Memorial Day marked my 13th running of the Cotton Row 10K (sort of...thanks to Covid there was not a race in 2020 but I ran "most of" the course...last year the race was postponed from Memorial Day to Labor Day...thankfully I ran it on Memorial Day because we were "living in" Colorado Springs on Labor Day!)
Cotton Row 10K is the only 10K race I've done, and I've done it every year since I really started running! (Well, I did run a 10K at the end of Rocket Man Olympic distance triathlon, but I don't count that!)
This year was the first year in a LONG time that I went in having been consistently running. My expectations were still very low though because I had not many hills and my endurance had not really been tested in a while. My A goal going in was 1:15 or better (about a 12min pace), my B goal was to just finish.
Dwayne was announcing the race so we drove separately that morning. I had volunteered to get the awards so I did still get there earlier than I might have if I was "just" running but not as early as Dwayne got there! Since I had several boxes to carry over to the awards tent I got to park fairly close which was very helpful since I made a few trips back and forth. It was already getting hot but it didn't seem as hot as years past.
After I worked with another volunteer to line out all the awards I went to the bathroom and lined up in about the middle of the pack. It was nice to hear Dwayne's voice booming over the speakers!
This race is special in that, because it's on Memorial Day, they have a pre-race program that honors our fallen soldiers. This year marks the 50th "anniversary" of the Viet Nam war so the main speaker was the daughter of an MIA soldier from that war. She had a gripping story to tell. This was the very first year it seemed EVERYONE in the crowd was silent as she talked about her father. They called veterans to salut and then played taps -- that gets me every time I hear it. After "America the Beautiful" we were off.
My plan going in was to NOT run with anyone else, but to just do my own thing-ideally working to do my very best ....
I can NEVER say/think/hear that phrase without thinking of this scene from Facing the Giants...
...anyway...My plan was to give my "very best" and see what that might end up being.
CR10K is an interesting race. The first 3 miles are basically uphill culminating in "the hill", then the last 3 are basically downhill. Because of that, it's crucial that I not go out too hard on the front half so I will have gas in the tank to really fly on the back half. So I wore one earphone and played music that I could sing to! A friend passed me and asked how on earth I was singing so I explained I was running intervals and trying to keep gas in the tank. I saw her a few times but at some point she passed me and was gone.
I saw another friend, the gal I leap-frogged with at Cookie Dash...she is older than me but she is an awesome runner. She had no idea I decided I was "racing" her but when she said she was taking her first walk break I decided that's exactly what was going down-I wanted to finish in front of her somehow.
Here's the thing-I had no idea if she was injured, tired, training for something else, running both the 10K and 5K afterward...I just knew from experience that she is faster than me on any given day so I wanted to try to "race" her to give me someone to compete with. It would have been much more meaningful if she was a willing competitor, but that wasn't the point for me...I just wanted someone to "target"...and it worked.
Up until the first decent incline (when my friend took her first walk break and I was taking my 5h!) I was trying to maintain a 3-4 minute run and a 1 minute walk interval. After that however my intervals devolved into "by feel/by hill". But I believed once I go over the major climb I'd be able to pick up the pace so I wasn't horribly upset.
I got through the first 5K right at 35 minutes. I was on track to slay my 1:15 or less goal since I believed I would negative split the race. I felt STRONG going up Mountainwood...a little too strong if I'm being honest. But I had not done any kind of speed work or hills (other than one interval run several weeks before with a friend who is running MUCH faster than me, but I felt like that was a one-off and she was pacing/pushing me).
On the way down Bankhead I opened myself up just a little bit and it felt GLORIOUS!!! It reminded me of the good old days when I could run fast! I only got down to about an 8:17 pace but it felt wonderful the short time I ran it. I actually had a 10 minute SOLID run!! After that I started the negotiations with my interval. It wasn't as hot as it has been in the past, but it was pretty darn hot out. Other than a couple of intervals I was feeling too good to walk I pretty much ran the last 1.8 miles as 1 minute of running and :30 walking. I took my last walk break with a half mile to go and then made up my mind to run it in from there.
When I rounded the last corner I heard Dwayne cheering for me and then saw him running beside me a little bit. I immediately got worried because he still hasn't recovered from knee surgery so he should NOT have been running! He only went a few yards with me and then encouraged me to pick it up to the finish line!
I got my pace down to a whopping 6:16 for the final few yards!!! The back half was right at 5 minutes faster than the front half!! With a finish that strong I probably held a little too much in reserve, but I ended up with my FOURTH fastest Cotton Row time EVER--1:05!! Here's the thing...I've only ever broken an hour one time, and the other two times I was working HARD to break an hour so I was just seconds over an hour both times. To be THAT close to my best times was HUGE!! (My next closest time was 1:06 in 2014 and then 1:12 in 2015 (that was the year I "ran" with Dwyane who ended up SICK with the flu that night!).
The bigger shock was after I finished the race I was able to work the awards (which is a production since there are 2 races to give awards for) and I NEVER felt tired, stiff or sore even one time!!!
I was SO PLEASED with this race!! And, I honestly felt like I was actually "racing". Unlike Cookie Dash where I was convinced every single person was leaving me in their dust, I felt STRONG in this race and I passed SEVERAL people toward the end....including passing my own expectations of myself which is the most important win of the day!
The women in my age group are FAST so I ended up 24th out of 56 (still in the top 50% - YAY)! I was 742nd out of 1284 listed finishers (so not in the top 50% overall, but close enough for me!). I have no way to know what place I was among the females...results aren't broken down that way.
Overall I am THRILLED!!! This gave me the confidence to move forward with full on training for my next big adventure-Ironman 70.3 Memphis on October 1st!! I pulled the trigger and paid my money a couple of weeks ago and laid out my training plan. I've been very consistent in execution so far and I'm feeling stronger every day!! My swim is incredibly slow, but I started strength training today to help that along. Dwayne bought some new race wheels for my bike and power pedals ((that is the pedals will tell me the watts I am generating, not that they are powered LOL)). (It sounds like he was being really nice but the truth is I let him "borrow" my race wheels with a power tap hub and he didn't want to give them back!! But he could have given them back and then bought new ones for himself so he really was being super supportive and nice! He also bought me a super awesome Garmin for my bike that allows me to have maps and data in my face instead of just on my watch!)
I am just so encouraged and hopeful about what this summer will bring!!!
