up. Mile 8: 57:11---this was a tough mile for me and I started to lose focus. It helped that I got passed by a woman, and I was NOT going to just let her go----surge to mile 9 Karin Mile 10: 1:12:07----this is where the marathon training fatigue started to set in. I felt strong and confident and yet some of the negative self-talk got in here. I wanted to hit 1:11 :40 or faster here, so seeing the clock time at 1:12:07 threw me for a bit. Mile 11: 1:19:34---Iron J came up on my right and that served to keep me on track. We are best friends and also competitive with each other. We are honest and tell each other that it stinks to be beaten by the other. She said: "Let’s DO this together George!” Mile 12: 1:26:49---We hit this together and I got a bit of a second wind, but not as much as I wanted Mile 12.4/Finish----1:29:45 (chip time) ---1:30:06 clock time Iron J hit a 1:29:42 finish and a 44:37 10k time---she ran a smarter race and kept it steadier. Good stuff! Post-mortem: I hit most of my goals except rock steady pacing at 7:10s or better. I was close for a while and even had a few sub 7 minute miles. I also had some 7:15 plus miles. The course isn’t completely flat, but the hills shouldn’t have slowed me down as much as they did. I felt strong for most of the way and was happy to wake back up after a mental lag. Lessons learned: Now that I am into the last phase of marathon training, it’s clear that I need to focus on sharpening and do a few fast finish long runs. I have the endurance and a huge base now. I have also run 20 milers almost every weekend for a few months. I felt racing sharp for most of the race, but also need to keep my head in the game for the whole way. I gave up to the fatigue monsters too easily. I got a major boost with less than .1 to go as my husband and son were on the street near the finish and yelling loudly. That’s always a huge lift to my heart and speed. They came to see the finish before heading out on a hike in CT. My husband said the women’s race was intense with three in the lead and neck and neck to the finish. Iron J and I grabbed water and did our best imitation of flexible bending (ha) to remove our chips. I saw TwoCat and congratulated him on a good race. He looked relaxed and I hope he’s happy with a well-executed race. I never caught him! Iron J and I went back to cheer B in and she finished strong at 1:43 and 8:22 pace (she wanted 8:30s). We gathered some post race goodies---loaves of whole-wheat ciabatta artisan bread, bananas, yogurt, ice cream and beer. The beer line was too long, alas, but looked awesome. I had a conference call to get back to and Iron J and B had to get back as well. We struggled into dry clothes (post race running bra removal is akin to a Cirque du Soleil act) in the parking garage and made a quick and easy get away. The post race festival on the Green was in full swing. As I type this and think back on the race, I wonder if I could have pushed it harder. Do I feel good now because my endorphins are racing? Do I feel good because I didn’t push? I feel like I truly raced and maybe I am just in decent shape and not completely trashed. At the mile 11 mark, a guy was yelling: “Leave it on the course! Push hard”! My husband said I looked like I could keep racing another 20k when I went by. I honestly felt like I was pushing hard and yet, I have the 10/19 marathon in my brain. I am at the point in training where I am trying to listen to my body very carefully as I want to get to the start line in peak shape without injury. I am happy with the results---very much so and yet I always wonder? I suppose that’s why I keep at this------I am not making excuses and just believe that I can go even faster. There’s always another race! MTA: Fashion and Fuel----black singlet with pocket in back for car keys and black shorts, no hat or sunglasses. Just water at every water stop as of mile 3----s-caps on the kitchen counter where I left them. Oy! High fives to Henry and Marj!! Awesome and I MUST do better to find you at a race. Next time, okay? Thanks for reading!

Congrats on what sounded like a great race! But now you are questioning if you pushed as hard as you could have....I dunno still sounds great to me. I think with your time you deserve more than 10th! I loved all the details, especially the mental details. Hope you rock your marathon!

Nice race Karin! That was a great time, especially for a 'test' race. It is definitely helpful to do a couple of longer races like this in marathon buildup. A five K race just isn't long enough to show the readiness of your legs and mind. I'm sure this race will help you kick butt in your October marathon. Which one are you doing? Craig

CNY, Sounds like you ran a good race. My only possibly useful comment is, keep your priorities clear in your head. If you have a marathon coming up in six weeks, I'm going to assume that is a higher priority race than this one was. If that's true, then you probably should have viewed this race as no more than training for the bigger race. In that light, it really doesn't matter that so-and-so beat you in this race, or that you maybe could have run a little faster time if you had tried. Personally, I am not going to lay it on the line in a race that isn't important to me. Some people think you should always try to do your best, and maybe that works for some, but my personal bias is to avoid "supreme efforts," because that's how I get hurt. Even Tallrunner, who is a poster boy for competitiveness, distinguishes between his "A" races and his other races. Dark Horse

Outstanding race, Karin...judging from your training posts, knew you could do it...congrats. DickyG

i think you're awesome Karin!! YOU ARE A TRUE INSPIRATION!!

I got a major boost with less than .1 to go as my husband and son were on the street near the finish and yelling loudly. That’s always a huge lift to my heart and speed. They came to see the finish before heading out on a hike in CT.

This is one of my favorite parts.

Great race, CNY! You have been running very consistently lately, with a very good sense of goals and you hit them! I agree with Dark Horse too; save the big guns for the big race. Good luck with the rest of the training.