Tesoro March Point Run 10K Race Report

I'm in Portland, Oregon (Hillsboro, to be exact) this evening as I will be running in the Harvest Days Milk Run 10-Miler Sunday morning in Battleground, Washington.

Now ... about today's 12th annual Tesoro Refining Corporation March Point Run 10K in Anacortes, Washington (which is about 15 minutes west on I-5 from Bellingham.)

When this is the second time that I've actually laced up the running shoes in the last two weeks, it is wise not to go setting high expectations and I didn't. Without knowing completely what the course was going to be, I wanted to go out the first mile, see how I felt and then work to maintain even splits throughout the race from there.

The one interesting thing about this event is that it started on the grounds of an old Shell refinery (that is now owned by Tesoro). We ran outside of the plant and on country-like roads around the exterior of the plant and very lightly-populated residential areas around it.

The scenery with water all around the exterior of the course was absolutely incredible. Sarah would have had a field day from a photography standpoint - especially given that she didn't feel well enough (in time) to run the Lunar Rendezvous Run.

My time? It was an unimpressive 1:03:52.51, but I'm not beating myself up about it -and- I'm not unhappy about it. There were some positives (including a 6th place age group - 30-39 - ribbon). (I am NOT jumping for joy over that! The guy who won 5th looked like a pretty good runner; therefore, 6th I was.) However, when you take some time off, this is the net result.

Mile 1 -- 10:03.23 -- I was completely prepared to, use the overused analogy, simply "run within myself". The first part of this mile had a gentle downhill that went out of the plant to March Point Road. However, I knew that if I tried to gun it early that I'd be walking more than just to get water later in the race. Right around mile 1, I passed the lady who won the 70-and-older division (the only competitor too BUT she got a $20 gas card for winning her age group!) I felt like I ran this mile at about 85% of maximum effort.

Mile 2 -- 11:47.15 -- What happened here? A hill. A nice big hill that was approximately a half mile long. I took a picture - uh, not while running - and when I get the photo CD back, I'll post it. A lot of people in front of me walked a good bit of it. I made it through the first half, laughed to think that somebody local actually ran that course once in 31:50-change, walked a little and got to the top of the hill (where they had a water stop right past the marker!)

Mile 3 -- 9:25.00 -- I started to think about Sean Wade's comments about the Boilermaker 15k and how he said that he is strong on the downhill. I tried to lengthen out my stride and push a little. I passed about 6-8 people in this mile alone (including the woman who was 3rd in the 50-59 age group that took home a trophy.) This mile was probably right at 95% of maximum effort. I didn't want to go as hard as I possibly could after not running since last Saturday.

Mile 4 -- 10:22.96 -- Not sure what happened here. I took water just after the mile 3 marker; however, I didn't feel like I slowed down. The sun started to come out. (The race started at 61-62 degrees, but the sun - with no clouds like the Vancouver Half - made it feel warmer. When I finished, it was just around 67 degrees.) The course was completely flat until before we turned into the plant at the end of mile 6. In fact, I'm not even sure I remember where the marker was, but I do remember that this was a 95% of maximum effort mile.

Mile 5 -- 10:08.25 -- I picked off a couple of people in this mile and this even included taking 30 seconds - still moving - to take on water. I think it was during this mile that I was thinking about Chris Rampacek's article in Health and Fitness Magazine about, "Are you an economical runner?" I tried to be more relaxed and remembered when I've seen Chris run recently - at the Houston Marathon - and that he doesn't waste a lot of energy by running with reckless abandon. I remember thinking that this mile was really only at about 90% of maximum effort (i.e. I didn't feel like I was pushing it).

Mile 6 -- 10:21.81 -- This had a little bit of a crest at the mile 5 marker, but nothing serious. We went back up the gentle downhill that we started with in mile 1, but I was able to run it. The first .2 of a mile was 2:01.52 and the last .8 was 8:20.29. I slowed a little bit around the 5-mile marker. (I actually felt good again in this mile and felt like it was a 90-95% of maximum effort.)

The last .2 -- 1:44.11 -- I tried to turn it up a notch to keep the three people that I passed in the last half mile from catching me. One really put on a hellacious sprint in the last tenth of a mile. There was nothing I could do about that. This equates to a 8:41 per mile pace - which to means that I was able to leave a little in the tank. Now what I need to do is get consistent, get the miles in, shed even just a couple of pounds that I put back on when I was home last week, and I have a good approach for the next 10k (where I'll be able to push a little harder.)

Like I said, I'll take it. 10-Miler tomorrow. Another new town. Another new course. Always fun and I get to see the country doing it! (I was going to do another half in Fort Langley, BC, but online registration ended Wednesday night. And I hadn't made up my mind. I would have had to have paid cash, which I don't carry a ton of to convert when I'm in Canada. So it was come down here and have some fun. Plus I get to stop in at Powell's Book Store tomorrow in downtown Portland.)

Overall, this event was great. They had a guy who was actually pretty witty and funny with a microphone (i.e. he had a personality and knew how to use it!) With it being an oil company, they gave out all kinds of awards and t-shirts, gardening/work gloves, trinkets ... you name it.

Hot dogs and drinks and the rest of the regular runner's replenishment fare. They had a country band! Gotta love that being from Texas!

And I actually saw a couple of guys there today that I had talked to three weeks ago at the Berry Dairy Days 10K in nearby Burlington. (And, yes, I think that this course was right on the money this time!)