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St Pat's Day 10km Race

March 6, 2016 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Weather: lower 40s, overcast and good racing weather

Comments:
Jon Ettinger is running Cherry Blossom in a month and while he couldn't convince me to register for that race, I agreed last week to join him in this 10km tune-up. I was his first 10km ever. I agreed to pace him in his goal to break 40:00 and we agreed I might accelerate sometime in the second half if I felt good. I was happy to have an excuse not to be going all out, and looking back on this race, I doubt I would have enjoyed myself half as much if I'd been going for a good time from the gun. This was yet another week of multiple days off due to a combination of a busy schedule, lack of forethought, and laziness. I was happy to be putting my focus on coaching/pacing Jon, and I was reminded how much easier it is to run well when one is not battling in their own head the whole way.

Left home at 7:45 and picked up Jon. Drove and parked near DAR Constitution Hall... coincidentally right behind Bill Solers and Lizzie Sadoff (Bill coached GDS Running before me and Lizzie's daughter held the distance records at GDS when I took over coaching.) We four jogged to the start line and Jon and I added on a bit, did some drills, a few strides and got to the line for the 9:00am (civilized) start. Wore my yellow DS trainers all day as they are relatively light.

We lined up a few rows back in a not very crowded field, and it took me 5 seconds to cross the timing mat/start line. We got out comfortably, but Jon's breathing and the fading adrenaline alerted me that we might be sub 6:00 when we'd been hoping for a 6:20ish first mile. We backed off a bit as the crowd sorted itself out. Allowed the four top women to slip by and settled into a nice rhythm. The mile was 6:12 (although knew my chip time was 6:07). There seemed to always be a handful of men around for the rest of the race, although the faces varied at different times. Generally, we were very even.

Splits were:
6:12 (really 6:07 for the mile)
6:20 (12:32)
6:17 (19:51)
The 5km was likely right around 19:30 (19:25 chip time)
6:18 (26:10)
6:24 (32:34)
6:11 (38:45) (I made the spontaneous decision to accelerate away form Jon at 35:30. Pace from 5 to 5.5 miles was likely around 6:25 and my pace from 5.5-6 miles was likely sub 6:00)
73 (final .2 miles)

Final time on my watch was 38:58, but my chip knows I ran 10km in 38:53.

Jon took water at the 3 mile mark from a water station staffed by Desmond Dunham and the Wilson track team. I saw Charlie Ban cheering a few times on the course. JOn was straining in the fifth mile, but he fought back again and again, refusing to fall back from me although our little pack pulled away from us at that point. I turned down Jons' suggestions that I accelerate at the 5km, 4 mile and 5 mile marks. Still, when he asked if if we had half a mile left, I answered yes and told him I was gong to accelearte. I was very pleased with how quickly I was able to drop gears and walk down the three or four guys who'd been pulling away from us (although there were probabl y 1200meters left when I went not just 800.) If my memory is correct, I caught some guys from 50 meters back in that next 600 meters and the final 200 meters being on a down slope was greatly appreciated as I closed hard all the way through the line. As that was the only 1200 meters of the event that I'd actually raced, I didn't feel particularly spent afterwards.

Quickly said hello to Jon's girlfriend, gathered my clothes form under a bench, and jogged to the car so I could get home in time to drive Anna to a friend's house. All in a all, a very enjoyable race. Jon ran a chip time of 39:18 and was very pleased. I am quite proud and impressed with his consistency. Best 10km I've ever seen a jumper sprinter run! His dealing with his diabetes since senior year of high school makes racing this sort of distance all the more challenging and impressive!