After 5 hours sleep, I awoke Sunday morning ready to run in my first race of the year: the Fort Worth Running Club Einstein 10k, at Trinity Park, Fort Worth, Texas. I'm sure folks would fret at the small amount hours I slept the day before the race, but after a year's worth of running experience, I've found that the lack of sleep does not affect my running.
As in other race mornings, I started off with a shower. I donned my race outfit consisting of: "biker shorts", Nike DRY-FIT socks, running shorts, long sleeve tech shirt and my Lupus Runners short sleeve tech shirt. As this was a small local race I did not have a bib number to pin on.
After a breakfast of toasted bagel with grape jelly, and a glass of apple juice, I packed an insulated lunch bag with 2 half pints of water, a pint of apple juice, and two gel ice packs to keep the drinks cool. I took my vitamin supplements (washed down with more apple juice), put on my running shoes, grab my cell phone, it's arm band, and a towel and headed out the door for the 15 minute drive to Trinity Park.
As I drive and listen to the local NPR station, I find out the the local temperature is 42 degrees. Cold, but great for running in. I had grabbed my knitted cap and gloves, just in case the temperature were in the teens. Looks like I would not need them this time.
I arrive at Trinity Park and it's almost sunrise. Having run numerous training runs and races, including the Impossible Possibilities 5k, the Fort Worth Marathon and the Mote in Motion Half Marathon at this park, I'm pretty familiar with the course. The Mote in Motion Half Marathon was also held by this same running club. Since this is a "small" event, there is no registration packet to pick up, just a sign up. I head towards the pavilion and print my name and age on the sign up sheet for participants who had already registered online. I do about 3/4 of mile warm up "run" and follow that with stretching. I walked around a little and took some pictures.
Watching the sun rise at Trinity Park, Fort Worth, TX
Ahhh!! Finally sunrise!!
Some critter swimming in the Trinity river
Mark Twain, reading a book at Trinity Park, Ft. Worth, TX
The race starts and we head south on Trinity Park Court, following the trail towards the I-35 bridge. We continue running under the I-35 bridge. A few feet under the Rosedale Street bridge we hit the first mile mark. We turn around and head back north, but this time we're running on the concrete trail. We continue north on the Trinity trail, going under the raised railroad towards the 2 mile mark.
I decide to fore go the first drink station and continue on towards mile marker 3. During mile three I start to feel a little sluggish due to the fast pace of the first two miles (7:07 and 7:31 respectively). I slow it down a little bit and try to keep a more sustainable pace. Before we get to the Jacksboro Hwy. or the Henderson Street underpass, we turn around and head back south. At this point I grab a drink at the second drink station. I continue on with the same pace as the previous mile, with only 12 seconds more elapsed time difference between miles 3 and 4 (8:14 and 8:27 respectively).
Again I bypass the drink station for mile 4 (same as mile 2). At this point I felt comfortable enough physically that I decided to increase my pace. I did not know how long I would be able to sustain this pace (a little over 8:00 minute per mile pace), but I was willing to find out. So as I head back south, retracing the initial first mile, I continue to increase my pace. By the time I'm past mile marker 5, I'm running at 8.28 miles per hour.
Continuing to increase the pace, I reach a speed of almost 9 miles per hour (8.97) before turning around past the Rosedale Street bridge for the second time. We get back on Trinity Park Court heading north towards the finish line. At this point I'm feeling the affects of the pace on my lower legs. I slow down a little to an 8 miles per hour pace as I reach the 6 mile marker. Making the slight turn on the road I start to see the finish line. I increased the speed to 9.28 miles per hour as I hit the finish line.
I noticed the time on digital clock as I past the finish line. I am handed a numbered 3x5 card where I write (if I remember correctly) my name, time and age group. I head to the pavilion and hand it over to the "tabulators". I did a cool down walk for about 5 minutes. I put on my wind breaker top and bottom, as I was feeling the cold temperature now thanks to my drenched clothing. I drank some apple juice and water. The running club provided drinks and treats. I grabbed a couple of cookies and a bag of chips. There was also a fire going where kids and grownups were roasting marsh mellows, and others were keeping warm.
I hanged around until after the awards ceremony. I placed 2nd in my age group with a time of 49 minutes and 41 seconds. Here are the stats and results:
Time: 49:41
Pace: 8:01 minutes per mile
Age Group: 2nd out 8
Gender Group: 28th out of 70
Overall: 37th out of 112
Results: top results and all results
2nd place medal for my age group
My phone GPS registered the length of the race distance at 6.37 miles (7:48 pace per mile), instead of 6.2 miles (8:01 pace per mile). This was confirmed by other runners.
Not bad for my first race of the year. Looking forward to my next race, the Lake Benbrook Half Marathon on January 30th.
Here are my mile splits:
1. 7:07.37, 07:07.37, 1 mi 7:07 / mi.
2. 7:31.80, 14:39.16, 1 mi 7:32 / mi.
3. 8:14.70, 22:53.88, 1 mi 8:15 / mi.
4. 8:26.81, 31:20.69, 1 mi 8:27 / mi.
5. 8:05.81, 39:26.50, 1 mi 8:06 / mi.
6. 7:45.85, 47:12.34, 1 mi 7:46 / mi.
7. 2:51.00, 50:03.34, 0.4 mi 7:47 / mi.
