Berry Dairy Days 10K Race Report
I drove about 45 minutes south of the U.S.-Canada border on Saturday morning to Burlington, Washington for the Berry Dairy Days 10K, which was being put on by the town's Parks and Recreation Department in conjunction with the Skagit Runners.
It was a $10 entry fee. (If you wanted the race T-shirt, it was an additional $10. However, you weren't obligated to it and we all know with me doing 172 races since January 2003, that I have had enough race t-shirts.) I was going to register early, but active.com was adding a $3 processing fee. I decided that I would just wait until race day and eat up some of the cash I had with me on the trip.
I got across the border without any problems heading south, made my way down I-5 to town and found where the race was going to start at. When I filled out the entry blank, of course, I got the question, "You're really from Texas?" One woman at the registration table said that she had family in San Antonio, but didn't know where Houston was. I politely explained. :)
I milled around for up to an hour when the race was to start at 9 a.m. I was going to wear my Brooks Beast, but I had brought along my Asics Fortitude and put them on. I've been running well in them and I seem to have a pretty steady pace with them. (Don't ask me why. Just sort of how I feel with them on.) I warmed up and felt pretty good even though I had walked more on Friday then I normally do. Other than the normal almost 2.5 miles to and from work, I walked three (3) at lunch and added some to pick my packet up for the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon on Sunday.
It was still fairly cool, but I sensed that it might warm up a little bit. There were lots of runners also doing the 2-mile run. (In fact, there were 172 finishers in the 2-mile run and 96 in the 10K.) I put myself back to where I thought I need to be. It didn't take but a second or two to cross the start line, which was accompanied by the ringing of a loud bell. (Think the Liberty Bell and you'll be right on!)
The race was straight down the middle of Fairhaven Road, which ran right through town. When we finished coming back into town (as it was an out-and-back), there would be lots more people waiting for the start of the parade that was to be held in conjunction with the 69th annual Berry Dairy Days.
Before I get to the splits, I, unfortunately, think that the course was short. I have an e-mail into the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Skagit Runners. I looked on the USATF website and the course isn't certified (and it wasn't advertised as such).
Mile 1 -- 9:06.96
I looked at my watch and thought that it seemed fast, because I didn't feel that I was working at a close to sub 9-minute per pace. Even though I was hydrated coming down, I passed the water stop at mile 1 because it was past the turnaround for the 2-milers.
Mile 2 -- 9:58.91 (19:05.87)
When I crossed this spot in the road, I thought to myself that the slip shouldn't have been that much because I really didn't feel myself slowing down that much. I felt that my pace was fairly consistent. It was in this mile that an older gentleman came up along side of me, said "Hello!", commented on how nice it was and I thought was going to talk a lot. I was like Lisa said once in her blog, "I'll talk later. I'm trying to breathe." I hated to be rude, but I sped up to discourage the continuation of it.
Mile 3 -- 9:42.69 (28:47.56)
Right before I got to the mile 3 marker, two women came up along side of me (after I had passed a few runners) and one remarked that I had a nice pace. I thought that they didn't know half of the story! I was looking forward to the turnaround and the water stop. I'm doing the math here and I'm thinking 28:47 plus almost another minute and that I'm slow at the turnaround on my 5K time.
Turnaround -- 44.00 (29:31.56)
But when I get to the turnaround, I'm surprised that it is 29:31. I thought for a 5K, "OK, that's not too bad." Going out we had the sun in our face, but the wind at our backs. I had to hit the water stop shortly after to make sure I had enough left.
Mile 4 -- 9:14.22 (38:45.78)
When I went through the 4 mile marker on the way out, I (thinking it was a pure out and back, being equidistant) calculated that it was 20:50 for the first 2.2 miles. Therefore, I needed to be back at mile 4 by 39:10 to have a shot at breaking an hour. I felt like I picked the pace up a little bit, but the mile shows a total time of 9:58.22. Still I felt like I had a shot.
Mile 5 -- 10:06.41 (48:52.19)
I felt like I was keeping the pace up fairly solid, but when I got to the 5-mile marker, which was just before the water stop (I think), it was clear from the time that I had slowed and put the sub 1-hour in jeopardy.
Mile 5.2 -- 2:10.86 (51:03.05) - 1 mile marker from the start
This was just beyond the water stop, but I don't think that it was also a mile from the finish. So this distance, if accurate, would indicate that I was at a 10:54 pace (which might be right because I took on water and walked a little).
Mile 5.7 -- 4:42.35 (55:45.40) - 1/2 mile marker from the start
I knew that there was a half mile marker in the road from going out so I thought I would hit it and see how I was hanging in there. This would indicate, if measured correctly, that I was now running at a 9:24 pace. I was trying to push it so it is very plausible.
Mile 6 -- 3:05.87 (58:51.27)
But when I passed the mile 6 marker, this would indicate that I had slowed back down to a 10:20 pace for three tenths of a mile and a total mile time of 9:59.08 - which is realistic if mile 5 was accurate at 10:06.
Mile .2 -- 56.28 (59:47.55) -- I don't think so. Maybe for a .1 of a mile.
Also I was doing the math of a 9-minute mile over two-tenths of a mile in my head. I'm telling myself 58:51 and 1:48 is going to be an hour and some change. I was rationalizing this as an improvement from three weeks before when I ran a 1:00:17 on a downhill course in cooler temps. But to cover two-tenths of a mile in 56.28 seconds? I don't think so. I saw an older runner who was warming up before the race that I recognized to be someone who knew what they were doing. I asked him his thoughts and he said that his last split was 41 seconds for the "last .2".
It's disappointing to walk away from a very well-run, well-managed event with good people, a nice community and a great atmosphere (including free strawberry shortcake at the finish) and feel that you were jobbed out of knowing how well you really had done.
Otherwise, I had a great time and this was a fun event that I'd do again!
Here's the note that I received on Monday morning from Steve with the Skagit Runners via e-mail:
I asked Keefer Whan about the course on Saturday morning because I thought the course was long 2 years ago. He insisted that the course was the correct distance and that somebody put the turnaround cone in the wrong spot 2 years ago. I also noticed 2 years ago that the last "0.2" was very short, but I didn't see a 6 mile marker this year, so Ididn't get a split there. However, the last 1.2 miles was suspiciously fast for me. I am inclined to believe that the course is close to 6.2 miles, but since he just drives the course before the race and drops the mile markers (probably according to his odometer) that the milemarkers are off a little bit (it's unusual that they would be long unless he is using the wrong tire size on his car).
So I guess the best answer that I can give is that the course is not certified and I don't know how the course was measured, but looking at the times of the people that I know, I think the course was pretty close to being right, but the mile markers were probably off (it appears that they were long by a little bit which added up at the end). We did talk about measuring the 5 mile marker from the finish with my wheel before the race, but Keefer said it wasn't necessary. I'm not sure what prompted the discussion as I had not arrived at the race yet.
This probably doesn't help much but it's the best I can do without measuring it myself. If I ran a PR on that course, I would probably count it.
Steve
Skagit Runners
It was a $10 entry fee. (If you wanted the race T-shirt, it was an additional $10. However, you weren't obligated to it and we all know with me doing 172 races since January 2003, that I have had enough race t-shirts.) I was going to register early, but active.com was adding a $3 processing fee. I decided that I would just wait until race day and eat up some of the cash I had with me on the trip.
I got across the border without any problems heading south, made my way down I-5 to town and found where the race was going to start at. When I filled out the entry blank, of course, I got the question, "You're really from Texas?" One woman at the registration table said that she had family in San Antonio, but didn't know where Houston was. I politely explained. :)
I milled around for up to an hour when the race was to start at 9 a.m. I was going to wear my Brooks Beast, but I had brought along my Asics Fortitude and put them on. I've been running well in them and I seem to have a pretty steady pace with them. (Don't ask me why. Just sort of how I feel with them on.) I warmed up and felt pretty good even though I had walked more on Friday then I normally do. Other than the normal almost 2.5 miles to and from work, I walked three (3) at lunch and added some to pick my packet up for the Scotiabank Vancouver Half Marathon on Sunday.
It was still fairly cool, but I sensed that it might warm up a little bit. There were lots of runners also doing the 2-mile run. (In fact, there were 172 finishers in the 2-mile run and 96 in the 10K.) I put myself back to where I thought I need to be. It didn't take but a second or two to cross the start line, which was accompanied by the ringing of a loud bell. (Think the Liberty Bell and you'll be right on!)
The race was straight down the middle of Fairhaven Road, which ran right through town. When we finished coming back into town (as it was an out-and-back), there would be lots more people waiting for the start of the parade that was to be held in conjunction with the 69th annual Berry Dairy Days.
Before I get to the splits, I, unfortunately, think that the course was short. I have an e-mail into the Parks and Recreation Department as well as the Skagit Runners. I looked on the USATF website and the course isn't certified (and it wasn't advertised as such).
Mile 1 -- 9:06.96
I looked at my watch and thought that it seemed fast, because I didn't feel that I was working at a close to sub 9-minute per pace. Even though I was hydrated coming down, I passed the water stop at mile 1 because it was past the turnaround for the 2-milers.
Mile 2 -- 9:58.91 (19:05.87)
When I crossed this spot in the road, I thought to myself that the slip shouldn't have been that much because I really didn't feel myself slowing down that much. I felt that my pace was fairly consistent. It was in this mile that an older gentleman came up along side of me, said "Hello!", commented on how nice it was and I thought was going to talk a lot. I was like Lisa said once in her blog, "I'll talk later. I'm trying to breathe." I hated to be rude, but I sped up to discourage the continuation of it.
Mile 3 -- 9:42.69 (28:47.56)
Right before I got to the mile 3 marker, two women came up along side of me (after I had passed a few runners) and one remarked that I had a nice pace. I thought that they didn't know half of the story! I was looking forward to the turnaround and the water stop. I'm doing the math here and I'm thinking 28:47 plus almost another minute and that I'm slow at the turnaround on my 5K time.
Turnaround -- 44.00 (29:31.56)
But when I get to the turnaround, I'm surprised that it is 29:31. I thought for a 5K, "OK, that's not too bad." Going out we had the sun in our face, but the wind at our backs. I had to hit the water stop shortly after to make sure I had enough left.
Mile 4 -- 9:14.22 (38:45.78)
When I went through the 4 mile marker on the way out, I (thinking it was a pure out and back, being equidistant) calculated that it was 20:50 for the first 2.2 miles. Therefore, I needed to be back at mile 4 by 39:10 to have a shot at breaking an hour. I felt like I picked the pace up a little bit, but the mile shows a total time of 9:58.22. Still I felt like I had a shot.
Mile 5 -- 10:06.41 (48:52.19)
I felt like I was keeping the pace up fairly solid, but when I got to the 5-mile marker, which was just before the water stop (I think), it was clear from the time that I had slowed and put the sub 1-hour in jeopardy.
Mile 5.2 -- 2:10.86 (51:03.05) - 1 mile marker from the start
This was just beyond the water stop, but I don't think that it was also a mile from the finish. So this distance, if accurate, would indicate that I was at a 10:54 pace (which might be right because I took on water and walked a little).
Mile 5.7 -- 4:42.35 (55:45.40) - 1/2 mile marker from the start
I knew that there was a half mile marker in the road from going out so I thought I would hit it and see how I was hanging in there. This would indicate, if measured correctly, that I was now running at a 9:24 pace. I was trying to push it so it is very plausible.
Mile 6 -- 3:05.87 (58:51.27)
But when I passed the mile 6 marker, this would indicate that I had slowed back down to a 10:20 pace for three tenths of a mile and a total mile time of 9:59.08 - which is realistic if mile 5 was accurate at 10:06.
Mile .2 -- 56.28 (59:47.55) -- I don't think so. Maybe for a .1 of a mile.
Also I was doing the math of a 9-minute mile over two-tenths of a mile in my head. I'm telling myself 58:51 and 1:48 is going to be an hour and some change. I was rationalizing this as an improvement from three weeks before when I ran a 1:00:17 on a downhill course in cooler temps. But to cover two-tenths of a mile in 56.28 seconds? I don't think so. I saw an older runner who was warming up before the race that I recognized to be someone who knew what they were doing. I asked him his thoughts and he said that his last split was 41 seconds for the "last .2".
It's disappointing to walk away from a very well-run, well-managed event with good people, a nice community and a great atmosphere (including free strawberry shortcake at the finish) and feel that you were jobbed out of knowing how well you really had done.
Otherwise, I had a great time and this was a fun event that I'd do again!
Here's the note that I received on Monday morning from Steve with the Skagit Runners via e-mail:
I asked Keefer Whan about the course on Saturday morning because I thought the course was long 2 years ago. He insisted that the course was the correct distance and that somebody put the turnaround cone in the wrong spot 2 years ago. I also noticed 2 years ago that the last "0.2" was very short, but I didn't see a 6 mile marker this year, so Ididn't get a split there. However, the last 1.2 miles was suspiciously fast for me. I am inclined to believe that the course is close to 6.2 miles, but since he just drives the course before the race and drops the mile markers (probably according to his odometer) that the milemarkers are off a little bit (it's unusual that they would be long unless he is using the wrong tire size on his car).
So I guess the best answer that I can give is that the course is not certified and I don't know how the course was measured, but looking at the times of the people that I know, I think the course was pretty close to being right, but the mile markers were probably off (it appears that they were long by a little bit which added up at the end). We did talk about measuring the 5 mile marker from the finish with my wheel before the race, but Keefer said it wasn't necessary. I'm not sure what prompted the discussion as I had not arrived at the race yet.
This probably doesn't help much but it's the best I can do without measuring it myself. If I ran a PR on that course, I would probably count it.
Steve
Skagit Runners
posted by WalkSports.com | 1:34 PM
1 Comments:
Nice race Jon.
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