Kona 10 Mile Run, Northville, Michigan

Woke up, bright and early at 6am, the race was due to start at 7:30 so I had plenty time to eat, feed the dogs, let them out and get on the road. I got to Northville Downs about 45 minutes before this start, parking was no hassle (a pleasant change from most races). I wandered in and then went out onto the race track.It was quite a bizarre experience as I have been there a couple of times to watch trap racing, so to actually be put on the track was really quite surreal. I walked once around the track, just to try and stretch out my left calf, which has been bothering me. I was there a while before the start so I got to watch the starting line getting setup and the crowds build. I even had time for a couple of trips to the restrooms inside the racetrack. I met a couple of friends that were running in the 10k, had a quick chat then left them to it as they were getting ready for their start.

I wasn't feeling at all confident about this race due to injuries which led to crappy preparation, my goal was to finish and hopefully still manage to be able to walk afterwards. The race started on the racetrack and we done one loop and then out onto the open road. As usual, even though requested not to, the front of the field was full of walkers and slower runners, and as usual it made a mess of the start - a real pet peeve of mine. I had the usual messing around trying to find a gap and got underway. On leaving the track and car park, I saw a guy leaving and then rejoining the race, apparently he didn't like the surface in the racetrack so kept on his VFF's until he hit the road and was now going barefoot for the whole 10 miles, damn impressive.

The first hill came almost immediately, I decided that I had to try and power up it as I was planning on losing time later, it was a nasty ass kicker but got there. I decided at this point that my usual forefoot strike was going to hurt too much so opted for what I hoped was a mid foot strike with high cadence ¹. Even though I was midfoot striking the pain stayed with me for the whole race, didn't get any better or any worse, just stayed there,as a dull throb, but what the hell.

The race continued very hilly, but I struggled on, hoping  for a sub 1:45 finish, what with injury and dismal training. I cranked it up for the last mile, when I realised that a sub 1:30 was possible, but to no avail, all in all, very pleased with it though.

Snacks and entertainment after the race were great, as usual for a Kona organised run. I really enjoyed the Japanese drum troupe, especially.

The finish line and party

Shirt (tech), number (with QR code for personal results) and medal

Close up of the medal, The darker
blue stripes in the middle
are actually translucent, kinda cool

1 - I really must get someone to take a video clip of my various running strategy's so I can get a feel for what is truely going on down there.