Ran the Army/Navy 10k this morning on Fort Story Army Base. Wasn’t expecting a fast race as I’m really still in post Richmond Marathon recovery mode, but as usual I was up for the race and willing to give my all.
We set off fast in the first mile but I was surprised by the 5:49 split. It honestly felt a lot faster and I would have guessed it to be closer to 5:30. Oh well, still a long way to go. I moved into third place in the second mile and was pleased to see a 5:42 split on my Garmin 405.
I slowed somewhat in the third mile (5:52) and from here on in it was just a question of hanging on to the finish. I found myself running alone – 2 guys ahead and at least 1 runner fairly close behind – and it was tough to keep the pace going at times. Mile 4 was a little slower (5:55) and with a short, steep hill in the fifth mile, I slowed once again to a 5:58 mile. The picture above is me at the foot of the hill after just passing the four mile mark. Note the rare “both-feet-off-the-ground” pose!
In the sixth mile there’s a short out-and-back section where I found out how close the nearest runner was. Billy, if you’re reading this, you looked way too comfortable and I honestly thought you were going to chase me down! I negotiated the final “hill” and tried to kick it in to the finish as fast as possible. Somehow I held off the fast finishing Billy Chorey and held on for a 36:19 finish time (5:51 per mile average) – my second best 10k time and a solid improvement on last years time (37:36).
Today’s 10k was going to be my last race of 2008, but after the awards ceremony I was talked into running the Santa Shuffle 5k next weekend. My current 5k PR is 17:23 (set in 2006) and I’ve decided to go all out and attempt to break it. Watch this space for more details….
Race details:
Photo courtesy TriDuo.com Sports Photography
Wow, great job! You’d never know that you were in “marathon recovery mode” from that finish time.
Good luck with the upcoming Santa Shuffle 5K! With the way things have been going with your marathon training, I think you’ll have no problem making mincemeat out of your old PR. I predict a sub-17:00!