Sunday, November 06, 2005
ATC Run Around the Rock
ATC Run Around the Rock 5M/10M/15M
This was an Atlanta Track Club race held on a Saturday morning out at Stone Mountain. The weather was cool, but not cold. Driving over to the park, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise. The course was a 5-mile loop around Stone Mountain. Runners had choice of competing at the 5, 10, or 15-mile distances. Initially I could not make up my mind which race I wanted to run. Doing the 15 mile race would have been good training for the half-marathon but I was worried that I would not be able to stick to my own pace in a race situation, surrounded by faster runners focusing on shorter distances. Running the 10-mile distance meant that I would not have to worry so much about pace and completing the distance and could just go out and have fun.
I’ve never run out at Stone Mountain before and although they mentioned hills in the race description, I thought it would be fine because my regular neighborhood run includes a couple of good ones. I started the race strong. (Okay I started the race wondering why in the world I thought I was able to run this morning and wondering if anyone would notice if I dropped out of the race less than 100 yards from the start. That’s how most of my runs start. I have learned to ignore my own litany of complaints and doubts, which generally fade by the first mile split.) I was surprised that despite the early uphill section of the race, when they called out the time at the first mile mark I was running at about a 7:30 pace. I kept that pace going until the next hill between 3- and 4-miles. Then it felt like I had run into a wall. When I finally reached the crest of the hill, I felt like my pace had slowed to a crawl, people were starting to pass me, and I was feeling discouraged. The last mile of the course was a long gentle downhill to the start/finish. When I passed the start/finish and 5-milers peeled off the course, the character of the race changed completely. There were a lot fewer runners out on the course. I finally settled into a groove of sorts and managed to pass a few people, and hold off some of the people that tried to pass me. The hills the second time around did not seem nearly as bad as they had the first time and my last mile down to the start/finish was probably my fastest mile the entire race.
I finished with a time of 1:19:23, which made my average pace 7:56. It was a nice improvement over the PTC 15K where my pace was 8:17 and Stone Mountain was certainly the more difficult course.
Next big race is Nov 24th when I do the Atlanta Half Marathon.
This was an Atlanta Track Club race held on a Saturday morning out at Stone Mountain. The weather was cool, but not cold. Driving over to the park, we were treated to a beautiful sunrise. The course was a 5-mile loop around Stone Mountain. Runners had choice of competing at the 5, 10, or 15-mile distances. Initially I could not make up my mind which race I wanted to run. Doing the 15 mile race would have been good training for the half-marathon but I was worried that I would not be able to stick to my own pace in a race situation, surrounded by faster runners focusing on shorter distances. Running the 10-mile distance meant that I would not have to worry so much about pace and completing the distance and could just go out and have fun.
I’ve never run out at Stone Mountain before and although they mentioned hills in the race description, I thought it would be fine because my regular neighborhood run includes a couple of good ones. I started the race strong. (Okay I started the race wondering why in the world I thought I was able to run this morning and wondering if anyone would notice if I dropped out of the race less than 100 yards from the start. That’s how most of my runs start. I have learned to ignore my own litany of complaints and doubts, which generally fade by the first mile split.) I was surprised that despite the early uphill section of the race, when they called out the time at the first mile mark I was running at about a 7:30 pace. I kept that pace going until the next hill between 3- and 4-miles. Then it felt like I had run into a wall. When I finally reached the crest of the hill, I felt like my pace had slowed to a crawl, people were starting to pass me, and I was feeling discouraged. The last mile of the course was a long gentle downhill to the start/finish. When I passed the start/finish and 5-milers peeled off the course, the character of the race changed completely. There were a lot fewer runners out on the course. I finally settled into a groove of sorts and managed to pass a few people, and hold off some of the people that tried to pass me. The hills the second time around did not seem nearly as bad as they had the first time and my last mile down to the start/finish was probably my fastest mile the entire race.
I finished with a time of 1:19:23, which made my average pace 7:56. It was a nice improvement over the PTC 15K where my pace was 8:17 and Stone Mountain was certainly the more difficult course.
Next big race is Nov 24th when I do the Atlanta Half Marathon.
