Tyler Challenge Race
January 16, 2007 by Bryon Powell · Leave a Comment
Upon running up to my parents’ house after the aforementioned rainy run, I saw folks getting out of the car at our long time neighbors’, the Parkers’. Well, I went over and chatted since my parents weren’t home yet. In the course of talking, Mr. Parker mentioned there was a 10k on Sunday and that I should do it. I replied that I’d think about it, but that I had planned on a long run on Sunday. That’s when he threw down. You see, John took me on some of my first runs fourteen and a half years ago and was a running mentor/second father threw high school. In all those years, I had never beat him in a race despite toeing the line together many times. I decided to accept the challenge and even gave him a handicap… I would run to the race! The night before the race I planned a route to the park where it was being held and opted for a course that was a couple miles longer than the shortest way but with less traffic.
About 5 miles into the run to the race I was doubting myself. My legs were heavy and the hills relentless. I knew I could make it to the race and finish, but it might not be pretty. Even though I wasn’t feeling great, it was a beautiful run. It sit here writing this up almost 3 weeks after the race and I vividly recall crossing the bridge over the Delaware River about a mile into the run. There was light fog on the river, the sun was about to break over the trees on the river’s east bank, the sky was a crisp pallet of pastels, and the air still sharp with the night’s chill. I’d only run a small section of the roads on the route, and all but the last mile or two were beautiful hilly country roads past farms and colonial era house.
After I got the race I quickly signed up for the race, had some Clif Bloks (love ‘em), and met up with Parker and some of his running buddies. The ladies started 6 minutes before the men’s gun went off. When the gun did fire, I went off a bit faster than expected – about 6 minute flat pace on the even terrain. It felt pretty comfortable. Not long thereafter … and for quite awhile, the course got pretty hill. I had noted my heart rate I plateaued for 6 min/mile pace on the flat and stuck to that regardless of my pace on the hills. The morning was also very, VERY windy. About a mile into the race we entered about two miles of open grass fields and I settled into a pack to let them break the wind.
The second half the race started with a nasty uphill before once again mixing rolling hills with some short flats. On the first half, I had handled the pace and effort rather well and felt like I was in control even though I was running at a pace I hadn’t hit in seven months or so – I decided to continue with the same game plan. Although the race was pretty spread out at this point, I could see that I was slowly working my way up and that felt pretty good. With a mile to go, I still felt strong so I upped the effort and rolled past a couple people. I was making good progress towards catching on of Parker’s friends, but I had incorrectly thought that the start and finish were the same. In fact, the finish was about 200 meters short of the start, which meant that I didn’t unleash my kick and didn’t catch the guy. I ended up 9th in around 37:55. Not bad for a hilly course on a windy day with no speed work… and 12 miles on my legs at the start.
Related articles:
- If Only Haddn't Gone Faster My past two workouts, I’ve not adhered to my Hadd plan. Last Tuesday I felt like crap running my sub 165 effort. After stints of two miles and one mile...
- Looking for Floor Space for Way Too Cool 50k (and a Workout Report) So I’m headed out to California next weekend for Way Too Cool and am hoping that someone who reads my blog lives in the area or is headed to WTC...
- Round and Round We Go Continuing with the sea change in my training regimen, I hit the track again last night with the plan on doing an unknown number of miles at around 165 bpm....
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
