Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - The Downtown Mudpuppy Chase 10k Race Report

It was a beautiful morning. Then I had to go and ruin it by running a 10k.

It was truly a gorgeous morning. Since there was a bit of a drive, we left the house about 6:45, and you'd describe the air as "crisp", but with the race not starting until 10, it was going to be almost perfect running weather. We arrived in Kitchener earlier than expected, and quickly passed through check-in, then got to sit and relax for a bit. Once the 3km run/walkers were sent off at 9, I started changing into my running gear, for a brief warm-up/recon mission.

One thing I learned is that the race is hillier than I expected. You can see from the elevation profile on map route it's a two-lap course, with the first 2km downhill, the next 2.5 going up, and finishing on a gradual downhill. (I'll just briefly note that mapmyrun.com's grades are "floor" values, so 0% is 0.0-0.9%, 1% is 1.0-1.9%, etc. So the sections marked 2% could be closer to 3.) I'm normally good running uphills, so that didn't concern me too much. I knew the times would be slower than expected given the terrain, but I was still confident I could hit all my goals.

After the 5k runners were started at 10, we waited a few minutes then got the gun for the 10k. I figured I would be near the front for much of the day, so I started on the line. There were a few guys who were just flying from the start, and I knew I had no chance of keeping up. (I later learned three guys were in the 32-33 minute range, so it's a good thing I didn't consider running with them.) I settled in around 10th to 12th place, and tried to use the downhill. Turns out, my downhill running sucks. I'll need to put more time in on this, because looking at my splits, I wasn't gaining nearly as much going down as I should, considering the speeds going back up. I battled through the first lap, started gaining back a few spots and set off on number two, with hopes of keeping things close to the first one. Two of the guys I caught around 4.5km stayed with me until about 7km, then I started opening another gap. I was losing more than I wanted through each marker, but with 2k to go, I had 8:10 to break forty minutes. I had to fight up through one last climb, then kick my way to the finish.

As I rounded the last corner and was coming to the line, the marshall started calling out to me, "5k runners straight ahead, 10k runners turn left." Well, that only applies if I was going for another lap, and I had the finish line in sight. As I approached, I saw the clock at 39:35, and I thought I had it well in hand, but the finishing straight was longer than I thought (or I'm slower), because 10 seconds passed in a blink. I kept "sprinting", and the last time I saw was 39:53 as I went to the line. Sub-40, here I am.

Seeing the results now, the two that I dropped around 7k came back in a big way over the last kilometre, since I finished only 6-7 seconds in front. Impressive finishing strength by those two. My splits:
KM 1: 4:02
2: 3:48
3: 3:57
4: 4:03
5: 3:46
6: 4:07
7: 4:01
8: 4:05
9: 4:11
10: 3:53

I was tentatively shooting for 39:00 today. I was planning to hit as many markers in 3:50-55 as possible, then hold tight to the end. The terrain made that close to impossible. Still, I made my minimum time goal, so I know I'm faster than last year. I also won the M35-39 age group, and finished 8th overall, so that's a nice feather in the cap. (I"ll admit that the award result is slightly counterfeited with all the fastest runners in the province at the Sporting Life 10k. But I was the fastest late 30s male in the greater K-W area this morning.)

Now I have a result to update my VDOT. Unfortunately, the time puts me at the same level I was just training at. I've looked at other folks' results, and it seems that in previous years, this race ran about 30-40 seconds slow, and that was when the course was reversed with the steep sections as downhills. So I'm going to grant myself a +1 to my VDOT, and can plan the remainder of my summer schedule accordingly.

The two things I most need to work on, other than general speed, is better downhill form, and I need to lengthen my stride, with good form. I had a nice quick turnover, so if I start back to adding some strides during/after runs, I think I can steal a bit more quickness.

All in all, a very successful morning. I haven't been sub-40 for a long time, and I've never been first in anything before. Mudpuppy FTW.