After a lot of thinking I have decided that I will start writing race reviews. More than anything this is personal so the analysis that I do after a race, and then I can remind myself of all the pros/cons of the race over time.
So I had decided to sign up for a 10k race on 01/01 . In the past Rhian and I have done the midnight run in nyc central park for several years. Since I couldn’t find a midnight run I decided I would do a race the next day. When I read the race description on the website it mentioned it was hilly. Little did I realize that they meant it was HILLY !
Race morning is pretty normal routine after a while. I wake up in time get ready. Usually I am able to do that all really quickly. I decided I didn’t need to layer up probably a bad idea since it was cold and windy outside. Grabbed a banana and made our way to the race site.
Once we were there did the regular logistical stuff of picking up packet. Making sure I knew what all of the stuff we need to take care of and staying hydrated. The race registration was fairly muddy which I thought would be similar to the trail we would be running on — the trail turned out to be dryer.
After the picking up my bib we went back to the car since it was pretty cold and we had over 45 mins to wait before the race began.
The start of the race was fairly smooth though I realized within the 400yds that my new timex gps watch was not going to give any GPS data. Thing to remember dont try anything new on race day , considering this was a blow off 10k I figured who cares. All I need is time and the rest should be fine. The 2 mi were pretty good and I ran a solid pace of roughly 8:30min/mi — from precieved exertion. I was also paying the price for drinking too much when ringing in the new year.
After about 2+ miles we came to what they had mentioned as the Hilly section. And boy this was a real beast.This was 600ft elevation gain in roughly a mile. So what would be an 11 grade hill for a mile (some portions of it were a higher grade). Suffice to say I was walking up this. In fact nearly everyone I saw was walking up. It looked the death march of zombies going up this.
We got to the top I got some fluids. And then it was a straight 11 grade drop.
My finish time was 1:14 . The slowest and hardest 10k I have ever done. Way off from PB of 41mins. Which I want to beat this year so lets see.
Couple of things to learn. My fitness is coming back but has a long long way to go. Look at a course before signing up, though I am pretty sure I would have done the race anyway. And then lastly even for a blow off race I can do better prep.