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Cooper River Bridge Run - Run10k


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Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina
United States
Cooper River Bridge Run
75F / 24C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 03m 29s
Overall Rank = 12342/36706
Age Group = 45-49
Age Group Rank = 311/?
Pre-race routine:

Breakfast of oatmeal and coffee at 5:30, shower and hopped in the car. Traffic was relatively light so we got there in plenty of time.
Event warmup:

The start was delayed by almost an hour! There were apparently problems getting all the racers from downtown out to the start area on time, or so I heard later. This must have been really terrible for all the elite and seeded runners who get warmed up and are totally ready to run, and then end up waiting around. [ETA: The winner this year finished in 29:37, and over the past years they have been 28:58, 27:49, 28:24... I think it made a difference.] For us, we just talked and joked with others, and I had time to hit the port-o-lets twice. The mood was good during the wait, and there were actually pretty funny comments and groans and wise-cracks every time the announcer would tell us "just another brief moment....".

Run
  • 1h 03m 29s
  • 6.21 miles
  • 10m 13s  min/mile
Comments:

Finally, it got going, and I said goodbye to my mom and headed out. Lots of dodging around walkers, and I felt fine until hitting a literal wall of walkers coming up the first incline to the bridge. My pace plummeted, and I knew that even for me, this was way too slow. I kept running whenever I could and slowly made my way up the incline. By the time the road widened out again, I was able to go a little bit faster, but I also knew that by the 5k split, at 32 minutes, my dream of breaking 60 minutes wasn't going to happen today. I didn't feel bad though, and tried to really run faster on the down side of the bridge. Temps were getting hotter, but there was a nice breeze up there, so it felt fine. I took water at the second water stop at the foot of the bridge because I knew that the last 2 miles would be hot without that breeze, and whew, they really were! I sought out the shady side of the street and really put forth a big effort to keep my cadence up. At one point, there was a firetruck spraying people with their hose and I ran right for that - heavenly!

Finally, the last mile was quite crowded. I noticed the crowd but felt very focused on myself and the amount of effort I felt I was putting forth. It was definitely the hardest I have ever fought for a race, including all the 5ks. I just really gave it my all, finally rounding the corner for the last 0.2 and whew, then it was all over. My watch said 1:03:39, chip time 1:03:29. My first feeling was disappointment that I wasn't much better than 3 years ago when I ran my first ever 10k, but I later checked and found that my time back then was 1:06:09, so heck yeah, I was over 3 minutes better. That's a PR and I'll take it.


What would you do differently?:

Just keep practicing, keep the speedwork in one of my weekly runs, remember to work hard.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around and looked for water and a snack.

Event comments:

Afterward, I met up with my family, had some water and a banana, and waited for my mom to finish at 1:38:something, number 21 in her age group (she's 70). We hopped on a shuttle back over to our side of the bridge to drive home, spending the time to dissect our races and talk about training. I feel good today, and hopeful that I can keep making small improvements, that my knee is feeling good, and that my husband, mom and sister want to make this an annual tradition.




Last updated: 2012-02-27 12:00 AM
Running
01:03:29 | 06.21 miles | 10m 13s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/?
Overall: 0/36706
Performance: Good
HR average was 177, only hitting 180 and a bit higher on those last 1.5 miles when I was really working hard keeping my cadence up. So, pretty good for me.
Course: Flat until the bridge incline. The steepest part of the incline is also the narrowest. That was tough due to extreme crowding and lots of walkers.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? No
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2012-04-02 1:36 PM

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