Papa John's 10 Miler

Saturday was the last race in the Louisville Triple Crown of Running, leading up to the KDF Mini-Marathon(1/2) and Marathon. As in the past, this is the one Triple Crown event I run, since it covers the same hills as the KDF and helps me reaquiant myself with them and formulate a game plan.

Race: The weather was perfect. Upper 30's, a bit on the windy side, but not too bad. I woke up early and got in 2 miles on the treadmill to get everything loose. I've found this gives me a chance to not only get loose, but also to see what is going to nag me. As my miles have increased, I've begun to have a little tightness in the ligaments/muscles/tendons in my left knee. The warmup let me know what "normal" was going to feel like, so I didn't panic and mentally shut down in the first couple of miles, thinking I had a bum "wheel".

As I sat in traffic (Thanks Frank, if I hadn't been following you, I'd still be stuck in Traffic and never would have made it to the start in time.) I reached for my MP3 player. Battery was dead. That's what I get for not sticking a fresh one in before I left the house. No worries, maybe I'll just take one out of the Garmin (GPS). Speaking of the GPS, might as well take it out and lay it on the dash so it can start acquiring the satellite signals. Why isn't the GPS in the bag? Uh Oh, forgot it. No problem, the starting line is close to a Kroger's Grocery. I'll pick up a battery and maybe even a cheap digital watch to keep track of my time and pace. That didn't work out either. By the time we parked and walked about a mile to the start, it was 2 minutes until the start time. Oh yeah, let's not forget that my race packet didn't include any safety pins, and I didn't bother putting on my timing chip and bib number until I was half way from the car to the start. Thank you Tammy and Alicia for sparing a pin each so that I didn't have to carry my bib number in my teeth. As you can see, nothing is going my way at this point.

At the start I positioned myself in the 7:00 to 7:30 pace area. At the start I began to make my way through the pack. I ran probably a 1/4 mile left and right in the 1st mile, just to weave around slower traffic. Oh crud, I didn't remember to check the clock when I crossed the start mat to see how much time to deduct at each mile mark. At the first mile marker the clock read 9:30. I knew I was faster than that, but not sure how much given the crowd I'd worked my way through. At around the three mile mark we entered into the park and the hills. Here I discovered I really am in better shape than the past two years, the hills didn't completely sap my reserves as they have in years past.

Coming out of the park I followed the game plan/mantra of "same exertion level regardless of terrain". This means you slow down some on uphills, but gain pace on down hills, and it worked for me. Running on the treadmill and using the heartrate grips has helped me get a "feel" for my exertion level (heart rate) and I was able to maintain that level throughout the run. So what did all of this net me. My goal was 1:15:00 (7:30 pace). Chip time was 1:14:49 (7:29 pace, 359th of 5869 runners). By far my best race, and next to completing the Akron Marathon, perhaps my proudest running moment to date. note to self: In a race of this size, sprinting to beat the guy coming up beside you means nothing. His chip time was better than yours and therefore he placed higher than you. Yeah, but if I hadn't have raced him, I wouldn't have come in under 1:15. Ok, point well taken, but you know you ruined your finish line photo!

The real winners: Congrats to Tammy, Frank, Alicia and Donna who all completed the race. I need to check with her to see exactly how many, but Tammy has run this race and the Mini multiple times. Frank agreed to run the race to pace Alicia, who by the way, ran it while carrying another running partner. She is 13 months pregnant(Alicia pointed out my typo- that should be weeks-but hey that would make a great National Enquirer story). She's planning on doing a 1/2 marathon (KDF Mini) at 17 months(ok, so should this one-I got up early to catch a flight, leave me alone), I think that eliminates any excuses most people can throw out for not getting into shape. Nice Job! Donna has been busting her tail for months, building up the mileage to complete this race, and the KDF is next on her list. I'm proud to call these folks my friends, and not just because they ran, but because they inspire me!