PERVASIVE 10 MILER

The weather for this morning's Pervasive 10 Miler (click for race report on the RunTex site) was definitely not conducive to PR attempts. It was in the mid 70's, and a zillion percent humidity. It stayed very overcast, so we didn't have to fight the sun, but it was time to reconsider race goals.

I went in hoping to run something like 8:30 pace, with an 8:45 pace as a weather-related backup goal. We met for a Gazelles warmup, a very easy 1.5 miles with Gilbert, then the drills and some strides. I had worked up a light sweat, and I had 20 minutes till the race started (7:30 start). I wandered back to the car to take a last swig of Accelerade, and I was ready to go. I got in line pretty far back in the crowd, and waited for the gun. The National Anthem was performed by a female soloist, and she did a good job. I worried that she had started out pretty high, but she had the voice to handle the high notes at the end.

I saw a bunch of running acquaintances in the crowd, but it was time to run. The horn went off, and we set out of the Pervasive parking lot. I weaved through a lot of people in the first mile, trying to find my pace area. I didn't waste too much energy weaving, just slowly pushed my way to the folks running about what I would be doing. First couple of miles were ever so slightly uphill, but I settled into a nice rhythm and pace by the end of mile 3. At that point, the course dipped down, bobbed up for a moment, and then had a very long downhill segment, rather steep. I passed some folks that I knew during this stretch, and was moving along quite well, thank you. By the time we reached the 4 mile mark at the bottom of the hilly section, I was right on pace. But, the mountains loomed...

Splits, miles 1-4: 9:28, 8:36, 8:26, 8:27. I was feeling pretty good.

We then turned up a very steep hill, on Scotland Wells, and everyone slowed down. I shuffled up it as best as I could, and reached the top panting a little, but not too bad. I brought my pace back up to snuff on the flatter section at the top of the hill, then pushed up the next bit of the hill, and turned the corner. I crossed the mile 5 timing mat feeling pretty good, high fiving Raul, the timing guy. This was the first mile of the bad section of the course. Split for Mile 5 was 9:15. Halfway split 44:12, 8:50 pace. Now, could I bring it home for a negative split?

Mile 6 started uphill with some short steep bits, then some downhill, then up...you get the general picture. There was a guy that I kept passing and then falling behind, as he would go by me on the uphills, and I would catch him on the flats and downhills. I don't know if I finished ahead of him in the end or not. Anyway, mile 6 was not as tough as mile 5, but still a tester, with lots of corners. Mile 7 featured the last steep uphill bits, and we reached the water stop there, grateful for the Girl Scouts manning (or womaning?) the water stop. I took a GU there, and hoped to pick it up on the last 3 miles.

Mile 6 and Mile 7 splits: 8:55, 9:03.

Mile 8 wasn't all that bad, except for some corners and some mild uphills, but my brain went to sleep during this stretch. I lost focus, and my pace dropped badly. I caught up with a woman right at the mile 8 marker, and I was shocked to see my 10:00 split for mile 8. My time at that point was almost exactly 1:12:00, 9:00 pace. It was embarrassing. As we turned the corner and headed down the last 2 miles, I at first fell back a bit, and then suddenly I felt revived. My brain snapped back into focus, and I started picking up the pace and picking off the people ahead of me. I knew that Gilbert would be ahead, waiting for us to pass by in the homestretch. I concentrated on catching people one at a time, and slowly made my way forward. I grabbed one last cup of water at the water stop at mile 9, and poured it over my head, trying to cool down.

I was pleased to see that I was back on track for mile 9, with an 8:38 split, taking me back under 9:00 pace. I knew that if I could average 8:45 miles for the last 2, that I could break my current Masters PR for 10 miles. That became my goal. Mile 10 was mostly downhill, although only slightly, so I rolled it as best as I could. I felt myself picking up my pace with each step, and I started finding the full Gazelles running form. We zigged through an industrial park (well, a techie park), and finally hit Reatta Trace Parkway for the home stretch. From the warmup, I knew where one Km to the finish was, and about where a half mile to go was. I kept pushing, passing as many people as I could. I passed Gilbert and Frank and some other Gazelles, who were cheering from the side of the road with just under a half mile to go, and Joseph was on the other side of the street cheering us on as well. I cranked it up even more, and made the turn into the Pervasive parking lot again. The finish is further along there than I had thought, but I heard the announcer's voice, and kept the hammer down. I crossed the finish line with a mile 10 split of 7:43, which was amazing to me.

Final time 1:28:31. Pace 8:51. On a bad weather day, I'll take it. It's a masters PR for the distance, and my last couple of miles were very satisfying.

I'm only upset with myself over mile 8, where I was so slow, but I think the lesson that I learned is to take my GU earlier, instead of waiting until I felt tired. Onward and upward!