saturday was one of those days where, if i didn't have another reason for showing up, i would have skipped the westport summer series 10 miler because of the lousy weather. there was a light drizzle friday night, but when i woke up at 6, the rain came down pretty hard. i suspected it would probably stop soon enough since the weather forecast said as much. but still, the temptation to bag it was pretty high. if i hadn't promised to give emmy back her monthly pass to moma (which was good thru sept. 1), i could easily have gone back to bed!
it had been 3 years since i ran this race and at that time staples high school was in the middle of a massive renovation project (the size of the school literally doubled). i was awed by the impressive facade of the "new"staples! but race registration itself took place in familiar surroundings (at the old school building behind the new one). by the time i walked from the parking lot to registration and signed up, the rain had stopped. now it was just a dreary, gray morning. if it wasn't for the high humidity, it would have been perfect weather for racing!
my time goal was a 1:20 finish (8 minute miles) - hardly racing as some of my friends pointed out ;) even with that soft target (which itself would've been my slowest 10 miler), i fell off pace after the halfway point and finished in 1:23:18 - an 8:20 pace. in my defense, i did intend to walk the 2 hills (the first in mile 6 and the second in mile 10). but it's a weak defense, all things considered. my split for the first half was 39:18, roughly a 7:52 pace, and i was on target for a sub 1:20 if i skipped the walking.
1.
2.
3. 23:22
4. 7:46 31:08
5. 8:10 39:18
i missed the first and second mile markers, but don't think that effected my first half splits. as planned, i did walk a good portion of mile 6 - which, in 10:02, was my slowest mile. rob caught me as i walked that hilly stretch and went on ahead. i ran the next 3 miles progressively faster - enough so to give me a 9 mile split of 1:13:40. while a 6:20 final mile was theoretically possible - knowing the hill we had to climb to get back to staples from prior experience - i wasn't seriously tempted to abandon my plan to walk. my mile 9 came in at 9:37.
6. 10:02 49:20
7. 8:18 57:54
8. 8:08 1:05:46
9. 7:54 1:13:40
10. 9:37 1:23:18
both rob and roy - who had finished within seconds of each other - were at the finish line to greet me when i came through the chute. they stayed for emmy's finish (as i went to get my camera) and don's - who finished just after emmy. i took pictures of emmy and don finishing. then we all regrouped, socialized with a few more friends (ronnie and dawn), took a few more pictures, and turned in our scoring sticks. it was a fun morning - and was very glad to have run 10 miles with my friends in wesport - than log those miles by myself as a training run!
next up is the nike human race 10k tonight. emmy and couple other friends are also doing the 10k. tomorrow emmy will be in new haven, along with dawn, don, and rob - to run a 20k! for my part, no racing tomorrow - but i may see them again at waveny park for the final night of the xc series on tuesday!
check out the race photos (some of which were contributed by roy).
check out emmy's race report (and her post race car key mystery).
check out a few more race photos (via westport roadrunners).
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