Race #166
10k #13
2019 Race #10
2019 10k #1
Reedy River 10k #6

When registering for this race and the Greenville News Run Downtown 5k – they come as a package deal for a discount – I decided to adjust my spring break vacation to make sure that I returned in time to run. I did not know what what would mean for how my legs would feel on race day, especially since at the time I planned to run the marathon in Salt Lake City.

With the drop down to the half as well as less strenuous hikes than I imagined, I felt really good going into today’s race, ready to run hard.

Mom drove with me to the start and we waited inside the hallway beside Spoonbread Restaurant until a few minutes before the start.

I jumped into the A wave sure that I was in out of my depth since I have not done speedwork in quite some time. Corral seeding was based on estimated finish time and I gave myself quite a nice time. Speaking of corrals, GTC did actual corrals with the later corrals starting on the side street and walking to the start when it was their turn. I jumped in right as the first corral walked to the start.

A minute or so later we were off!

I saw Mom off to the side as I passed and called out to her. I knew she would not be able to get many pictures but I wanted to let her know that I passed so that she would not keep looking for me.

I took out a hard, early pace, determined to prove that I belonged in the A corral. I probably started off a little too hard but once I settled into my rhythm did not suffer any adverse consequences for my overly ambitious start.

We headed up Main Street before turning and heading back towards Flour Field, up that hill and then looping around towards the Hill of Death on Richardson.

Mile 1: 7:40 (Yup…too fast)

I settled into a fairly strong pace for the next few miles, holding steady but passed occasionally by stronger runners. I wanted to stay roughly in the A corral group but knew that the corrals were released in one minute intervals so at some point, people from the B corral would start passing me, especially if they had a strong day.

When we started up the Hill of Death, I looked ahead and felt relief when I saw that we turned onto McBee and did not, in fact, head up the entire hill. We headed down towards the park on McBee which has a terrible camber. GTC had set up cones on either side of the median so it could be used as an alternate lane while the runners used one lane. I had to run just inside the cones. The camber of that street will seriously mess up your stride if you ran that whole steep downhill on it. Several times cops yelled down the street for the runners to run inside the cones, although I actually did not know whether they meant to run in the median or to run to the right although I assumed the latter.

Mile 2: 8:12 (much more reasonable)

The middle three miles held some rolling hills but nothing extraordinary. I focused on pushing hard and justifying my placement in the A corral.

Mile 3: 7:57
Mile 4: 8:08
Mile 5: 8:13

The came the final, brutal mile. As soon as we turned away from a path that has been used in the path to exit the Swamp Rabbit in Cleveland Park, I knew we would have the privilege of running up the passive hill on the backside of Falls Park. Sure enough, that’s exactly what we did. Not only that, but we did not stop when we got to where the trail turns into the park. No, we continued up even further to the road and turned onto the road leading to Main Street, yet another hill before getting some relief with the downhill.

I knew my pace slowed significantly on that hill. I kept telling myself little landmarks to keep going and not walk, not in the last mile. When I finally turned onto Main Street, I picked up the speed as best I could and tried to hold on until the finish line.

So… apparently I shrug while I’m running. I think I need to work on that.

Just before the finisher chute, I saw Mom so I smiled and poured on the sprint finishing mere seconds after the clock ticked over 51. Turns out that in the official timing system, I registered a 51:01, just one second over 50.

Mile 6: 9:06
.2 nubbin: 6:43 (pace)
Overall time: 51:01

While this falls roughly halfway between my best and my worst 10k times, I attribute that to lack of specific speedwork as well as the relatively low number of 10ks available to race. I really enjoyed this distance and the race. I look forward to running it again next year.