Middletown 10K

 

Middletown, CT

Sunday, April 2, 2023

USATF-CT 10K Championships.  This was the second of eight races in the CT Road Grand Prix.  Each race is a different distance, just like the USATF-NE Road Grand Prix.  I don't know most of the Striders, but I certainly know more than I would in any other USATF racing club.  

What kind of a course is this?  At the first corner after the start, we will go through
this thrice, the first time southbound, and the next two northbound.
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Besides not being a fan of multi-loop courses, especially for road races, this also means that
given the 5K runners/walkers start en masse with us and share the first 2.5 miles and
last 0.6 miles with us, we will run into them starting about Mile 4.  More on that later.

Arrived a full eighty minutes prior to race start, which was good since the finish line / check-in point (Union Green) was about 1/3 mile away from parking and the start line almost a mile.  The check-in was fast, especially for those who had downloaded a QR code to be scanned:

Then it was a return to the car to drop my shirt (and temporarily my bib) and off for a warm-up on part of the course.

Quite a few rolling hills.
But look at Mile 6!  That will be fun.

Warm up:  I tried to follow the course, but they seemed to be in the process of setting it up, and I couldn't follow it.  I know - it's the runner's responsibility to know the course and I could've downloaded or even carried a phone for the warm-up, but I didn't.  I did at least get a feel for some of the many hills on the course.  This was no Mt Washington Road Race of course, but it wasn't a flat course either with over 300' in elevation gain.  After a 3-mile warm-up, I returned to the car, changed into my racing shoes and singlet, one last bathroom stop, and headed to the start.  42°F with a 15mph headwind.

First half:  Looked around the starting line while waiting for the race to start.  There were clearly some fast runners here, but it also quickly became obvious to me that this didn't have the same depth of competition as the 5K championships had last month.  I lined up in the 3rd row.  After the national anthem, 411 10K runners and 451 5K runners/walkers cross the line.  We had a short and deceptive downhill before we banked right for a 60' climb up through Wesleyan University.  People were literally passing me left and right on the uphill climb.

Pre-race national anthem

Here are the fast guys taking it out at race start.

And here I am in the middle of pic crossing the start line.
I've put on a few winter pounds.
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Seriously, kudos to these folks out for a walk and
some exercise, but they will be in our way soon enough.

Fortunately, what goes up must come down, and I re-caught quite a few them on the ensuing downhill.  Mile 1 split 6:01.  Not a good start, but the hill was a factor and I built this and the wind into consideration when thinking that I'd like a sub-37 but will be happy with a sub-38.

Not much excitement or action in the next two miles (Miles 2 and 3).  I think I passed two other runners, including another runner clad in a Strider singlet and less than half my age.  Mile 2 and 3 splits, 5:59 and 5:58, respectively.

Back half:  Just at the 3-mile split, I was running in a group of 4 for a little ways, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 mile.  Two of them I had caught up to, with one of the two being a 49-year old Strider that often wins his age group.  I haven't met him formally, but his name is Michael (not sure if he goes by "Mike" or "Michael"); I'll have to make the effort to introduce myself.  The other caught up to all of us, is wearing a really nice green NB singlet running for Manchester, and looks familiar but I can't place him.

We rounded a corner, headed towards Mile 4, and the quartet broke up.  The Manchester runner pulled ahead, I stayed just behind him, and the other two dropped off, with my Strider teammate Michael encouraging me to go after him.  I looked at the Manchester runner ahead of me, noticed no white hair, and decided [incorrectly] that he was not in my age group.  

FLASHBACK:  When I won my age group in Vermont City Half Marathon (Fall 2021), one comment that was posted that was posted on the person I passed that got 2nd in age group:  "You missed being the first old man by 30 secs…..gotta throw down when you see gray hair up the road".  I recalled this comment at this juncture in today's race, and decided I was in the clear.  [I wasn't.]

I let the Manchester runner go, and at Mile 4, we hit the back-of-the-packers walking.  Time to weave around them.  So much for running tangents.  One walker yelled out, "This is Mile 1.  I don't know what these people [running] are doing."  Um, we're running the 10K race which unfortunately doubles back here for a second loop.  I guess you didn't check out the course maps?  This is a long, long line of walkers blocking the entire left lane.  We have two 90-degree left turns coming up and we're not able to run the tangents there either.  Another walker is clearly unhappy that the 10K runners are coming so close to them and yells out that we have the whole right lane; why don't we run on the opposite side?  Um, have you heard of tangents?  

About a full mile later, we've at least caught up to the 5K runners, and those are obviously easier to weave around than the 5K walkers.  Mile 4 and 5 are a slow 6:01 and 6:07 respectively.  In Mile 6, we make a right turn with a long downhill to the finish with about a 100' drop.  I can see the Manchester runner again, but he is far ahead of me now.  I pass a bunch more 5K finishers en route to the finish line.  This is my fastest mile at 5:42.

Final result:  37:09, average 5:59 pace.  20th overall of 410, 2nd in age group.  

I immediately went up to the Manchester runner and asked his age.  56.  Ugh.  His name is Brett, and we had a great conversation.  Now I'll know my competition for successive USATF-CT races!  He recognized my name, as I was two seconds ahead of him at Shamrock PLR 5K champs last month, and he mentioned I was just ahead of him at New Haven 20K champs last summer.

Today I finished behind Brett by 18 seconds.  Looking back at both of our splits on Strava, I see exactly how it unfolded, as we were together after 3 miles, and he averaged about 5 seconds faster than me on each of the last three splits.  Could I have sped up by 5 seconds per mile to keep up with him?  Probably.  I'm not saying I would've beaten him, but I could've narrowed the gap for sure.  I'm fine with how I placed, but lesson learned.