KC 15k - Run15k

What a great day for a run. I mean really. Clear sky, perfect running temperature, and hardly any wind. Ideally, I would've placed this race a week or two earlier on my schedule in relation to my marathon, but this is the first 15k road race in the area that I know of, and the race venue and course sounded appealing. However, in the grand scheme of things, this was simply a training run.

To start, I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to pace myself. How does one exactly pace a 9 mile run that you're not really racing? I decided to go mostly feel, especially at the beginning, trying not blow things up too early. I started near the front with no issues on crowding despite the narrow start corral. Around mile 2 or 3 I had a guy come up on me and we started to chat about triathlon. He was getting ready for IM Arizona, so we talked a lot about that as well as last week's Branson 70.3 that he raced. After a mile or two I let him go on ahead of me. I was still at the point where I was unsure how hard I wanted to push things. I was feeling good and racing hard, but I was still unsure as to where to draw the line between hard and too hard. However, I kept motoring along like a machine. My mile splits never varied much and I was feeling great.

The course was a perfect setup and was quintessential Kansas. Mostly flat, but with a few hills here and there, but nothing really noteworthy in terms of climbing. I really was enjoying myself out there. The weather, the wide open fields around the Kansas Speedway, the volunteers, and the other runners. I loved it all. Plus it helps to be feeling great on your run as well. I was expecting to lose some speed as the race went on, but I was holding my mile splits evenly, so with a little over two miles left I picked things up and started charging ahead. Up to that point little had changed in terms of passing. Everyone seemed to be holding there position and pace. Even towards the end no one was making a move to speed up, except me. I was able to pick off about three or four people who I had been staring at for the last four miles and I continued to push hard to the finish. The finish line came up fast. All of a sudden I was headed around a cone and running through the corridors of Livestrong Park before emerging on the field and with a finish line in full view. I tried to pass one other person at the finish but I couldn't quite get catch her.

One thing I was surprised by was how many people don't run the tangents on the course, particularly as the field spread out up front. With exception to one guy in front of me, everyone within my view was hugging the course lines, particularly when it meant taking turns wide. Finding the shortest distance from point to point became nice mental activity. I was just astonished how many people chose to run "the long way." I guess it was just a case of each person following the person ahead of them. My Garmin read within 0.03 of the actual race distance.

Mile splits:
6:51
7:04
7:24
7:11
7:13
7:11
7:05
7:03
6:41
0.32 - 5:37 pace

If I knew how great I would be feeling at the end, even after increasing my speed, I might have held a faster pace for entire race duration. Otherwise, nothing.

After crossing the finish line you're sent up to the stands and walk the stairs out of the stadium and out into the plaza area. After grabbing a little bit of food I retrieved my race results. I saw that I didn't place and therefore I didn't have to stick around for awards, which I was kinda glad for. I could just go home.


A small 5 mph headwind on the turn for home.
But seriously, nothing. This was just a fun training run.


First year race, but I love the Ultramax crew and their races. However, I sometimes get the feeling that they are either just a tad short on personnel, or in some way they barely miss getting everything off and running without a hitch. Some of the issues are ancillary details but the race itself was great. There were some general logistical items that I would've changed from my standpoint, but I imagine that if this race returns many of these kinks will be worked out.