Rescue Run

donskiman · Jan 2, 2008

Weather: Sunny with temps in the teens and a light wind. 
Course: Hilly and challenging. The 5K course is entirely on paved roads. 
It's mostly uphill on the way out, and mostly downhill on the way 
back. 
The 10K course is about 4+ miles on paved roads and about 2 miles 
on dirt trails. The first mile is mostly uphill. Then it is 
rolling/level for a few miles. The last 1 1/2 miles are mostly 
downhill. This year the dirt trails were mostly snow/ice covered. We started out our year with a race. I did the 10K - wife, Vicki and 10 year old son Donnie did the 5K. For a change I seeded myself closer to the front. Good thing too as the race had a record turnout. The first mile is mostly uphill and it felt like I was barely moving. After that I was able to maintain a fairly steady pace, then ran hard on the final mile or so downhill to the finish. Splits were: 1 - 8:27 2 - 7:44 3 - 7:52 4 - 7:54 5 - 7:34 6 - 6:54 .27 (GPS) - 1:45 (6:37 pace) My time was 48:12. My fastest 10K in several years and a new course record for me by over 4 minutes. Vicki started out running/walking with Donnie but he was going too slow for her. She ended up with a 32:39 and Donnie finished in 37:33. Vicki has only been running for about a week after having an injury that kept her sidelined for over 3 months. I ran all but 1 day in December - Christmas. December totaled 233.68 miles. I ended the year with 1375 miles. I plan to keep my weekly mileage over 50 for the next several months as I get ready for a marathon in May. I'll start adding in some speedwork as the race gets closer, probably in February. Just the consistent running has already made me much faster, speedwork should help even more. I would really like to put forth a solid BQ effort. Happy New Year everyone! Don

mmoonptdeux · Jan 2, 2008

Terrific race Don - congrats on the course PR! I love how you turned in some steady splits and then finished strong at the end. 
And it's always better with friends or family around - sounds like a pretty good way to start off the year.

donskiman · Jan 3, 2008

Thanks. Speeding up toward the end was made easier as much of it is downhill. The last quarter mile was flat, but that was a sprint trying to pass a guy in front of me - successfully.

Capt Kirk · Jan 4, 2008

IF you're talking ColoradoSpring Rescue run, I was there too! I was commited to running the 5-k but I got baited into running th e 10-k (C'mon! Be a man!!!) When I got to the 5-10K split, I decided I hasd more than 3 miles in me and took the 10-k route.... 
Brrr,

donskiman · Jan 4, 2008

Great! How did you do? It was cold, but it wasn't snowing like some years.

Capt Kirk · Jan 4, 2008

My time was 1:06. I think I set a new personal-worst (!) for a timed event at that distance. That comes out to about 11 min mile. I just viewed the results and amazingly I wasn't last in my age group. 
Aside from being COLD, the weather was clear and nice, no winds. Even the course wasn't a bad as I heard it could've been and was last year.

donskiman · Jan 4, 2008

The big hill in the first mile can be a killer. The next few miles on the dirt is just easy rollers, but the icy footing made it more difficult. When the course makes its way bak to the pavement, there are a couple short, steep hills. It really isn't until about a mile from the finish that there is good, fast downhill and by then a person can be too tired from the first 5 miles to run fast. 
This was my 5th time running this race so I knew what to expect. Even so, it's not an easy course by any stretch of the imagination. 
Do the 10K in Winter Series #1 and you will likely do even worse. I've never broken an hour on that course. I may try the screw shoes this year.

JohnnyB · Jan 5, 2008

Start strong, finish stronger. Nice race management. Well done.

Rescue Run

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