Bayou City Classic 10K Race Report
What a great day to run in Houston! (Well, except in mile 5! It got a little warm.)
Seriously, a great crowd, great atmosphere and I had a decent run to boot. I'm pretty hard on myself, but I came in with conservative expectations and didn't disappoint myself too much. I finished in 59:31.2 (stop watch: 59:31.94). It was my third straight 10K under an hour after lowering the threshold three (3) times last fall from 1:04:03.65 (Rodeo Run) to 1:01:14.1 (Best Little 10K in Texas, La Grange).
It was also 26 seconds better than the Rodeo Run, which to me signals that my cardio and running is just as strong over a slightly tougher course.
And incredibly in this race, I walked too much. Now, to me, the novice, I don't know if that means I tried to push myself too hard and didn't necessarily notice it. And for the first time in a long time, I developed a side stitch right as I hit my watch at the mile 6 sign.
My splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 9:02.02
Mile 2 - 9:04.69 (18:06.71)
Mile 3 - 9:38.26 (27:44.97)
5K - 29:18.24 (.1 of a mile covering 1:33.20 .. problem!)
Mile 4 - 9:26.07
Mile 5 - 10:29.47 (lost my shot at a PR here)
Mile 6 - 10:06.31
Last .2 - 1:45.45
Mile 1 felt good, even as I was finishing it going up one of the Memorial Drive inclines. I passed the water station at mile 1.5, but took a walk once I got past the mile 2 marker. I know I walked at least once more (never more than 52-56 steps) in mile 3 and another time before I hit the 5K marker. Mentally, I thought that I still had a shot at another PR with 29:18 at the half way point (double it, 58:36); however, I was also beating myself up for walking. The way the course is laid out, I think you get a nice mental boost after making the turn at Shepherd in hitting the mile 4 marker right after.
But the sun started to warm things up a little in mile 5 and that is where I lost my shot at a PR, I believe. I'm really not sure I remember walking anymore, but I do vividly remember feeling the salt crystalizing on my forehead which was a trigger to hit the water stop at mile 4.5 (I now remember not stopping at mile 5.5).
After the side stitch at mile 6, I got some energy making the last left hand turn towards the finish line when I saw a lot of the Houston Striders who competed in the centipede competition as well as seeing good friend, Karen Thibodeaux, at the finish line taking pictures!
Another reason why my pace picked up the last 1.2 miles is because I came up behind fellow Strider (and last fall's Fall PIM Fitness participant) Sophie Rydin. When we did the free Bear Creek 10K that the Striders put on the Sunday before the 20K, Clarence Silva and I watched Sophie pass us before the 3.1-mile turnaround. We both caught her on the biggest hill returning back towards Memorial and knew that she was on our heels a couple of times. (Clarence, with Megan Clark-Dillingham assisting, pushed ahead and "won" among the three of us that day while I made a charge to hold off Sophie when I heard her tell Lee Greb that she was going to try and catch me.)
Sophie's been running fairly well of late and had a nice steady pace going when I caught her, but I must admit that I did a little "middle of the pack racing". If I had said "Hi!" as I went by, she would probably have kicked into gear and given me a harder challenge (which actually is probably what I should have done for both of us ... so I'm guilty here perhaps of being a little .. or a lot .. selfish. Can we blame the hot sun?) Maybe this is why I felt so bad this morning. :)
Actually, there were four of us from our Fall PIM Fitness group that started the race together: Clarence, myself, Amy Parker and Becky Spaulding. None of us said anything to each other, but I figured Amy would come in first, Clarence next then myself and Becky. (Which during the half marathon in January, that would have been the order of finish. Amy was 1:58, Clarence was 2:12, I was at 2:18 and Becky finished in 2:34.)
I saw Amy take off and didn't see her again. I know I dodged about 4-5 walkers, started out strong and passed the 10-minute-per-mile Strider SMART centipede (the 99's, I think) with Loren Neufeld, Pam Paling, Lisa Ruthven and Whitney La Rocca (among others).
All I wanted to make sure of the whole race is that that centipede didn't catch me nor did Clarence although I wouldn't have been stunned if either had.
Our Fall PIM Fitness scorecard looked like this:
Amy Parker 56:52.2
Jon Walk 59:31.2
Sophie Rydin 1:00:47.7
Clarence Silva 1:01:13.7
Becky Spaulding 1:08:04.1
So all in all, I had a good race. According to the race scoring system (see "Evaluate Your Latest Run") that I measure my runs by, it was the third best run I've ever had.
After the race, I stayed around until close to 10:45 a.m. -- the latest ever! However, I had a good time socializing with tons of Striders and non-Striders. As I was going to check the results to see where I came in in the 226+ Clydesdales division, I saw and talked to Strider Jackie Connelly, who shattered the Striders female masters record at the hp Houston Marathon. She said that she had run almost exactly the same time as she had in the Rodeo Run two weeks earlier.
I visited at length with some individuals that are regulars at the Run The Woodlands 5K Series: Lou and Nora Wilson and Jim Harrington. I've seen Jim before but didn't know his name nor had I talked with him. Jim's a nice guy, who ran his first Boston Marathon last April in a heat-laden 3:51:17, but nailed a top 10% overall time on Saturday of 42:26.8. Lou, who is 68 and has run 7 marathons this season, finished in a sterling time of 55:46.2 but 9th in a deep 65-69 men's field.
After seeing Becky Spaulding in the post-race area, I had the pleasant surprise and pleasure of meeting Bernie Clinton, who was one of 24 Spring 2005 PIMsters that finished the Bayou City Classic 10K on Saturday. He had recognized me from the Striders newsletter, Stridelines, and wanted to say "Hello!" (He's a non-Strider who downloads the newsletter often and also recognized me from PIM last fall.)
Additionally, two of our Striders' Centipedes won awards. The SMARTie Pede won the longest award and Andrea Chan's group won another (which helped celebrate her 40th birthday and movement into a new age bracket).
Perusing the results I also found the following notes of interest:
Houston Mayor Bill White -- 1:09:15.6 (I saw his staffers in the finish line chute, but never saw him on the course anywhere. His back half was three minutes slower than his first 5K.)
Brandon Mendiola -- 48:43.5 (Brandon played baseball at Aldine Nimitz and attended the same church that I do. What's notable is that he clipped off significant time from the Rodeo Run where he notched a 53:13.25 time.)
Galena Park ISD AD Ed Warken -- 1:05:51.5 (His time at the Rodeo Run was 1:09:55.85.)
Local TV anchor Lisa Foronda -- 59:14.6
Pearland resident Trisha Blackburn -- 1:12:18.8 (Who I met at the RTW 5K Series)
The Bayou City Classic 10K was also the first race of the 2005 Texas 10K Challenge, which I may not try to complete this year after all. We'll see!
Seriously, a great crowd, great atmosphere and I had a decent run to boot. I'm pretty hard on myself, but I came in with conservative expectations and didn't disappoint myself too much. I finished in 59:31.2 (stop watch: 59:31.94). It was my third straight 10K under an hour after lowering the threshold three (3) times last fall from 1:04:03.65 (Rodeo Run) to 1:01:14.1 (Best Little 10K in Texas, La Grange).
It was also 26 seconds better than the Rodeo Run, which to me signals that my cardio and running is just as strong over a slightly tougher course.
And incredibly in this race, I walked too much. Now, to me, the novice, I don't know if that means I tried to push myself too hard and didn't necessarily notice it. And for the first time in a long time, I developed a side stitch right as I hit my watch at the mile 6 sign.
My splits were as follows:
Mile 1 - 9:02.02
Mile 2 - 9:04.69 (18:06.71)
Mile 3 - 9:38.26 (27:44.97)
5K - 29:18.24 (.1 of a mile covering 1:33.20 .. problem!)
Mile 4 - 9:26.07
Mile 5 - 10:29.47 (lost my shot at a PR here)
Mile 6 - 10:06.31
Last .2 - 1:45.45
Mile 1 felt good, even as I was finishing it going up one of the Memorial Drive inclines. I passed the water station at mile 1.5, but took a walk once I got past the mile 2 marker. I know I walked at least once more (never more than 52-56 steps) in mile 3 and another time before I hit the 5K marker. Mentally, I thought that I still had a shot at another PR with 29:18 at the half way point (double it, 58:36); however, I was also beating myself up for walking. The way the course is laid out, I think you get a nice mental boost after making the turn at Shepherd in hitting the mile 4 marker right after.
But the sun started to warm things up a little in mile 5 and that is where I lost my shot at a PR, I believe. I'm really not sure I remember walking anymore, but I do vividly remember feeling the salt crystalizing on my forehead which was a trigger to hit the water stop at mile 4.5 (I now remember not stopping at mile 5.5).
After the side stitch at mile 6, I got some energy making the last left hand turn towards the finish line when I saw a lot of the Houston Striders who competed in the centipede competition as well as seeing good friend, Karen Thibodeaux, at the finish line taking pictures!
Another reason why my pace picked up the last 1.2 miles is because I came up behind fellow Strider (and last fall's Fall PIM Fitness participant) Sophie Rydin. When we did the free Bear Creek 10K that the Striders put on the Sunday before the 20K, Clarence Silva and I watched Sophie pass us before the 3.1-mile turnaround. We both caught her on the biggest hill returning back towards Memorial and knew that she was on our heels a couple of times. (Clarence, with Megan Clark-Dillingham assisting, pushed ahead and "won" among the three of us that day while I made a charge to hold off Sophie when I heard her tell Lee Greb that she was going to try and catch me.)
Sophie's been running fairly well of late and had a nice steady pace going when I caught her, but I must admit that I did a little "middle of the pack racing". If I had said "Hi!" as I went by, she would probably have kicked into gear and given me a harder challenge (which actually is probably what I should have done for both of us ... so I'm guilty here perhaps of being a little .. or a lot .. selfish. Can we blame the hot sun?) Maybe this is why I felt so bad this morning. :)
Actually, there were four of us from our Fall PIM Fitness group that started the race together: Clarence, myself, Amy Parker and Becky Spaulding. None of us said anything to each other, but I figured Amy would come in first, Clarence next then myself and Becky. (Which during the half marathon in January, that would have been the order of finish. Amy was 1:58, Clarence was 2:12, I was at 2:18 and Becky finished in 2:34.)
I saw Amy take off and didn't see her again. I know I dodged about 4-5 walkers, started out strong and passed the 10-minute-per-mile Strider SMART centipede (the 99's, I think) with Loren Neufeld, Pam Paling, Lisa Ruthven and Whitney La Rocca (among others).
All I wanted to make sure of the whole race is that that centipede didn't catch me nor did Clarence although I wouldn't have been stunned if either had.
Our Fall PIM Fitness scorecard looked like this:
Amy Parker 56:52.2
Jon Walk 59:31.2
Sophie Rydin 1:00:47.7
Clarence Silva 1:01:13.7
Becky Spaulding 1:08:04.1
So all in all, I had a good race. According to the race scoring system (see "Evaluate Your Latest Run") that I measure my runs by, it was the third best run I've ever had.
After the race, I stayed around until close to 10:45 a.m. -- the latest ever! However, I had a good time socializing with tons of Striders and non-Striders. As I was going to check the results to see where I came in in the 226+ Clydesdales division, I saw and talked to Strider Jackie Connelly, who shattered the Striders female masters record at the hp Houston Marathon. She said that she had run almost exactly the same time as she had in the Rodeo Run two weeks earlier.
I visited at length with some individuals that are regulars at the Run The Woodlands 5K Series: Lou and Nora Wilson and Jim Harrington. I've seen Jim before but didn't know his name nor had I talked with him. Jim's a nice guy, who ran his first Boston Marathon last April in a heat-laden 3:51:17, but nailed a top 10% overall time on Saturday of 42:26.8. Lou, who is 68 and has run 7 marathons this season, finished in a sterling time of 55:46.2 but 9th in a deep 65-69 men's field.
After seeing Becky Spaulding in the post-race area, I had the pleasant surprise and pleasure of meeting Bernie Clinton, who was one of 24 Spring 2005 PIMsters that finished the Bayou City Classic 10K on Saturday. He had recognized me from the Striders newsletter, Stridelines, and wanted to say "Hello!" (He's a non-Strider who downloads the newsletter often and also recognized me from PIM last fall.)
Additionally, two of our Striders' Centipedes won awards. The SMARTie Pede won the longest award and Andrea Chan's group won another (which helped celebrate her 40th birthday and movement into a new age bracket).
Perusing the results I also found the following notes of interest:
Houston Mayor Bill White -- 1:09:15.6 (I saw his staffers in the finish line chute, but never saw him on the course anywhere. His back half was three minutes slower than his first 5K.)
Brandon Mendiola -- 48:43.5 (Brandon played baseball at Aldine Nimitz and attended the same church that I do. What's notable is that he clipped off significant time from the Rodeo Run where he notched a 53:13.25 time.)
Galena Park ISD AD Ed Warken -- 1:05:51.5 (His time at the Rodeo Run was 1:09:55.85.)
Local TV anchor Lisa Foronda -- 59:14.6
Pearland resident Trisha Blackburn -- 1:12:18.8 (Who I met at the RTW 5K Series)
The Bayou City Classic 10K was also the first race of the 2005 Texas 10K Challenge, which I may not try to complete this year after all. We'll see!
posted by WalkSports.com | 9:26 PM
1 Comments:
Nick:
Congrats to you on winning the Run The Woodlands 5K on Saturday. Nice job!
I'll look forward to meeting you either at the next RTW, if you run it again, or at the Bellaire Trolley Run 5K on April 2.
I'll look forward to your blog postings when you feel comfortable. I think there are things to be learned from excellent runners like Gabriel Rodriguez (who has his own); however, I'm learning that a lot don't like to talk about things for fear of coming off as elitist.
Even though I'll never be at your level, I'm sure that I can always learn something.
Thanks for commenting, Jon
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