The 22nd Annual FICPA 1040 K Run RR: All I Wanted Was a Course PR!

And I got it!

What I Knew:
  • The course is hard
  • It's hot in Miami already
  • I always walk this course past Mile 3
  • It's hilly-ish
What I Thought I Knew:
  • My chest is tight and I cannot run fast
  • I should be able to run well; after all, I run in the evenings and this is an evening race
What I Did Not Know:
  • The course ended up being 6.26
  • Whether a vegetarian burrito for lunch would give me enough energy - Answer YES
  • That the race has a tech shirt instead of the usual white cotton shirt
As I mentioned, this course is tough.  It is downhill for the first 2 miles, then miles 3-4 are the toughest.  I don't know why but everybody has problems here.  Maybe it's the fact that these 2 miles are shadeless and inside a neighborhood.  Maybe it's the fact that even though there are no hills on these two miles, the miles are not really flat either.  Maybe it's the fact that there are no water stations between Mile 1.5 and Mile 4.02.  Then, after Mile 4, Mile 5 is all uphill.  Mile 6 just finishes you up and the finish line is at the top of another hill.  I've done this course three times including today, and only today have I been able to run it the whole way.

The race was not as big as they expected.  805 finishers only.  That's a small race for us.  The temps were nice, 81F and 61% humidity.  The sun was hiding behind clouds which was OK to me.  But, as I mentioned, this course takes you, chews you, and throws you out at the finish line.

I've not been feeling well, so I did not want to race this race but I wanted a Course PR.  1:02 is my previous Course PR and that was easily achievable, since I'm running 10mm 8-14 milers lately, so a 10K should be no problem.

As the day went by, I felt better and thought racing was a possibility.  So I decided to shoot for 8:30mm and hope for the best.

When we started, I thought I was doing well.  The Garmin said 8:39mm was my average pace, but the mile was long (1.04).

Mile 2 went really well (8:26mm) but I did not know why until I did Mile 5 (the opposite of Mile 2.  Mile 2 was downhill, duh.

As I mentioned, Miles 3 and 4 are the toughest and although I was pushing as hard as I could, I was only able to clock 9:03 (1.02) and 8:48.

Mile 5 was all uphill so I was very happy to have done it at 9:08.  I thought I did well with Mile 6 but I finished it at 9:01.  The 0.20 was all uphill and I "sprinted" at 8:17mm, good for a hill, bad compared to other sprints.

I finished in 55:18 and 4th in my AG.  I'm very happy with that but it's very hard to evaluate this race based upon this course.  Plus the 1:02 was in 86F with 81% humidity, so I'm not even sure whether the course PR means anything now.

As I mentioned, this course is weird!

Thanks for reading!




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