Today was an early start - the 10k went off at 6:45 and the logistics of parking in Safety Harbor require a prompt arrival. I got to the start and ran into Bret and Richie, and a couple other friends to help break things up.
Nick turned out to be a wild card indeed, and didn't show up. Jon did, though. I've raced him at least twice before, but each time the other was having an off-day, so I had never really ran against him.
From the start we were alone out front, and ran through the first 1.5 miles together at a steady pace. I was planning to run the first mile under control, and it went by in 5:23, just about right. About halfway into the second mile, we crested a small rise then turned around. I'm not a good downhill runner, and Jon put a few seconds between us on the way back down.
I felt fine about letting him go, though. The pace was dropping slightly, and I was happy to be the hunter. I slowly narrowed the gap and caught back up to him at the 3 mile mark. So far, the race had gone to plan, but I was not able to bring it together for the second half. Mile 4 continued down the main drag, then made a right turn up a rise into a residential neighborhood. I hung with Jon until we hit the next downturn where he gapped me again, and I was never able to bring him back. We both hung on the rest of the way, and I finished in 33:17, with Jon 4 seconds ahead for the win.
Although the distance between us was narrow, I did feel pretty dominated. At no point did I lead the race or drive the pace. While I might not have had my A game today, I ran hard and never gave up, so I have to give Jon the credit - he was the better runner this morning.
There's disappointment when things don't go exactly the way you want, and there's disappointment when you underachieve. Today falls more into the first category. I did run a 10 second PR, which is something. 3x2 miles is usually a dead-on predictor of my 10k time, and that workout from a couple weeks ago averaged 5:21-5:22 with Garmin correction figured in. So today's result is about what I had coming.
I could leave it at that, with setting things into some kind of perspective, but then this would be a superficial race report. While driving home I felt my blood starting to boil. It's one thing to get blown out of the water by a runner on a totally different level, but losing a head-to-head race by a few seconds is not in that category. And I welcome that anger and frustration. It's easy to feel like all the miles and workouts have been for nothing, but I don't like that kind of thinking, which is really just an excuse for giving up. Instead, I'll be feeding the outcome of this race into the woodchipper, and when I'm tired in the morning, or dragging in workouts, it's more fuel for the fire.
I was able to make it back to the Y in St. Pete by 9am for my daughter's basketball game. Watching three-year-olds play basketball is a good antidote to competitive rage.
Splits:
- 5:23
- 5:19
- 5:19
- 5:23
- 5:22
- 5:22
- 1:09 (5:12 pace)
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