Run: Race Previous Next

6/21/2014

9:00 AM

7.6 mi

1:06:34

8:46 mi

Health

144.4 lb
3475
36.8

Ratings

10 / 10
10 / 10

Race Result

10 / 1055 (0.9%)
3 / 74 (4.1%)
10 / 683 (1.5%)

Notes

I wish I could describe every bump and curve in the road from this race, but it would be impossible to capture the emotions and experience fully. I have a hard time designating any race as a 10/10 effort, as I can't help but be critical of myself when reflecting on the experience after it's over. However, this easily ranks as one of my best races ever... possibly the toughest I've put myself through. I still believe I can do better. But today was one of those rare days I was truly happy with the results, totally at peace with several years of efforts leading in.

0.9mi @ (6:44 ~ equiv. to 7:29/mi)

1.9mi @ 14:56 (8:12)

2.9mi @ 23:36 (8:40)

3.9mi @ 32:23 (8:47)

4.9mi @ 41:45 (9:22)

5.9mi @ 51:12 (9:27)

6.9mi @ 60:31 (9:19)

7.6mi @ 66:34 (6:03 ~ equiv. to 8:39/mi) <--- SPLITS UPDATED (6/18/14)

Pretty sure I passed the "halfway" clock at 31:30.

After the cannon went off, I quickly settled in to a chase pack following the first 12-13 runners. There were probably 6-7 guys in our group. Slowly worked my way up to what I thought was 11th by the mile split and was pleased to see the time under 7:00, legs felt good. By mile two, I was just behind Freeman and the Italian (Manzi), thinking I was in the group that would be 8th-10th. Somewhere around here I caught up to those two and we passed Byrne, now I'm guessing 7th-9th and Maksimow (6th?) and Gutierrez (5th?) actually seemed catchable. At this point I started to get a little nervous... Had to remind myself of the work I've done and the paces we were running was still reasonable. Goal was to approach the "half" around 31' and the four mile as close to 32' as possible. Somewhere after the halfway clock I began to pull away. I wanted to work hard on mile five and I did. Every time the road seemed to ease up just a bit, I thought about the 15/10 interval workout where I used the 10% reps as "rest" between the 15% sections. Since all of that workout was at 8:00 pace, I convinced myself I should be able to hold the average close to 9:00. Keep the "faster" section under 9:00 pace and hold the slower portions as close to 10:00 as possible. This strategy worked, for the most part, for the remainder of the race. At one point I couldn't really hear the next guy behind me, but somehow I knew the same two guys were always close. Never looked back, but I wasn't surprised when Manzi came up on me during a tough switchback around the mile six marker. I hung on for a minute or more, but conceded eventually. I was happy to be in what I thought was 8th place and needed to save some energy for the final mile and I figured Freeman and others were close behind. The wind was really bad at points. In a normal race, it would've really affected the pace... I was already going so slow, that I figured it didn't really matter... Just tried to stay close to Manzi over the next mile, but I could tell I was losing ground, and not surprised again when Freeman caught me just after the mile seven split. Now, I really tried to keep from falling apart. I wish I had known that this dropped me to 10th and maybe I would've found the will to fight just a little harder... Somehow I got a little boost as we came around the final bend before the wall. Freeman and Manzi were both right in front of me, beginning the final power hike up to the finish. It took everything I had to come within a step or two of Freeman and just a few more steps from Manzi. That was it. Nothing left in the tank. Just before the final turn, maybe 20 yards to the finish, my legs started to buckle. I stumbled the final few yards, watching the clock tick over 1:06:30. I knew I'd finished in the top ten and it was absolute relief. Felt even better when I turned around and saw Brandon was just behind me. Pat had a great day running 1:16, Eric (1:19?) and Paul Hammond (1:19:30?) rounded out a solid team scoring.

Walked up to the real summit with Newbould and MacKnight, then quickly hobbled down to the parking lot to change into warmer gear. It was extremely windy and cold... My head was pounding, ears hurt... Brandon seemed to be in a hurry and I was happy to start heading back down away from the cold and wind. Had to buckle my pack on as we started the run back down to the base. Had a great time reflecting on the race and our training leading up to it.

Found out MacKnight beat us to the bottom, so I guess we were unoffically 2nd and 3rd for the round trippers... The reward was a half hour soak in the icy river and a big ole' can of Moat Mountain's "Iron Mike" pale ale.

Comments

flatfooter

Great recap and that was some hard core racing. I'll remember this the next time I'm whining to myself about some wimpy 6x1k hill repeats on the mill.

KeeneState13

Really nice write up Princic. That race was well run on your part! Good training pays off! -Pat