Mountain to Fountain 15K
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Mountain to Fountain 15K - Run15k
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Comments: At the start my plan was to run hard and get my HR up to the target of about 165-166, about 2-3 bpm's below 10K effort. The elite men just went up the road so fast it was amazing. I ran hard in within the first 1/2 mile had put a gap on Eric. Out on the main road, I could see a few guys ahead of me and the elite pack futher down the road. I was running pretty hard and had to make a concious effort to ease off a bit as I came down the road. I didn't look back but had the sesne I was kind of alone with the guy in front of me holding a steady gap of about 30 feet. The 5K timing matt was just before the park exit and I crossed in 17:41. Once out on McDowell Mountain Rd. I felt good, it was getting a little tiring running downhill into a bit of a headwind in the park and this was a road I run on weekly, so I know every inch of it. Between miles 4 and 5, the elite women caught me as well as three men who were running with them. Clearly I had gone out a bit too fast. Right before mile 6, Scott caught me as well so now I knew I had gone too hard down the hill but I felt ok and was holding my HR on the money. The elite women began to break up ahead of me and I caught the stragglers back up, inlcuding one gal who refused to let me pass! Every time I would run up to her, she would surge ahead. I went through 10K in 35:57. Legs and lungs burning now, it was time to climb. The hill into town is well known by local runners and cyclists. It's about 3/4 of a mile long and an good, steady grade. Not too steep but long enough to put a hurt on you. I knew there would be a nice flase flat downhill after the climb where I could recover so I hammered up the hill, dropping the elite gal and another who had fallen off. Towards the top, I also caugh one of the Team Banditos runners. So now I had to really make the pass decisive and I made sure he didn't try and come back up on me. I could see Scott up the road had also caught and passed the other guy who had been mixed in with the elite women, improving our overall placement as a team. I tried to close the gap to that guy as well but he was just a bit too far. I ran hard on the last small hill and then down the long staright of Saguaro Blvd. to the finish. The announcer knew who I was and made a comment about my shaved legs. :) What would you do differently?: Despite going a bit too hard the first 5K, I was very pleased with my ability to hold just below threshold for that duration. I was also very happy to finsih sub 55, which is what I was hoping for. Post race
Warm down: Once finsihed, I waited for Jamie who despite having to walk two aid stations suffering with tendonitis pain in her calf, finished in 1:12 and Mom came across in 1:34. We made our way over to the awesome post race festivities and our one free beer. I drank Mom's as well. :) I had though I was 4th in my AG but it turns out there was an elite Masters Division, so I ended up 2nd behind Shaun and much to my relief I was 4th on our team so my time counted. :) We had one guy on our team who weighed about 200lbs, so we won over 12 cases of Kiltlifter Ale! They had a seesaw set up where he sat on one end and they stacked the beer on the other. It was classic! I went home with a case and a half. Awesome day. And the race was won by Kara Goucher's husband in a time of 44min!!! Last updated: 2011-02-24 12:00 AM
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2011-03-14 9:49 AM |
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2011-03-14 10:05 AM in reply to: #3396709 |
2011-03-14 1:53 PM in reply to: #3396709 |
2011-03-14 4:19 PM in reply to: #3396709 |
2011-03-14 5:49 PM in reply to: #3396709 |
2011-03-14 10:34 PM in reply to: #3396709 |
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2011-03-15 11:00 AM in reply to: #3396709 |
2011-03-15 11:34 AM in reply to: #3398587 |
2011-03-16 5:47 PM in reply to: #3396709 |
General Discussion-> Race Reports! |
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United States
65F / 18C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 37/753
Age Group = M40-44
Age Group Rank = 2/57
You gotta love a big league running race where the finish line is less than a mile from our home! We have been looking forward to this race for a while. It had been a number of years since it was last run and wa s awelcome addition bakc on the race calander. It's a point ot point race which starts out in McDowell Mountain Park and ends at the Fountain Park in our town of Fountain Hills. They had $15,000 in prize money for the elite field, so I knew some amazing runners would be there to race. They also had a few Team competitions with a prize of winning the heaviest member of your teams weight....in BEEER!!!!!
So about 2 months ago, I get an e-mail form a local runner in my town I had never met who was putting together a Men Masters team for the race. He had discovered me on Athlinks and wanted to know if I would run with them. I had already registered for the race so I said sure, the prospect of free beer a strong incentive. He told me the names of some of the other guys on the team and I did some research to check them out. Well, let's just say I was very much MOP among these guys in regards to running! One of the guys, Shaun, is the same dude who whopped me by over 3min at the XTERRA 15 Mile Trail race in Feb. Another guy had won the Lost Dutchman Half in 1:18 a few weeks before. It wasn't a question as to if we would win the beer, I was more concerned that I would be able to contribut one of the top four times (we had 8 guys, the four fastest times count) that would be used for our total!
I was able to pick up not only my packet, but Jamie's and my Mom's as well Friday at Sole Sports down by my office, so race morning was super chill. We planned on meeting my Mom and local friends at 7:00am at the bus pick up. They had a bunch of school busses ready to drive us out to the Pemberton Trail parking lot where the race would start. They even had a bag drop for our warm gear, which was a great additional service.
So we are on the bus heading out to the park, having fun chatting...when our bus drives right by park entrance! No one said a word. I looked at Jamie and told her move over, I needed to go have a chat with the driver. I walked down the aisle and knelt down next to the nice lady driver and said,"Hi! Say, where are you giong?" Her direction were wrong and and had her pull over and turn around, much to the relief of everyone on the bus! People were thanking me all morning before the start.
So we finally arrived and unloaded in the Pemberton parking lot. Lot's of our local friends where there and we quickly killed the hour or so before the scheduled 8:30am start. They even had a nice moment of silence in the memory of Sally Meyerhoff who had been signed up to run this race. Her sister and family were there to run in her honor. I lined up behind the elite men with my firends Eric and Matt. Eric would try and run with me for as long as he could. While standing there, another friend Wendy introduced me to this guy Scott who turned out to be on my team! He looked at me and said,"I know you! You passed me at PF Changes wt the 12 mile mark! You were the only guy to pass me all day!" I totally remembered that moment, we were all alone running down Mill. Small world and I knew he would be a fast guy over this shorter distance.