Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Fall into Winter 10K
Date:	Sunday, December 12, 2004
Location:	Reston, VA
Race Type:	Run - 10 km
Age Group:	Male 35 - 39
Time:	0:34:51
Overall Place:	1
Comment:	So that's what happens when you step away from the bike (PR)

Race Report:

Saturday night, after a tasty Thai dinner with a friend, I hit the Reston Runners website to find the Sunday 10-mile run. Ooops. I totally forgot! There's a 10K race?! And it goes right in front of my house. Oh well, I thought, it looks like I'm racing. I only wish I'd known that before I'd done my 8 miles at 4 p.m.

So I wake up, make some coffee, lounge for a bit and drive the 4 minutes to register for the race. The great thing about racing at home is rolling out of bed just minutes before the race and seeing all friendly faces. Steve G, Debi, Jen, Stephanie, Debbie, Dorothy, and Amanda were all there, as well as the hordes of Reston Runners running the show. (Next year we'll have to get a contingent of RATS volunteers; Reston Runners does quite a bit to assist with the triathlon and we should return the favor!)

To warm up (literally, it was kinda cool) I did a few laps around the South Lakes track, but mostly I hung out inside the high school & tried to stay warm. As I ambled about, I didn't see much in the way of competition except for Mark Malander. Mark is a fellow Reston Runner and definitely one of the faster local guys. I've ran against him a few times and always come in behind him, but not too far behind him.

We line up on South Lakes Drive for the start and I spy someone else that may be fast. I ask Mark if he knows the fellow and Mark says, "No ... but he looks kinda thick, kinda like one of you triathletes."

The race starts and Mark goes off the front while I slip in behind the Thick Guy and Mark. In the five weeks since Ironman Florida I had 2 hours of swimming in me and three bike rides, but I'd started running again and this race would give me my second week of 50 miles. The week after Florida I ran 8 miles, then a week of 20 and then a week of 30. So, in the first few minutes I was try to figure out of I was rested and ready or missing fitness.

Mark makes a subtle move, visibly putting some space between him and Mr. Thick. After Mr. Thick let this go I made a very quick bridge to run behind Mark. We would run the rest of the race with one another.

The race is a long rectangle with South Lakes and Glade on the long sides and Twin Branches and Colt's Neck on the short sides. We leave from South Lakes High School and then turn right onto Twin Branches before running a long stretch down Glade. Colt's Neck returns us to South Lakes and once on South Lakes we run back to the high school, into the parking lot, and down to the track where we finish just about where the Reston Triathlon finishes.

Mark and I pass the first mile in 5:22 and start the downhill, where I try to do my best impression of Aaron and hold a quick pace as we descend. We turn onto Glade and I realize now that I'm rested and trained, so I move up onto Mark's shoulder with the plan of staying either to the side of him or in front of him for the rest of the race.

Glade isn't hilly, but it's not flat. On many of the false-flat up hills I try to sustain my speed, which means slightly increasing my effort. I'm feeling very good and consider dropping Mark around mile two ... but I drop that idea. Mark's an experienced, and fast, runner. If I'm faster than Mark it's not by much, and I don't want to make any mistakes. Still, I throw in occassional surges to see how he responds. I can hear his breathing (hard) and I'm comfortable with the pace.

The two hilly sections of this race are the short stretches of Twin Branches and Colt's Neck. Mark and I turn onto Colt's Neck and the pace is starting to hit me. Not bad, but I can feel it. We push up the hill and turn onto South Lakes. Right around mile 4, the effort gets harder. I'm pretty sure Mark speeds up, but part of this is the accumulation of the first four miles as well. I consider letting Mark go. I'm tired, Thai food is not sitting well in my stomach, and the last speed work I did was in October. I struggle for a bit and then the desire to win overcomes me. Now I know I'm fully recovered from Florida :) The last two miles will hurt, but I want the win and focus in on keeping both my speed and motivation up. Ater about two minutes at the new pace I settle in; the change in speed just required some time for adaptation, not a decrease in effort.

We approach the high school and turn onto the slight hill up to the parking lot. I make my move here. I simply hold my pace as we ascend the small hill, focusing on my leg strength as I stride up the hill. I can no longer hear Mark's breathing as I turn for the final descent onto the track. As I hit the track, I realize this is eerily familiar ... the Reston Triathlon finished in much the same way, with a couple of locals sprinting down the final turn. However, the big difference was this: at the Reston Triathlon, I was chasing someone down, slowly gaining speed. Here I had done the entire run on someone's shoulder. I'm not sure either situation is ideal :)

On the track I break one of my cardinal rules of racing: I look back. Mark was closer than I thought, or hoped? So here I was again, and again, I felt strong, ready for a sprint if needed, and slowly increasing the speed as I approached the line.

Five seconds. I managed to win by five seconds with a sizeable PR of 34:51. Not bad for one of those thick triathlete types.