2006 Black Moshannon 10K

I haven't been running as much this season. In prepping for the Triathlon I'm doing in August, I've devoted most of my cardio time to swimming. I've just been doing 5-6 miles, once a week, as maintainence.
I think that showed today. Although my main goal for this race was to run the whole way: last year when I ran it, I walked up the last 30 yards of the big hill.
One mistake I knew I made was having a few glasses of wine last night. That definitely dehydrated me. And I really didn't do any kind of taper at all: I've been working out all week. And I had meant to get new running shoes: I think the stability is starting to go on my current shoes. So I totally felt like crap pretty much the entire time.
Adding to that was the fact that I went out way too fast. I did the first mile in 7:11, which is a good 20 seconds faster than I wanted. I was already feeling a little tired when I started up the hill. But I refused to quit, even when my body really wanted to. I decided not to check my watch at the two-mile mark; I just wanted to get up this thing. I made it, and I knew I had a couple of miles of mostly flat road in front of me, before the downhill to the finish.
Then my back started tightening up again. All I could do was ease off the pace a little, relax and try to breathe through it. At mile 4 a few people passed me, but I also passed some youngsters who had sprinted ahead at the start of the race, and were now walking with hands on hips.
My back finally relaxed a little with about 2 miles to go. At that point, I knew I was under pace, but I just wanted to finish as best I could. I lengthened my stride, and passed a guy I had been trading positions with the whole time. I kept him behind me as I started the last, long downhill to the finish.
With the end in sight I came up on a guy whole had been ahead of me the whole race. I could have easily passed him with about a 100 meters to go, but that just seemed like a dick move. I eased up to let him finish 2 seconds ahead of me.

I finished in 50:53, two minutes slower than last year's pace, and in 45th place out of 93 runners. I wasn't happy with the time, but I knew I but everything I had into that run. I'll do better next time.

Bad Strategy: Biedleheimer 10K

I have run this course twice, once down, and once up. So here's what I knew (or thought I knew, to be accurate): The first mile and a half a rolling, with a short, steep climb before a long, long downhill. Then it flattens out before another 1/2-mile downhill at the end of the 5th mile, and then it's flat or uphill to the finish.
So my plan was simple: ease into the first couple of miles, let it fly on the big downhill, coast to the next downhill, crank it out again, and then hold on to the finish.
I did the first mile a little faster than I had planned: 7:11. So I took it down a little for the second mile, and did that in 7:50. So, I felt like I was right where I wanted to be. That big hill came, and I flew down it: I blasted down that hill. And that was my big mistake. I crushed that third mile in 6:44, when really I would have been better off doing it around 7 even.
The reason I say that is because I forgot that after that huge downhill comes a longish uphill, with one or two steep sections. (At this point I wished I had read my blog summary from last year's race, where I make much the same observation.) And the loose gravel was really giving me problems: I wasn't generating quite as much forward momentum as I would have liked. So that hill really took a lot out of my legs. I finished that mile in about 8:50, and I was really tired.
The fifth mile started out flat, but I forgot about another hill before the final descent. Well, I actually did remember it; I was didn't remember it being so steep. It's not a long climb, but it's painful. I just kept in mind how much harder it is running this course in the other direction, and I'd done that, so I could get through this. What a relief to finally start that descent! By the time I hit the 5-mile marker, I had long, smooth strides flowing again.
As I entered the 6th mile, the road started a very slight incline. Suddenly everything became a struggle. It was gut-check time: I kept pushing and pushing. About 3/4 of the way through that mile, I could hear footsteps behind me. It was about time to start picking up the pace for the last kick, so I determined to hold off whoever was coming up behind me. I went down the hill into the park entrance, and felt a little bit of pep in my step. I hit the 6th mile in 7:50.
Right after I passed that mile marker, however, I totally bonked. My breathing was fine, but I just could not push my legs any more. I was still running, but there was nothing in the tank. Michal Philippe and Joe Shuta surged past me, and there was nothing I could do to respond. Those last 2 tenths took me almost 2 and half minutes of agony, but I finally pushed across the finish in 48:44.

I finshed 23rd out of 48 runners. You can see the complete results here.