Monday, December 2, 2013

Last Race for 2013: Great River Road Run Ten Miler

This past Saturday, November 30th, I ran my last race for 2013--the Great River Road Run 10 Miler, which I finished in 1:35.26. Here's my race report.

1) A race down by the river...
Yes, that river, the mighty Mississippi.  This race, put on by the Alton Road Runners, http://www.altonroadrunners.com/
was in its 54th incarnation this year.  It's a race beside the Mississippi River--starting in Alton, Illinois. You run by the river the entire time--from Alton to Godfrey and back. It's a beautiful piece of scenery that I wish I lived closer to--I'd run by it all the time if I lived in the Riverbend area.

2) Third time was not the charm:
This time, I was vaguely dissatisfied--1:35.26 is a fine time, but I felt like I could have--and should have--done better. The last two years I was top 50 masters (at this race, not everyone gets a medal--medals are given out in the finish chute, and only to the top 50 in a certain age group). The age groupings are huge here--no 5 year and 10 year groups--my age group was 39-50. I was 67th in the female age 39-50 group this year.

3) It was blessedly warm.
One reason why it was a faster field was that it was pretty warm for November 30th.  More people come out for a race when they don't have to freeze their butts off!  I might have been a bit overdressed in a hat, jacket, long-sleeved tech tee and gloves.

4) And not as windy...
In previous years, this race has been very windy.  You run five miles out with the wind at your back, you reach the turnaround point and then the wind is in your face. The wind was mild this year in comparison to years past.

5) Music, no music--
I had my mp3 player glitch on me the last three miles, so that part was without music. My mantra throughout the race was "relax and breathe." It was harder than I anticipated--since I run half-marathons, a ten-miler should be a breeze, huh? Well, my pace was faster at this race than at either of the halfs I'd done earlier this year, so this race was fewer miles at a faster pace=harder.

6) Final results for this race:
Finish time: 1:35:27.6
Finish place: 434 of 748 runners
Age Group Placement: 67 (Female, age 39-50)
first five miles: 46:02.8 (9:12/m)
last five miles: 49:24.7 (9:53/m)
9:33 average pace

I'm vowing to make 2014 the year of the ten-miler. The fact that my first five miles were so much faster than the second five is a clue that I need to do a lot more long runs! I really want to kill the next ten-miler I run, so I've got lots of work ahead.