Distance: 16.8 mi.
Warmup: 1.9 mi.
Race (according to Garmin): 13.18 mi. in 1:24:00.59 - 6:23 ppm.
Cooldown: 1.7 mi.
Once I announced
my decision to bump down from a full to a half, the Alston Bird Corporate Cup effectively became my "big race" of the winter/spring. Since it's only a half, I have entertained ideas of jumping in the distance again at Racefest April 14, but this was essentially it. This race would be the benefactor of the 17-20-mile runs I did for several weeks straight, and of some pretty tough tempo workouts.
After a gigantic pasta dinner last night around 6:30, I awoke from a good night's sleep just before 6 a.m. and had some oatmeal and a banana. Adrienne would be racing, too, but wisely not going out hard after some downtime in the training lately. She ended up treating it as a fast long run - but did beat her time from Savannah last fall. With her in the passenger seat, I rolled up to the Dowd just after 7 and began to get ready. The chip pickup experience was easy despite the massive crowds inside One Wells Fargo. I immediately bolted back to the Dowd to change shoes, ditch my winter clothing, and use the men's room one last time. I was comfortable with having enough time but would have preferred more than 2 miles warmup.
There wasn't much of a setup at the starting line, but I was excited to see some friendly faces. Brian Baum, John Fillette, Tom Ricks, Clayton Venhuizen, Jay Barringer aka "The Dark Fox," and Chad Crockford were all present and accounted for. I also ran into Thomas, Michelle, and Danielle, all planning to go medium-easy with Tobacco Road eight days away.
The start command was kinda confusing. I basically said good luck to Jay, who darted off to the front right as the announcements began. They were brief and then all of a sudden we were off. I actually prefer minimal pageantry at the start of these things. I tucked in behind Fillette and did my best to start conservatively. Tom had planned to hit 1:25 - 1:27 as a fast tempo in preparation for Boston, so I hung around with him as we kept the first mile very conversational.
First five mile splits: 6:18.1, 6:23.6, 6:28.6, 6:24.5, 6:25.2.
In hindsight, if I had anything to do over I would have gone out faster. I wanted to start conservatively and save my legs for the rough hills that would await. After the first mile I pulled away from Tom a bit and latched on to a guy who said he was "shooting for 6:15s." The 5k was run at the same time as the half, strangely, and when they turned off to finish there was more room to run. My new friend and I sidled up to another runner and basically ran three abreast down 3rd Street for a little more than a mile, exchanging friendly banter all the way. Up a slight hill towards the end of the fifth mile, I decided to abandon ship and pull ahead a bit. I came through five miles right at 32-flat, just slightly slower than my 5-mile tempo with the Charlotte Runners four nights prior. I began to develop some nasty tightness in my left hamstring and worried about being all alone all of a sudden. I decided the best way to dispose of these thoughts was to throw in a surge.
Splits for 6-9: 6:14.5, 6:20.6, 6:14.8, 6:20.6.
I saved my race by consistently pushing in this section, by myself nearly the whole way, and not going so hard that I trashed my legs. I think the pace was really even here considering that the 6:20s involved some steep hills (Providence Rd and then, later, Colony). I had deemed the Colony Rd hill as a make-or-break section, and my surge meant I would have some targets as I went up it. That's exactly what I had wanted. One guy actually peeled off and hopped in a porta-jon before I got to him. I caught another runner going uphill by Myers Park and encouraged him to come with me. He didn't and so I went after Miguel Perez, a great runner who had been my target since Providence Rd. I caught him but smartly realized I better not get away just yet.
This guy is going to eat me for breakfast if I try to pull away from him now, I thought. I eased up a bit and we took turns blocking the wind for each other going up another Colony hill, then down Roswell past Myers Park Country Club.
Splits for 10-12: 6:24.3, 6:25.7, 6:36.6.
After that hilly Colony Rd section, my legs really began to feel heavy as I tried to pull away from my competition. I was thankful for the presence of Miguel, which helped me avoid zoning out as I was actually scared to death that he would catch me. I was happy to see Eric and Jess Bilbrey as I began my death march; Eric shouted some helpful words of strategic encouragement as I gave him the "so-so" sign. Running down the Booty Loop and fighting my body every step of the way, I tried to think of all those Tuesday tempo runs with the Charlotte Runners that traversed this exact same path. Right around that time I found Bevin, who had just showed up with her sign. Coincidence? I think not. Feelings of pure hell were actually interspersed with fleeting moments of peace and loose legs, and despite slowing down up some hills I managed to keep things from slipping away too badly.
Splits for the final 1.18: 6:18.2, 1:04.8 (5:56 ppm).
I survived the Morehead hill and began to charge towards the finish. My fastest mile was #6, but my last mile was my fourth-fastest split. I'm pretty pleased with that considering how rough the last few miles of this race were. I was amused to see John Cendroski and his girlfriend here, as John cursed at me belligerently. I later found out Adrienne had told him to do that, as she knows I respond better to negative reinforcement. That's not exactly what I had in mind but it was a nice change of mindset as I was hanging on for dear life. With a quarter-mile to go, one final turn of the head assured me I would not be caught from behind, and I continued to push on in an effort to break 1:24. I missed it by two seconds according to the official results. This could have been avoided by simply being closer to the front, but hindsight's always 20/20, right?
Race Results
I finished 16th overall, ironically one spot behind Fillette, even though he was more than 90 seconds ahead. I also won my age group, making me for two-for-two since I turned 30.
Splits Chart
Map
None of that really matters, I guess. What I wanted from this race was to know where I stand with longer distances, and I walked away encouraged. I'm far from satisfied and can look ahead to where I really want to be, but I am definitely happy with today. Another positive note is the way I raced - perhaps too slow at the start, but I was able to surge ahead before it was too late and pick off several people near the end, without being passed. I can look back on this journal entry and see that today was a nice building block and a great way to close the first quarter of 2012.
'Til next time, kids. Thanks for comin' out.
