Milford Labor Day 10km
The race starts and finishes at Bakers of Milford, a place I used to frequent every time I played disc golf. We arrived about 30 minutes before race time, just enough to get the general lie of the land, have a look at my competitors and get in the zone. Again, the starting field looks good and fit and I don't, but I feel like I am supposed to be there this time.
We all grouped at the starting line and at 8:30am, just before we get started some bright spark decides that the Rocky theme would be suitable. So with a smile on my face, I get going. Not being very sure of the route, I'm really not sure what I'm going to be up against. I start out with a good pace, I was hoping for approx 9 minute miles for the duration, and beating my previous best. It is a long gradual uphill, towards Milford, but I'm feeling good, as we pass the mile marker, someone is standing shouting out the time, which I thought was kinda cool for people not actively tracking their time, on their handy dandy watches. I pass mile one at 9:01 minutes, on schedule.
Mile two is still a gradual downhill, still heading towards GM Road, the first water station is right at the corner of S Milford Rd. I continued the run towards downtown Milford, this time the route is rolling a little, but I'm still feeling good and put in a very respectable 8:39, which will be my fastest of the day.
Mile three takes me into the centre of Milford and as we turn onto South Hill Rd (very aptly named), at approximately 2.4 miles in, I see the foothills of the Andes stretch out in front of me, and then the hell began. The hill starts slowly, but it doesn't take long to start kicking my ar$e. I see the first person start walking and again, I'm glad it wasn't me. I had been keeping pace with a woman who had a jogging stroller, once the hill started, she was way out in front. I started running slower and slower. At 25 minutes in, quite near the top of the hill, all the fooling myself into keeping on going, fails and I start walking. I'm the fifth or sixth person I see walking, so I don't feel too bad. I eventually finish mile three in 10:14. The amazing thing about this mile is that I dropped all the time in that half mile uphill stretch, I was actually doing really well before the Andes hit.
Mile four continues with the whole increasing altitude thing and I suck at it, my practice routes are almost exclusively flat and you can tell. The route actually goes down for a little at one point, but it is too little, too late, I end up walking again at one point and I'm starting to get a little demoralised by the whole 'hill' thing. The scenery is very pleasant though, which I really get to appreciate, as I am passing it so slowly. Another water station passes by. As an aside, I may turn out to be found, drowned, on a 10km track somewhere as I am so bad at trying to drink out of those little Dixie cups while moving, the water goes in my eyes, up my nose, everywhere apart from where it is intended, this is not something that I was expecting to have trouble with. Slowest mile of day at 10:39.
Mile five ambles along and starts by giving us a couple of gradual downhills, but I really don't get any great benefit from them as I'm done in and running on empty. I turn the corner onto Buno Road, at last heading towards the finish. Buno Road has a couple of nice little uphills in store for us. On one of these hills, I again take a stroll, my legs are on fire and I'm ready to be done. While walking I keep pace with another runner, actually running, so I'm not the only one that is struggling. I finish in 10:08, so at least my mile pace wasn't on a full scale drop down the toilet.
At the start of mile six I decide to try and see if I can speed up a little and finish strong, unlike my last one. I try and crank it up a notch when I make the turn back onto Milford Rd. I know the end is close and it buoys my spirits. Not much else I can say about this one, apart from 'no more bloody hills' and I put in a, not too shabby, 10 even.
Mile seven starts and I know I'm not going to beat my previous record, but I completely underestimated the route. I can see Bren, Liam & Iona were waiting for me as I get close, I feel better than I did at the end of the Farmington Hills race. I don't get passed in the final stretch, but I guess there were quite a few behind me. I cross the line at 1:00:53, I'll take it.
Post race there was free beer, snacks, plenty drinks and free burgers for the racers. I even got a medal and the obligatory tech shirt, kinda cool though.
This is how my Garmin saw it - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111502512
Results are in, 75th out of 166, 11th out of 20 from my age group - http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=216362&rsID=116026
Race video courtesy of Michigan Runner, I can be seen at 0:23 & 2:23, in the white shirt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih1vQ4st8cc
Race photos courtesy of Sadler Shots can be seen at http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?112723128
We all grouped at the starting line and at 8:30am, just before we get started some bright spark decides that the Rocky theme would be suitable. So with a smile on my face, I get going. Not being very sure of the route, I'm really not sure what I'm going to be up against. I start out with a good pace, I was hoping for approx 9 minute miles for the duration, and beating my previous best. It is a long gradual uphill, towards Milford, but I'm feeling good, as we pass the mile marker, someone is standing shouting out the time, which I thought was kinda cool for people not actively tracking their time, on their handy dandy watches. I pass mile one at 9:01 minutes, on schedule.
Mile two is still a gradual downhill, still heading towards GM Road, the first water station is right at the corner of S Milford Rd. I continued the run towards downtown Milford, this time the route is rolling a little, but I'm still feeling good and put in a very respectable 8:39, which will be my fastest of the day.
Mile three takes me into the centre of Milford and as we turn onto South Hill Rd (very aptly named), at approximately 2.4 miles in, I see the foothills of the Andes stretch out in front of me, and then the hell began. The hill starts slowly, but it doesn't take long to start kicking my ar$e. I see the first person start walking and again, I'm glad it wasn't me. I had been keeping pace with a woman who had a jogging stroller, once the hill started, she was way out in front. I started running slower and slower. At 25 minutes in, quite near the top of the hill, all the fooling myself into keeping on going, fails and I start walking. I'm the fifth or sixth person I see walking, so I don't feel too bad. I eventually finish mile three in 10:14. The amazing thing about this mile is that I dropped all the time in that half mile uphill stretch, I was actually doing really well before the Andes hit.
Mile five ambles along and starts by giving us a couple of gradual downhills, but I really don't get any great benefit from them as I'm done in and running on empty. I turn the corner onto Buno Road, at last heading towards the finish. Buno Road has a couple of nice little uphills in store for us. On one of these hills, I again take a stroll, my legs are on fire and I'm ready to be done. While walking I keep pace with another runner, actually running, so I'm not the only one that is struggling. I finish in 10:08, so at least my mile pace wasn't on a full scale drop down the toilet.
Mile seven starts and I know I'm not going to beat my previous record, but I completely underestimated the route. I can see Bren, Liam & Iona were waiting for me as I get close, I feel better than I did at the end of the Farmington Hills race. I don't get passed in the final stretch, but I guess there were quite a few behind me. I cross the line at 1:00:53, I'll take it.
Post race there was free beer, snacks, plenty drinks and free burgers for the racers. I even got a medal and the obligatory tech shirt, kinda cool though.
 |
| Blue tech shirt with yellow side panels |
Results are in, 75th out of 166, 11th out of 20 from my age group - http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?orgID=216362&rsID=116026
Race video courtesy of Michigan Runner, I can be seen at 0:23 & 2:23, in the white shirt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih1vQ4st8cc
Race photos courtesy of Sadler Shots can be seen at http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?112723128
You need to think back to 6 months ago and could you ever imagine that you would be doing a 10km run and hold onto that, just know also that the kids and I are so proud of every effort you make to better yourself.
ReplyDeleteLove Bren
I never would have, no, thanks for your support.
DeleteLove David
Great work David.....
ReplyDeleteThanks Brian, hopefully not too little, too late
Delete