Norfolk Pub 10 Mile - Run10 Mile

Started off at the back of the pack b/c I didn't want to get sucked into a faster pace then I could handle. I shuffled along at what felt like a crawling pace for the first mile to find I was perfectly on target pace. Took it easy going up the hill that was mile 2 and honestly I never felt tired. Somewhere in the mile 3 area an older gentleman caught up to me and we ended up running and talking for the rest of the race. He had run this 3 times before. I've never had a race where I was able to talk with someone for so long it was really nice and made the time pass by. Plus he was good motivation, I could NOT let him get by me, he was obviously older, shaped like a barrel was wearing what looked like to be yellow boxer shorts (checking the results I find he was 60 and it appears to be a course PR). I think I was motivation to him as well b/c when we got to the hill that was mile 8 he said he usually walks it but is going to try to run the whole thing, I did pull on him a little bit (I was stronger on all the uphills but he closed the gap on the 'flats' and down hills) but I think he ran the whole thing because the down hill that was mile 9 he caught up very quickly and we ran that together.

Somewhere in mile 4 I started to notice my right knee was hurting on and off, sharp pain every step. I did what I could to run on the side of the road the hurt less and just kept chugging along. Around mile 7 it was a constant pain with every step, and around the point I noticed a hot spot on my left foot arch. Since this is a race I had not choice but to suck it up and soldier on. I will say though that the down hill of mile 9 was terribly painful. This leads to a very cruel thing about this course which is that after pounding down hill for all of mile 9 there is a very short "flat" section that follows with a very very very steep hill, I'm talking there are stairs that aren't this steep. At this point in the race going up this hill it got to the point where I could barely lift my legs to "run", so I ended up hiking up the last part of it. Once reaching the top I knew it was again down hill to the finish and I could actually see the finish line in the distance. I bellowed out a roar and growled and snarled my way to the finish running as fast I as could muster passing the two people in front of me on my way.

I had great support on the course as my wife and father had come up with me. They drove out on the course and were cheering all for all runners at the ~5.5 mile mark, then cut over a private road and were at the ~6.5 mile mark. They then drove past me and gave motivation just before the hill that is mile 8 and where at the top of the hill cheering us on as well as we started our decent. This is not a race to do if you need spectators.

It has been 4 years since I ran a ten mile race so I would do nothing differently in preparation. The ankle sprain in early November had set me back two weeks so I was only able to do a 9 mile long run in preparation, out of my control.
Going foward if I were to do this race again I would do some DOWN hill training as that was the most painful part of the race. I would also go into this with long runs at or longer then race distance.

Raised my arms in celebration as I crossed the finish line and down the chute, got handed a candy cane and then jogged on for another 4 minutes or so, turned around and walked back to my wife and father.
Post race party was at the pub a block away so after changing I hobbled over there we found a seat order up some beers and I had a big plate of chicken nachos!


Did the aching knee limit my performance I dont know, if anything it may have helped hold me back and not blow up on the course. I didn't train to do this course with any sort of speed, I ended up finishing right around where I thought I would. The mile long down hill of mile 9 was unlike anything I have ever experienced.

Post race both knees hurt from the down hill and my right knee also hurts still from whatever the reason it was it started hurting in the first place. Thinking back I do not recall a point in the race where I felt tired aerobicly, it was my leg muscles that just were not use to the constant up and down hill action.


Small race, well organized. There were three water stations but I bring my own drink so I can't comment on the quality of them. Minimal volunteers but I dont now how many would be really needed at a race of this size. Very impressed and will look to do more Greystone Racing events. The race director was very nice, bought the first beer at the pub and actually went around and personally thanked the runners who were still there after the awards were handed out.