Cape Henry 10 Miler - 2nd overall and another PR
Tough race at Fort Story today. Went into it thinking (hoping) I could hold 6:10 pace for a 1:01:40, and if things went really well , pull off 6:08 pace for a 1:01:20 finish time. Both would be comfortably under my current best time for a 10 mile race. Conditions were pretty good on race morning - temperatures in the low 50’s, but a NNE wind of about 10mph. With a few hills (or as close to a hill as you get in Virginia Beach) thrown into the mix, it looked to be an interesting race.
I won’t bore you with too many details, but my first mile was a 6:10. The lead guy (actually a teenager), must have run a 5:40 - he was way out in front. Two other runners were about 10 seconds ahead and another was running in bursts - surging ahead and then coming back to me. Wasn’t quite sure what to make of his tactics to be honest. For the next couple of miles I just concentrated on my own pace and form, trying to forget the 3 runners ahead of me. Mile 2 was slightly faster (6:05) and mile 3 even quicker (6:03). By now I was almost on 2 of the runners (2nd and 3rd), but the lead guy was still way out in front. An even quicker 4th mile (6:00 flat) saw me move up to 3rd place and at the halfway point I was stride for stride with the 2nd place guy. 5th mile - 5:57 for a 30:15 5 miler.
Not much changed in the next 3 miles (6:04, 6:03, 6:00) except we started reeling in the lead guy. Every time I looked up he was a little bit closer and by now looking quite tired. Actually I was almost at my limit myself and holding a pace much faster than anticipated. I sensed the race would eventually be between me and the guy next to me (Kevin White), and tried to break him several times on the “hills”. However, as hard as I tried, I couldn’t shake him. The crucial part of the race was just after 8 miles. Kevin drew level with the leader and surged ahead. I tried to stay with both of them but dropped back about 5 yards. I had to work really hard to get back to the 2nd guy and put in a surge to break him. He responded, but could only draw level and this was my chance to press on. My 9th mile was a 5:58 and didn’t leave much in the tank for the last of 10. Kevin was well clear of me by now and my only chance of catching him was to kill the last hill. I shortened my stride and powered the hill, and by the top was only about 7 yards behind. Kevin must have saved something though as he just surged away from me and all I could do was regroup and try to hold my form to the finish. Down one last hill and just a half mile to go, clear in 2nd but no chance of catching the leader. The finish line soon appeared and I was really pleased to see a finish time of 1:00:23 - 6:02 pace for another 2006 PR. Can’t believe I was so close to breaking the magic hour. Maybe next time on a less hilly course?? We’ll see….
Splits:
6:10 6:05 6:03 6:00 5:57 (30:15)
6:04 6:03 6:00 5:58 6:03 (30:08)
Garmin side note: decided to do manual laps today instead of the 1 mile auto laps. Gave me a better sense of pace from mile marker to mile marker.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
