Iron Horse 10K Race Report

Well I made it. I did not die. I did not have to walk. I did not vomit. I did not spit. I did not come in last.

I finished in 1:06:50 (10:46 mile pace). I came in 249 of 273, 11 out of 11 Clydesdales and had I been in the category I would have been 12 of 12 in men 45-49. I did beat two other men, one younger, one a little bit older. And I was beaten by no one taller than me.

I wore my heart rate monitor and was hitting the lap splits, but in my joy of crossing, I forgot to hit my watch stop.

It was a beautiful day, maybe a little warmer and humid than I would have thought at 8:00 in the morning. I ate a banana and half a cliff bar along with a Coke for breakfast.

I lined up in the back of the pack, and felt a little short of breath to start. Its funny how after the first half mile or so, you don't pass anyone and no one passes you. Everyone settles into their own pace and the runners in front go faster and the runners behind go slower and there you are alone. I think all told after the initial pack settled, I wasn't passed by but four people and I didn't pass but two or three.

I did the first mile in 10:15, much faster than I planned.
Mile 2 was in 10:28 as I was trying to slow down to last for later.
Mile 3 was 10:58 again trying to slow down
Mile 4 was 11:07 and I was going slow because I was tired. I activated my heart rate mode at some point along there and came in with an average heart rate of 164. This is much higher than my training runs.
Mile 5 was 11:06 with a heart rate of 166 and a high of 167.
Mile 6 I didn't hit and the finish I didn't hit.
But with math I figure I did the last 1.2 miles in a 10:47 pace.

Periodically my feet felt numb. I tried to run on a different angle of the road then as I was probably pounding a nerve.

The course was on asphalt -- for most of the course the roads were closed to traffic. At times I tried to think about different things so I wouldn't have to think about how far I still had to run, the best thing I found was just to look at the scenery. Very pretty past farms and along the river. I thought it might be interesting to try to run a race in every town in the state, starting with every town in Hartford County, and then moving from there. That of course is a lot of races, probably way too many.

My only big adventure was coming into the last water station. There were three people holding cups of water ahead. The woman ahead of me grabbed the first cup, dumped it on her head, grabbed the second cup, dumped in on her head, grabbed the third cup, dumped it on her head, and then tried to grab the fourth cup that the guy was taking off the table to give to me. She stopped, and while I had been forced to slow, I couldn't stop that suddenly and I slammed into her, knocking her off balance. I had managed to grasp the cup of water that the guy held above her head so I could reach it as I hit into her. She apologized -- I think she was a little stunned and embarrassed to realize that someone else might have been behind her who needed water. Still running I took a sip of mine and then dumped it on my head. She never caught back up to me.

I also got lots of comments on my Celtics tee-shirt which I took out of the closet after twenty years. When people shouted "Way to go Celtics!, I would do a Kevin Garnett triple chest pound.

As I got close to the finish line I kept my regular pace. I had no gas for a sprint, but then the music they were playing picked me up a little. One lady remarked I was running in time to the music.

I never had a moment during the race where I asked myself why I was doing this. I was thinking this is pretty cool I am running a 10K and i think I am going to make it.

Crossing the finish line leaves such a sense of satisfaction that you immediately want to sign up for another race

All in all, nice day, great event. I drank a couple bottles of water afterward and had a bagel, and then had to head in to work.

The decision I have to make now is to try next for speed or for more distance. My inclination is to work on some speed with the next running race being June 18 at my home course the West Hartford reservoir.

I also can buy my road bike now, and may do a sprint triathlon on either June 12 or 26 as the Lake T Sprints are starting back up. It depends on how comfortable I am on a new bike.