Elizabeth River Run - Run10k

Things started out fine. I was sitting in at a mod-hard effort in a pack with 5 other guys through the first ~3 miles. There were some sections where the wind was blowing hard enough to make running in a pack worth while. My racing singlet was getting soaked with sweat and water and it felt a bit constricting so I decided to pull it off. When I did my hat also came off and fell so without even thinking I stopped and went back to grab it. Even though it was only maybe 10ft I lost my momentum/rhythm and also fell about 50ft off the pack in a windy section. From that point on I was fighting with myself about whether to keep pushing at 100% or just drop it down a gear and finish out the course. I spent the next 1-2 minutes convincing myself to keep pushing and eventually got back on the effort, although now going solo and carrying my drenched singlet in my hand. I went through 2 or 3 other short segments (maybe 10-20sec each) where I backed off and tried to tell myself it wasn't worth the pain and why bother. My mile and 5K splits tell the story...6:04 and 6:14 for miles 4 & 5 where I took a few mental vacations and backed off. Physically I probably could have put down at least 5:50s. I ran the opening 5K in 17:49 and the back end 5K in 18:41. I figured at the 5 mile mark I'd make a decision...if I was under 29:30 I'd try to dig in, over 29:30 and I'd just hold steady at 95%. I figured I might be able to break 36min if I was under 29:30 at 5 miles. I ended up being about 29:20 but I didn't really have much left to give. This is where lack of any speed work in the past 2+ months comes back to get me. With about a mile to go I ditched the singlet in the bushes and gave it what I had to the finish. Now that I have a chance to think it over it appears that my "on the fly" math was a bit off. 29:30 at the 5 mile mark means I would have needed to run 5:25 pace for the final 1.1 miles to break 36min...wasn't gonna happen even if I had some legs left. In the end I still logged a decent PR but I know I left 45-60sec out on the course between stopping for my hat and then fighting with myself for the next 2+ miles over how to finish out the race.

I could have left the hat and went back later which might have kept me more positive on the situation...or I could have just stayed focused and gotten right back into the race. Unfortunately a good opening 5K doesn't get the job done when it's a 10K race.

Got about 2 miles of very easy jogging in while I went back to recon my racing singlet from the course.


My head.


Nothing spectacular but nothing to complain about either...except that they had no water/Gator at the finish line. All the post-race stuff was a few blocks away at the Amphitheater. I realize they didn't want people to congregate at the finish but I don't like the choice to not provide some water.