IBM Classic 10K:

Sunday was the IBM 10K, a fixture on the local racing scene for at least 5 years. It was the first race in the Distance Challenge series for many of those years, until this year, when it was pushed to second by the Congress Avenue Mile. Anyway, I've run this race the last two years, with a best time of something like 52 or 53 minutes...it was usually hot, and I was typically in the last stages of marathon training, so it was usually a pace run instead of a race. Still, I had had two very poor performances in 2002 and 2003. I wanted revenge this year.

The weather was nice, maybe 70 degrees and mostly overcast. Slight breeze at times. Good running weather. Frank and I met some other Gazelles at 7:00 for a warmup jog, and then subsequent drills and strides to get ready. I was sporting the all-black Gazelles racing uniform, and so felt some pressure to perform at a solid level. It's been a long time since I was really ready to race, maybe a year or more, so I was nervous before this one. Really nervous. After multiple port-o-stops, I was settled down, and got in line with the multitudes for the race start.

My race plan was to go out at about 8:15/mile, and slowly crank up the intensity until the last mile, which would hopefully be the fastest mile, and an overall pace of 8:00 or lower. My Masters PR of 49:43 was also a target.

I hit the first mile, after weaving through traffic, at an almost perfect 8:17. I got too enthusiastic on mile 2, which was 7:50, settled down for a 7:59 third mile, and a 7:53 fourth mile, which put me exactly on 8:00 pace. I kept up a steady effort through the fifth mile, which featured the only tough section of the course, and did 8:03 on that mile, about according to plan. I saw Gilbert at the mile 5 marker, and he exhorted me onward. I fought a big case of mental angst during the sixth mile, and just hung on by mentally attaching myself to two guys in front of me. I dragged through mile 6 in 8:07, which had me 8 seconds off PR pace. I dug down deep, and pushed hard over the last .21 miles, really lifting my legs, and cranked through the last .21 in 1:32, 7:18/mile pace, to grab a PR by 3 seconds, 49:40!

I was very pleased with this race. Looking back at March and April, I've improved some 4 - 5 minutes at the 10K distance. I've fought my way back to the shape I was in the Spring of 2003, when I set most of my current Masters PR's, and I'm really only 2 months into training since my injury in June. I'm very encouraged, and now I've got three weeks of training to get ready for the Pervasive 10 Miler.

This week features two easy runs of 45-60 minutes (Mon / Wed), and two Gazelles interval sessions (900m repeats on Tues and 700m grass repeats on Thurs), and then the 14 mile Mount Bonnell loop on Saturday. Should be an interesting week.