Times Colonist 10 K

April 25, 2010

This was my first real goal race for my new training program that I had started in October. The goal was to run sub 33 min. I knew this was obtainable since I had been having solid races so far this year. However, I knew it wouldn't be easy since that time would equate to my best ever race (bettering my 15:47 performance at Bazan Bay 5k). Paul gave me an easy week before the race with only a single track workout on Tuesday and 4 easy days after so that certainly helped my legs recover. His advice for the race itself was to get into a good comfortable rhythm after the initial rush off the start line and then to hit it hard at the 5-6 km mark to finish strong. He also said to not look at my splits when racing and just go by feel. This would be different for me as I have been checking my watch for years at every km marker and sometimes adjusting my pace based on what I saw.

This year the TC boasted yet another record field with over 13,000 registered. The numbers are getting such that I'm thinking they may have to start adding in wave starts like at the Sun run and other large events. It's great to see so many people being active, but I do find it interesting that those in the mid-pack find it enjoyable to be essentially stuck in a crowd for 10k. If I were a 1 hour 10k runner, I don't think I would enjoy that too much. If I want to be in a crowd, I'll go to a concert or to the Olympics, but that's just me I guess.

As usual, the the field for this race was strong with 6 fast Kenyans and a good number of strong local athletes including Simon Witfield, Scott Simpson, and Steve Osaduik. I figured that there would be several runners going under 30min and perhaps as low as 29min. There was also a strong woman's field with Karolina Jarzynska (Poland), Lisa Harvey, Kristian Rody, and Lucy Smith all expected to do well.

There was bit of commotion right off the start as a photographer who was standing directly in front of the runners failed to get out of the way in time and ended up colliding with as least one runner. I suspect that he learned his lesson - you may as well be in front of a heard of charging buffalo!

The first km is on a slight uphill grade which luckily feels much better coming at that point than it would at 9km. It felt fast, but I knew it would have to feel fast if I were to get my goal time. I was soon running in the vicinity of Shawn Nelson, Nick Walker, Mark Nelson (names you have undoubtedly seen me write many time recently since they seem to race about everything and are right around my speed). Ian Hallam was also running near me as were a couple other guys. We continued to move quite quickly in the first few km and while I was not labouring too much, nor did it feel entirely comfortable. I was hoping that I was not going to "overcook it" too early as Paul had cautioned me against. I did ease off just a bit and Nick and Shawn moved ahead slightly, but I continued to run hard.

Mark had fallen back somewhat after about 2km and Ian fell off at around 4km so I found myself running on my own and would remain so for the remainder of the race. I hadn't get looked at my watch, but decided to seek a peak at the midway point just to see where I was. I was a bit shocked to see it show 16:17 (a 32:34 pace) quite a bit ahead of my goal. At this point, I figured that I was either going to have an amazing race and shatter my best time or I was soon going to suffer. In the end it I ended up doing a bit of both.

I pushed well up the hills from 4.5-6km and later found out that I had done these about 10 sec faster than I had last year. There is a long downhill section from 6-7 km where I picked up some time and ended up passing a guy who was fading. I was still feeling reasonable at this point and felt in control, but around the 8km mark I really started to feel the effects of my brisk pace. It also didn't help that I developed a mild side stitch as well. I didn't hit the wall, but was definitely struggling to maintain my pace. Up ahead I noticed that Shawn was also suffering and fell behind Nick - if I had anything left I'm sure I could have overtaken him, but the well was empty (I had indeed overcooked it). As I approached the finish line I saw the clock count up towards 33 min and did my best to sprint the last 100 meter hoping to get just under, but instead hitting it exactly. Unlike last year when I was able power through the last km in 3:15, this year I puttered through 8 sec slower.

While I was officially 1 sec off my goal time, overall I am quite happy with the time if not the race itself. I am pleased with my fitness level and think if I had a really good race in terms of pacing and how I felt I might be capable of taking off close to 30 sec.

Kip Kangogo ended up winning in 29:35 and Scott Simpson running a very strong race to finish as the top Canadian in 30:00 even edging out Simon Witfield by a few seconds. Karolina Jarzynska crushed the woman's field finishing in an amazing 33:25 just steps behind me. Congrats to all others club members and friends who finished the run - there were some solid performances. Thanks too to all who called my name while I was running - I appreciate it even if I don't always acknowlege the support when I am focused on the job at hand. Results.

Splits:
3:13, 6:26 (missed 2k marker), 3:17 (16:17 5k), 3:21, 3:21, 3:21, 3:15, 3:25, 3:23