So 2 years ago I ran the City Of Oaks Marathon. Definitely a very hard marathon. Raleigh is know for it's hills. The marathon and half start at NC State, run through downtown and Cameron Village, then over toward the fairgrounds. The marathon then splits from the half at about 8.5 miles, and goes up towards and into Umstead. It returns back to the half split and completes the same way the half does.
I remember the part of the marathon that is not shared with the half being the harder part. I also remember thinking that the part that is shared with the half wasn't that hard. Now that I've run just the half, I can honestly say I must have blocked it out of my mind back then. Holy crap is this course hard. I think the hardest part had to be going through the neighborhood around Cameron Village. I felt like the hills wouldn't stop. None of them were killer on their own, but all together is was about 3-4 miles of almost constant climbing. In general, this course has tons of hills scattered around. There really isn't a point where you can say that is easy. Though I think after the 8.5 mile turnaround the rest of the course gets easier. There are some hills, but only one that I can say really hurts, which is the part when you get back to Western Blvd.
Even though my weight has creeped up to around 200, I've had a very fast year. I've PR'd the 5K distance a couple of times in the last 2 months, and came close to PR'ing my 10 mile distance in September. Overall, I've really been impressed with my improvements this year. That being said, I didn't know what to expect for this race. I was targeting a PR, 2:05, but wasn't sure it was attainable. My prior PR for a half was on the Mistletoe Half in Winston Salem, which is a fairly nice course. I ran that in 2:06:53. That was almost 3 years ago and was my first half marathon, so I felt confident 2:05 was a good goal. I never expected to beat my goal by so much, though.
Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 9:28
Mile 2: 8:54
Mile 3: 9:12
Mile 4: 903
Mile 5: 9:15
Mile 6: 9:33
Mile 7: 9:39
Mile 8: 9:30
Mile 9: 9:22
Mile 10: 9:23
Mile 11: 9:04
Mile 12: 9:02
Mile 13: 9:07
Last .19: 1:28 (7:36 pace)
Final: 2:02:01
Overall, it was a great race.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Cary Road Race 10K 2010 Race Report
To PR or not-PR? That is the - wait. What is my PR for a 10K? I had no clue at the start of the race. I really had no expectations or plans on what I was going to do today. Right before the start, I decided that I'd try to run the first half in a 9:30 and see how I felt.
The course is one of the nicer ones in the area. It's a 5K loop starting next to the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. The finish is the arch that marks the entrance of Koka Booth. The first leg is an out and back on Regency Parkway that turns onto a trail around the lake behind the amphitheatre. It basically has one hill, that you hit twice since you run the loop twice. The rest of it is either flat or downhill. It's a pretty course as well as a good one to run.
I started a little fast knowing I had the hill early. It's the second half of Mile 1 and again at Mile 4. I took it easy on the hill the first time knowing that I needed to save energy for later. I didn't want to use too much on Mile 1. When I hit the turnaround, I was going about 9:15 average. As I was coming back down Regency, it's a slight downhill with some flat before you hit the downhill that is the reverse of the hill you came up. I took the downs pretty strong, so when I hit the lake, I was running about a 9:05. By time I hit the halfway mark I was averaging around 9:03 and was feeling good, so I tried to keep my pace the rest of the way.
When I hit the hill the second time, I came up it very strong. I was really feeling great. I guess my sub-10 pace 12 miler the weekend before did me some good. I'll have to thank Bill and Karyn for pushing me and putting up with my complaining about how fast they were running. I again took the downhill strong, so by the time I got to the lake the second time, I realized I was running a sub-9 pace on my watch. At that point, I just tried to finish strong.
I came in a little of 56 minutes. My watch time is exactly 56. Here are my final splits:
Mile 1: 9:18
Mile 2: 8:47
Mile 3: 8:59
Mile 4: 9:19
Mile 5: 8:36
Mile 6: 8:52
Last .25: 2:09
Total: 6.25 in 56:00 for an 8:58.
When I got home, I had to check my race history. It's at that point I realized this race was a 10K PR for me. I beat my prior PR by almost 2 minutes and almost 4 minutes on this course. This was the first race longer than a 5K that I ran a sub-9. Overall, it was a great race...
The course is one of the nicer ones in the area. It's a 5K loop starting next to the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary. The finish is the arch that marks the entrance of Koka Booth. The first leg is an out and back on Regency Parkway that turns onto a trail around the lake behind the amphitheatre. It basically has one hill, that you hit twice since you run the loop twice. The rest of it is either flat or downhill. It's a pretty course as well as a good one to run.
I started a little fast knowing I had the hill early. It's the second half of Mile 1 and again at Mile 4. I took it easy on the hill the first time knowing that I needed to save energy for later. I didn't want to use too much on Mile 1. When I hit the turnaround, I was going about 9:15 average. As I was coming back down Regency, it's a slight downhill with some flat before you hit the downhill that is the reverse of the hill you came up. I took the downs pretty strong, so when I hit the lake, I was running about a 9:05. By time I hit the halfway mark I was averaging around 9:03 and was feeling good, so I tried to keep my pace the rest of the way.
When I hit the hill the second time, I came up it very strong. I was really feeling great. I guess my sub-10 pace 12 miler the weekend before did me some good. I'll have to thank Bill and Karyn for pushing me and putting up with my complaining about how fast they were running. I again took the downhill strong, so by the time I got to the lake the second time, I realized I was running a sub-9 pace on my watch. At that point, I just tried to finish strong.
I came in a little of 56 minutes. My watch time is exactly 56. Here are my final splits:
Mile 1: 9:18
Mile 2: 8:47
Mile 3: 8:59
Mile 4: 9:19
Mile 5: 8:36
Mile 6: 8:52
Last .25: 2:09
Total: 6.25 in 56:00 for an 8:58.
When I got home, I had to check my race history. It's at that point I realized this race was a 10K PR for me. I beat my prior PR by almost 2 minutes and almost 4 minutes on this course. This was the first race longer than a 5K that I ran a sub-9. Overall, it was a great race...
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