Notes
Waterfall Glen Extreme 10k
Splits: 5:53, 6:10, 6:05, 6:09, 6:09 (30:28), 6:08, 6:06, 6:42, 6:15, 5:53.
Field was a little better than last year's results indicated. It rained the entire race. There were good parts and bad parts today. Started at the front and people shot out like we were running a 5k. I backed off from the front group and was in a 2nd/3rd group. First group apparently ended up running 5:15 the first mile and were out of sight by the time I got to that marker. After two miles, I was in about 10th place and things just stayed that way for about five miles. There was one guy about 100 meters up and a group of 3-4 about 50 meters behind. Had all the familiar emotions going through me. Took me a while to shake it and try to figure out what the next challenge was. Determined my calf was bothering me, but besides that I was feeling ok. Right before the hills section hit (7.5), I saw people in the distance that I hadn't seen at any point in the race. Made it my mission to go get them. Got the first one on Big Bertha. He had gone with the top pack and was a good runner, but made sure to really move hard on him to not give him a chance to respond. Put a minute on him the last two miles.
Ran 6:40 this mile with 160 feet elevation change, but noticed the pack trailing me was gone, so that made me feel good. After that, my next mission was to start making things hurt to give myself a chance for a good close. Once the hill was finally over, I reeled in another guy - high schooler who had run pretty well, but I sonned him and put 40 seconds on him in the last 1.5. With a mile left, I felt like I was really moving. I heard I was in 8th and could see the gap on 7th closing (30 seconds I guess...). He held me off but I put a dent in the gap. Closed in 5:53 which was my fastest mile of the race after all the hills, so that made me happy. Nobody passed me after the first half mile so I consider that a win.
Time wasn't quite what I wanted today, but I felt like I played this one pretty well/safe, but still competed well when I needed to. I was hoping that the course would run the opposite direction, but it sounded like they wanted us to go up Big Bertha rather than down. I think this was a better effort than the 5k considering that my last mile was the same pace as my 2nd mile on the 4th. I would be interested to see what I could have done had this been a flat road race, but obviously that is not what I signed up for. I am a bit suspicious of course length because I mapped it out and got 10.2. I think the first and last mile were a bit long because 5:53 seemed really fast and I think if those come out to be 1.1 for the mile it makes a bit more sense. I did not get the sleep I was looking for this week and have been feeling a bit tuckered out since last week's LR, but all in all I think this was a good effort on a tough course to see where I'm at. Also, if I'm going to drink from those stupid cups that they hand out, I need to get better at consuming them and not spilling them. I took drinks at 2.5 and 7.5 and doused myself with gatorade at both stops instead of drinking. Anyways, Onwards and upwards.