Sunday, August 16, 2009

Perfect 10 Miler 2009

OK 10 Miler & the 4th place curse

After the race my wife said "I see nothing Perfect with this 10 miler... For me, it is just an OK 10 Miler..." I think she is referring to the course, with its twists and turns and long uphill stretch. Organization has been great.

The weather was sunny and rather warm. I started fast, averaging 6:35/mile for the first 3 miles (6:46, 6:37, 6:49) . I slowed down in the uphill, as expected, (7:03, 7:10) but the downhill was not much better (6:56, 6:59), I struggled in the last 2 miles (7:16, 7:11) and got passed by a couple of runners.

My final time: 1:08:51 (6:54 pace)
My 10 mile PR (in this course) remains 1:08:31 from 2007



<---- Empty-handed again!


When they posted the results at the end of the race, I was listed 3rd. So, we stayed for the awards. My wife liked the mugs they were giving and she was happy I was getting one. But the final results list me 4th. The 3 guys ahead of me are all 50 years old. It is going to be a long & tough 5 years for me!

I have been hit by the "4th place curse" lately... I finished 4th in the Independence 5K and 4th today (My wife was 4th too, with 1:36:49 – her first race over 10K -, and so did a couple of our running friends).

Next race: River Run 1/2 Marathon (Sept 13)

I signed up for the Akron Marathon last week (it is September 26).
I plan to run it slower, as a training run for the upcoming ATHENS (as in
Athens, Greece) marathon in November (8th)!

1 comment:

Fifty K said...

Congrats on 4th place. I did that race too and that hot weather was challenging. It was my first time doing that race and did better than I expected to. Sorry you got bumped from 3rd to 4th :(