Firecracker 10k Race Report

My day started at 4:30 with coffee and a waffle with peanut butter, my plan was to run 6 miles around the neighborhood before running down to the start of the race which is about 3 miles from my house. This would give me close to 9 miles before the race and would really give me a good idea of how I will feel running a 10k on tired legs, which is something I am going to have to deal with on the 14th as I attempt my first Olympic Distance Triathlon. I also wanted to try out a new drink combo I plan on using during the tri and see how it would feel on my stomach and this race was a perfect time to test it out.

After sweating through my first set of clothes I showered, changed and refueled and headed out to the race. Once i got there I ran into a number of friends and fellow LU members running this race, I had a couple offers to run with some people but i really did not want to turn this into a PR effort and just wanted to stick to the plan.

I did end up running the first couple of miles with Nick Sacco but after the 2 mile check point and the first hill, he was feeling strong and wanted to kick it up, I graciously declined to join him and locked into my desired pace of 8:30 min/mi.

Miles 2 - 4 went by with relative ease given the heat and humidity and this section is mostly flat, with some small hills, I took water at each and every station drinking half and dumping the rest on my neck and back trying to stay as cool as possible. I knew from running this race last year that mile 5 was where the fun began, with a slow decline down Archer Drive and then the last and most difficult hill. It was at this point I was joined by a guy who was running the 10k for the first time and i gave him a heads up that the fun was just getting started. He continued on and I did end up seeing him later on the hill and he was managing but noticeably slower.

After managing the hill myself it was all down hill and flat for the final mile. I recovered a bit on the down hill section and as we turned the corner I kicked it up a notch and finished strong crossing the line in 52:45, about 3 minutes slower than last year and 5 minutes off my 10k PR. I am very happy with my time considering the heat and the 9 miles beforehand. I feel confident that I can run right at or around 50 minutes for and Olympic Tri 10k after this race.

After the race I found Deanna and the boys and got ready for the 1 mile kids run. This was going to be Casey and Caden's first attempt at a distance other than a quarter mile and what a miserable day to try it out. Casey got a side stitch about .25 mile into the race so we walked and drank some water, Caden was roaring to go still but i wasn't going to let him run off by himself, so I made a deal with him that after the turn around once we saw the finish line he could run on ahead if he wanted to. We continued a pattern of running a couple minutes and walking through the turn around and made our way closer and closer to the finish. I was calling out words of encouragement to the boys and at one point Casey snapped at me and yelled "I can't think of anything happy I hurt too much", my only thought was welcome to running son. Once we got to where we could see the finish line I told Caden to go ahead and run on but he said he wanted to finish with Casey...I couldn't have been more proud of him at that moment. Casey got a surge of energy knowing the end was near and with that both boys took off and made a mad dash for the finish crossing the line together in 12:26, not a bad mile time considering how much we walked. I was so proud of both boys desire and effort to finish, the real payoff of all my training was seeing the influence it has on them come through in that race, I'm more proud of that then any race I've ever run.let

Until next time... Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.