It was a stereotypical Minnesota fall day, with morning temps hovering around 37° with a slight westerly wind, which played to our advantage in the "Shortcut to the Capitol", as the course starts in Minneapolis and takes a more direct route than the marathon course to the State Capitol in St. Paul. Before the gun went off, Jon Peterson and I agreed on a first mile around 4:50 and would see what shook out from there.
The race got out to an unusual start with the lead bikers missing a turn in the first mile (at no large fault of their own, as the race course incorrectly had a barricade blocking the turn they were supposed to make), which led to an unbelievable fast and incorrect first mile split. This in turn led to the race being 9.86 miles instead of the USATF certified 10 miles. But since I was wearing my Garmin, I could catch my first split of 4:39. A little quick.
I caught up to JP and we ran the next mile together until he pulled slightly away on a downhill and I couldn't keep pace. At this point I heard some breathing right behind me and looked over, only to discover that Joe Moore had jumped into the race as a last minute entry. With JP having slightly pulled away, Joe and I went back and forth over the next 6 miles, with each of us throwing in some surges to try and break one another. Finally around 8.5, Joe put in enough of a surge to create permanent separation that I just couldn't quite close. He admitted to me after that he knew if he left it down to a kick that I would have the upper hand. I knew that too and tried to play it close for the final stretch, but just couldn't quite hang on.
My final time of 48:46 for 9.86 miles is equivalent to a 49:27, assuming the same pace. I have to admit that seeing that projected time for 10 miles is a little disappointing, as I really believed a sub-49 time to be well within reach, even with my current fitness being a little down. Although I know I am making progress, my 10 mile split en route to my half marathon last year was 48:51. Granted it was on a much more favorable (flatter) course with better weather, and I was peaking for that race, but I had hoped to best that time yesterday.
With each race this fall, I have felt more motivated to recommit myself to the monotony of base training, as I know that this time of year with consistent, uninterrupted training can produce the big jumps in fitness and race results. After speaking with Dennis (my coach), following the race, he seemed to be pleased with the effort and joins me in my optimism for the future. I feel very good about stringing together a solid three months of training and it producing break through performances come spring time.
My tentative schedule for the next few months looks as follows:
11/27/14 - Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race, 10k
1/18/15 - USATF Half Marathon Championships in Houston, TX
2/7/15 - USATF Cross Country Championships in Boulder, CO
Results:
