The Quakertown 10 Miler

Wow - What an awesome day for a race!! A bit of overcast, low 50s, and a rolling/hilly course!!

I've really been making an effort to get my running fitness back to where it was two years ago and this race definitely made me feel like I'm making progress! It took me about 40 - 45 minutes to get to where the race was being held. Whenever I have a drive like that I try to think about how I want my day to pan out. Here are some of the things that were rolling around my head on the drive:

Try to encourage the other people running - before, during, and after the race. Thank the volunteers when I can. Enjoy the weather. Get in a decent warm up run. Don't start out too hard. Work the hills, recover on down hills, try to run the second half faster than the first. Stick around the finish line after I cross to congratulate some people as they cross. Go for a short warm down run. Eat food. Stick around for all of the awards. And then head home.

Those were my goals for this race and it actually turned out pretty well! I really enjoy the local race scene - there are so many great folks involved - many are friends of mine and there are always new people to meet too! It is all good! I always find it interesting to talk with people before - we are all a bit anxious nervous. Then after we all finish, everyone is relaxed and I love hearing people's recap of their race!

On to what happened in the race. Mike Carriglitto, Sam Snukis, and I headed out for a 20 minute warm up run. I did a few pick ups and we were ready to start!! I ran this race last year so I knew the layout of the course. I didn't feel I had the fitness to go out super hard on this course because of the hills and my plan was to actually hang about 10 - 15 yards behind the front group for a bit.

So as we start and we run that first mile - WOW - the front group had like 10 - 15 people in it!! I cross the first mile marker in 5:40 and that was great - not too hard/not too easy. But I was thinking - that front group is running like 5:20 and that is going to hurt once we get in the hills!!

Once we hit that first mile I started to work through the front group and a few of the guys started coming back and another two of the guys in that group turned left to follow the 4 miler course. So we turn right to follow the 10 miler course. Now ahead of me is Mark Jones, Mike Carriglitto and three other guys. Right as we hit the 2 mile mark, I am with Mark. What a great guy he is! We chat for a few steps and the course continues to head downhill for a bit.

We continue on and turn left which this is when the madness starts - HILLS HILLS HILLS!! I didn't push the first two miles very hard and so when we started to get in the hills my goal was to run very hard UP the hills and recover DOWN the hills. I thought this would allow me to get over the hills quickly but conserve some energy for the last half of the race. I end up getting a few steps ahead of Mark - Mike C. and another guy are about 30 - 40 seconds ahead and the other two guys are about 40 seconds ahead of them.

So sticking to my strategy - hard on the uphills, recover on the downhills - I actually catch up to Mike C. and the other guy just before mile 4. It took a lot of effort to catch back on. When I caught back up it was in the middle of the second last big climb. The guy that was with Mike started to fall back. I do some training with Mike and we often do some of our hard weekly runs together so when I got up to him I asked him how he was feeling, hoping we could just keep it relaxed and stay at this pace. Haha, Well we were at about 24 minutes at this point and he says to me, "I'm going to wait until 25 minutes and then I'm going to go." So we hit 25 minutes and he says, "C'mon - time to go." It was a move like I've never seen before. He put about 30 seconds on me in a matter of 10 seconds, ha!! He crushed it!

So we continue on and at mile 5 we hit the last beast of a hill. We get over that and Mike C. is about 30 seconds ahead of me, then there is a guy maybe 30 - 40 seconds ahead of him, and another guy 20 - 30 seconds ahead of him. I was feeling pretty good at this point and my goal was to try to keep Mike in sight and just use him as a marker to make sure I'm not slowing down (no way was I catching up to him, but just didn't want to slow too much.)

Mike made such an incredible move, he ends up catching the 2nd place guy and just keeps it moving!! When I saw this at mile 6, I thought maybe I can get him too but it will take a bit of effort. So I really dig in pretty hard on this flat section. We turn left and as we hit 7 miles I catch up to him and continue on. So 3 miles left and now I am in third place, Mike C. in 2nd about 30 seconds up, and the 1st place guy about a minute up on Mike.

WOW - mile 8 is a scorching downhill!! This was actually a pretty hard section because I knew the last mile is uphill. I didn't have much left at this point, but the guy I just passed was not really that far behind so I still needed to keep the pace I generated in order to catch up to him. This was tough!!

We hit 9 miles and make a right hand turn going uphill and with a half mile left I give it all I had!! By the time I crossed the finish line, I thought I was going to lose my breakfast!! So I come in and end up finishing 3 place with a time of 58:14 on this super brutal hilly course. Aaahhh, what a great feeling to reach the finish line!!! Mike C. grabbed 2nd place in 57:40 and the 1st place guy ran a mid 56!

http://pretzelcitysports.com/userfiles/file/11%20quak%20rotary%2010M%20res.pdf

This race is certainly one of my favorites - Bill T. does a great job directing and there is such a cool atmosphere at this race. It gives off a really cool vibe. I was happy to see many of my friends out there running and I also met some new friends. Running has soooo much more to offer than what we see in our paper results. I walked away today more fulfilled from listening to other people tell me their story about their race - how they felt, their results, what races they have coming up. It is all so great and I look forward to another day out there racing!