Portland Portland Trails 10K September 16 2007
I am a little late writing up this race report. Last Sunday I ran the Portland Trails 10K, but then went to a "Building GeoDatabase" course for work in Massachusetts. I think the title of the course sounds about as exciting as the actual course - pretty dry. The race was a good one for me. I set a PR! I have had a good 2007 - setting a 5 mile PR, a 15K PR, and now this 10K. The 15K was the first one I had ever done, so that was easy. I have done a few 5 mile and 10 K road races though. Portland has a pretty nice trail system in the fairly large city. Check them out here: www.trails.org. The goal for this race would be to run it in less than seven minutes per mile. That was my 5K goal back in 2001 - 2002, so I have made some nice progress. There were quite a few people at the race - 676 people finished, but I snuck right up front and had a nice start without having to push, dodge, or get around every one. Mile one felt pretty "easy" and it went by in 6:56, so I was right on pace. The course is a loop around Portland's "Back Cove." Because of the size of the race, I ran with someone all the way around. Not the same person though, many people started too fast and passed me at the beginning. I had fun though, passing quite a few at the end. I didn't have to speed up to pass people, as they were slowing down. Mile two was pretty uneventful, and covered that mile in another 6:56. Talk about even pacing! The course wasn't blocked off. There were walkers on the course, who did a pretty good job of getting out of the way. Mile three was about the middle of the 6.2 mile course, and I ran that one in 7:03. I was a little bummed to see a 7+ mile, but thought I was still "racing" pretty well. They had the kilometers marked, and I remember seeing 21:40 at the 5K point. I would have been happy with that 5K a few years ago. OK - mile four was when I noticed I was in a race, and started to feel uncomfortable. I tried to do that old trick and speed up. What the heck, it may work. It didn't really though. I kept running hard, but my pace actually didn't speed up, even though I thought I was running harder. Mile four was the same as mile three 7:03. Kind of funny isn't it? Mile one and two were both 6:56, and mile three and four were both 7:03. It doesn't take much to amuse me I guess. Mile five and six are the last two miles of the race! I was reeling people in, but not because I was picking up speed. I actually slowed down a couple seconds. Mile five was in 7:05. I remember being disappointed to never getting under seven minutes with the effort I was giving out. Passing people may have made me think I was going faster than I was. Mile six was the new part of the course. And the stupid last mile had an extremely long hill. I hate those hills at the end of races. Even with the hill I was a little faster than mile five, covering mile six in 7:02. I am very happy with those miles in the race: 6:56, 6:56, 7:03, 7:03, 7:05, and 7:02. Lots of people think that is the best way to run a race - run hard, but even. The last .2 miles were covered in 1:31. I had a good kick at the end. If I ran that same pace over a mile I would have run a 6:12 mile! The time on my clock was 43:36. The official time (found here:
The next race is October 7, 2007 the "Sportshoe Center Maine Half-Marathon" http://www.mainemarathon.com/
Thanks for reading! I hope all is well.
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