ARA 20 Miler
Today was the annual "longest" race of the Distance Challenge before the marathon. Last year was the brutal 20 miler in Round Rock and before that was the Buda 30k which I really miss. This year's race was a 20 miler down in San Marcos. It starts on the road in between the two outlet malls. Jay and I carpooled down there from my house and I ate a couple of pop tarts, my new pre race meal, and killed off 32 oz. of my Ultima drink. We arrived and headed to the portos and then did a two mile slow warmup with the group. We headed back to the truck to change into race gear and I headed to some bushes before lining up. I didn't really have a solid race plan, but was targeting 8:00 pace for the race. I feel like I am nowhere near the shape I was in for Chicago, but I have been training hard...just enjoying life outside running more. The weather was nice at the start and I went with short sleeves and a singlet over it, and no gloves.
I lined up with Alex and we ran together for about the first 4 miles. After that I stayed in contact with Diana and some other folks that were around us. The first few miles were rolling hills and I felt pretty good. The roads of the first few miles were newly paved and felt good. I stayed on a plan of water or powerade at every stop and then a CarbBoom every 4 miles.
Splits - 7:48, 7:46, 7:53, 7:36, 7:40
We were at the bottom of the course, elevation wise, at around mile 5. The roads went into another county and were really choppy. They are kind of like the Decker roads which are hard on the feet. We veered off here for the out and back section of the course. There were more rolling hills, but nothing major. I saw Gilbert fly by on the other side as well as some of the other faster folks. I hit the turn around at about mile 9 with Diana and a couple of the folks we had been in and out of to that point.
Mile 6-10 Splits - 7:52, 7:54, 7:51, 7:42, 7:40
The next section took us into some tree lined roads. The wind started to pick up in here. It was not welcome. It seems like every race from Chicago until now has had wind messing with me. I can't stand it! The course kind of wound NW back towards I-35 with some really crappy roads. I was still feel pretty good, but could tell I was getting tired.
Mile 11-15 Splits - 7:49, 7:43, 7:50, 7:54, 7:50
At around mile 15 we started headind north and had finally climbed back out of valley we were in. I had put a little distance between Diana and me, but I think the last 5 miles really tired me out. Looking at my Garmin charts, we had been climbing from mile 12 to mile 15.5. I was tired, but felt better going down a little and then running on the flats. I started slowing in the last 5 miles, but did not want to break. I wanted to finish strong and hopefully ahead of Diana. She is one of the strongest runners I train with and she beat me last year at the line. Around mile 17 or 18 Diana caught back up with me. I was not doing well, but told myself I would match her stride for stride. We made the left onto the home stretch and were about 1.5 miles from the finish. There was one final climb and we trudged up the hill. I got a little distance, but as we headed down she caught me again. I started picking it up on the downhill into the gate and thought I was clear, but she came up again and we sprinted to the line. I finished ahead of her and actually beat her by 5 seconds on chip time. We high fived eachother once we crossed. I really had a great time running and racing with Diana.
Mile 16-20 Splits - 8:05, 8:06, 7:54, 8:19, 8:21
I grabbed some water and headed to the Gazelle tent. I got some Accelerade from Gilbert's cooler and headed back to the finish line to cheer on the other Gazelles. I wanted to do a cool down run, but back really tightened up so I settled for a walk. Once Jay finished I changed my clothes and drank my Endurox. I quickly hit the Adidas store for some new running hats and then joined the other Gazelles in the tent.
Overall it was a really good day. I had a strong run and know what my boundaries are for the ATT marathon. The goal will be 3:30 and I will run 8:00 minute pace from the start. I will enjoy myself and have a solid run.
Results -
I lined up with Alex and we ran together for about the first 4 miles. After that I stayed in contact with Diana and some other folks that were around us. The first few miles were rolling hills and I felt pretty good. The roads of the first few miles were newly paved and felt good. I stayed on a plan of water or powerade at every stop and then a CarbBoom every 4 miles.
Splits - 7:48, 7:46, 7:53, 7:36, 7:40
We were at the bottom of the course, elevation wise, at around mile 5. The roads went into another county and were really choppy. They are kind of like the Decker roads which are hard on the feet. We veered off here for the out and back section of the course. There were more rolling hills, but nothing major. I saw Gilbert fly by on the other side as well as some of the other faster folks. I hit the turn around at about mile 9 with Diana and a couple of the folks we had been in and out of to that point.
Mile 6-10 Splits - 7:52, 7:54, 7:51, 7:42, 7:40
The next section took us into some tree lined roads. The wind started to pick up in here. It was not welcome. It seems like every race from Chicago until now has had wind messing with me. I can't stand it! The course kind of wound NW back towards I-35 with some really crappy roads. I was still feel pretty good, but could tell I was getting tired.
Mile 11-15 Splits - 7:49, 7:43, 7:50, 7:54, 7:50
At around mile 15 we started headind north and had finally climbed back out of valley we were in. I had put a little distance between Diana and me, but I think the last 5 miles really tired me out. Looking at my Garmin charts, we had been climbing from mile 12 to mile 15.5. I was tired, but felt better going down a little and then running on the flats. I started slowing in the last 5 miles, but did not want to break. I wanted to finish strong and hopefully ahead of Diana. She is one of the strongest runners I train with and she beat me last year at the line. Around mile 17 or 18 Diana caught back up with me. I was not doing well, but told myself I would match her stride for stride. We made the left onto the home stretch and were about 1.5 miles from the finish. There was one final climb and we trudged up the hill. I got a little distance, but as we headed down she caught me again. I started picking it up on the downhill into the gate and thought I was clear, but she came up again and we sprinted to the line. I finished ahead of her and actually beat her by 5 seconds on chip time. We high fived eachother once we crossed. I really had a great time running and racing with Diana.
Mile 16-20 Splits - 8:05, 8:06, 7:54, 8:19, 8:21
I grabbed some water and headed to the Gazelle tent. I got some Accelerade from Gilbert's cooler and headed back to the finish line to cheer on the other Gazelles. I wanted to do a cool down run, but back really tightened up so I settled for a walk. Once Jay finished I changed my clothes and drank my Endurox. I quickly hit the Adidas store for some new running hats and then joined the other Gazelles in the tent.
Overall it was a really good day. I had a strong run and know what my boundaries are for the ATT marathon. The goal will be 3:30 and I will run 8:00 minute pace from the start. I will enjoy myself and have a solid run.
Results -
- 2:38:13/7:55 pace
- 125th place overall out of 976 - top 13%
- 32/120 in the male, 40-45 Age Group
- 110/636 overall males
- PR by over 6 minutes (2006 RunTex 20 miler)
posted by Paco at 2:35 PM
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