Saturday, October 07, 2006
ATC - Cartersville 10K
Atlanta Track Club Cartersville 10K - This course winds through scenic farmland near the Etowah Indian Mounds. Moderately rolling, the course is mainly blacktop and finishes with one and one-half laps on the Cartersville track. It was a new course this year, moving off some now busy roads and instead incorporating wide scenic running trails making one of my favorite races even better.
It was a crisp fall morning, about 50 degrees, clear skies, and a full moon just above the horizon; a perfect morning to jump in the car, and head off for a race. The race was in Cartersville, about 45 minutes north of Atlanta up Interstate 75, near the Etowah Indian Mounds. The race started in Dellinger Park and wound its way down surface streets before moving onto the wide asphalt of The Etowah River Walk near mile two. I was running about a 7:12 /mi pace and by that second mile was beginning to feel it. I have been feeling under the weather the past couple of days dealing with long hours at work and what is either seasonal allergies or the beginning of a cold. For the first few miles of the race, I was completely congested and felt like I was having difficulty breathing.
About the two and a half mile mark I fell in with someone running about the same pace and for the next two miles we made a contest of it, passing each other several times. Eventually he was able to pull ahead and put a little bit of distance between us, about twenty yards, which I was not able to make up before the end of the race.
The River Walk is a beautiful trail running through and around a large farmer’s field although there are a couple of minor rolling hills and a short section where some misguided person decided to use cement instead of the more knee forgiving asphalt. Even so, Dellinger Park and the adjacent River Walk are tremendous community resources and a great place to run.
For me those last two miles of the race were an exercise in willpower. About mile four, I realized that the physical conditioning was there and the only thing standing in my way was the mental toughness to keep pushing and not drop off the pace. I find it hard to tell sometimes in races what is a mental wall and what is a physical one.
The race moved back onto blacktop for the last couple of miles before turning back into the park. Once back in the park, cones directed us onto the running track for one and a half laps. With just a lap to go, a fast runner fell in beside and then passed me. I passed her back then she passed me back. Around the final turn I let her have the inside lane, but sprinted it out with her for the finish. I was surprised to find how much kick I was able to muster at the end, but she nipped me by two seconds.
My time was 45:32, a personal best. The post race analysis also shows that I kept a steady pace the entire race. My average pace was 7:20, almost exactly what I ran the first mile at.
On an unrelated note, as we were walking around before the race trying to keep warm, we came across a pull-up bar. I have not done a pull-up for years. However, just to see if that work I have been doing in the gym has paid off at all, I jumped up there and surprised myself by easily doing several pull-ups. The glow of that success might have been one of the factors that helped me have such a successful race.
It was a crisp fall morning, about 50 degrees, clear skies, and a full moon just above the horizon; a perfect morning to jump in the car, and head off for a race. The race was in Cartersville, about 45 minutes north of Atlanta up Interstate 75, near the Etowah Indian Mounds. The race started in Dellinger Park and wound its way down surface streets before moving onto the wide asphalt of The Etowah River Walk near mile two. I was running about a 7:12 /mi pace and by that second mile was beginning to feel it. I have been feeling under the weather the past couple of days dealing with long hours at work and what is either seasonal allergies or the beginning of a cold. For the first few miles of the race, I was completely congested and felt like I was having difficulty breathing.
About the two and a half mile mark I fell in with someone running about the same pace and for the next two miles we made a contest of it, passing each other several times. Eventually he was able to pull ahead and put a little bit of distance between us, about twenty yards, which I was not able to make up before the end of the race.
The River Walk is a beautiful trail running through and around a large farmer’s field although there are a couple of minor rolling hills and a short section where some misguided person decided to use cement instead of the more knee forgiving asphalt. Even so, Dellinger Park and the adjacent River Walk are tremendous community resources and a great place to run.
For me those last two miles of the race were an exercise in willpower. About mile four, I realized that the physical conditioning was there and the only thing standing in my way was the mental toughness to keep pushing and not drop off the pace. I find it hard to tell sometimes in races what is a mental wall and what is a physical one.
The race moved back onto blacktop for the last couple of miles before turning back into the park. Once back in the park, cones directed us onto the running track for one and a half laps. With just a lap to go, a fast runner fell in beside and then passed me. I passed her back then she passed me back. Around the final turn I let her have the inside lane, but sprinted it out with her for the finish. I was surprised to find how much kick I was able to muster at the end, but she nipped me by two seconds.
My time was 45:32, a personal best. The post race analysis also shows that I kept a steady pace the entire race. My average pace was 7:20, almost exactly what I ran the first mile at.
On an unrelated note, as we were walking around before the race trying to keep warm, we came across a pull-up bar. I have not done a pull-up for years. However, just to see if that work I have been doing in the gym has paid off at all, I jumped up there and surprised myself by easily doing several pull-ups. The glow of that success might have been one of the factors that helped me have such a successful race.
