Easter seals 10K run 2011

On Sunday May 29th, 2011 I ran my first 10K road race.  It was a charity event founded by Joe Persechini to raise money for the Easter Seals foundation.   Easter Seals is an organization which helps raise money for kids with disabilities.  It helps families buy things like wheel chairs and other equipment which is needed to help kids with disabilities.  The organization also raises money to help them attend special functions across Ontario.  Special functions such as summer camps for kids with disabilities.  The 10K run is one of three events, including a 5K run and walk. 

It was a cloudy day, but good for running.  It had been raining in the morning, and the race was set to start at 8:15am.  So by the time the horn went off, it was still fairly cool and running was comfortable in the early morning weather. 

I was very excited about this race.  Even though I was not well trained for a 10K length, I knew I would be able to finish it.  I had a basic strategy that would probably help me get to the finish without having to walk.  My goal time was 1:05:00.  This was my fastest training time, however this was done on a "dead flat" course with no hills or turns.  Unfortunately by the time this race came along I had only run 10K 3 times in training and my times were:  1:07:15, 1:05:00 and 1:16:21. 

I was also using new shoes for this race, and I wasn't really convinced that I would be able to meet my goal time with these shoes.  My new shoes are a "barefoot" shoe and I had only used them on pavement once, and it resulted in a time of 1:16:21.  Although, I don't think the slow time had anything to do with the shoes because I had also run 1:05:00 on a flat, crushed gravel trail with the same shoes.  What I was nervous about was running faster on pavement; with these shoes it is almost as if you are running completely barefoot. 

After the horn went off, I started my watch and we were off.  The first 2K was a series of twists and turns through the mall parking lot which wasn't a lot of fun.  Everyone was a little cramped and I had to fight to keep within my first split pace range.  I had only ever done two road races before, and they were both 5Ks.  I remember this being a problem with these races as well.  I didn't see many other people looking at their watches, so I didn't get the impression that there were a lot of experienced runners in the crowd.  It was either that or I had started in the wrong position based on what my finishing time was.  Later I learned that the 5K race and the 10K race started at the same time, which explained a little bit of the chaos. 

The race was well marked, although it was more grueling than I thought it was going to be.  There were four very large, long hills that the 10K runners had to climb.  The race was also only one way which means the runners didn't get the benefit of the downhill on the way back.  The hills caused me problems sticking with my split times.  I ended up abandoning the strategy of looking at my watch and using RPE to try to monitor my effort.  One of the downfalls of running in a new race, is not knowing the course and planning your efforts accordingly.    I was lucky I still had gas in the tank by the third split, and even though my feet hurt, I was able to step on the gas and roll through the finish with a time of 1:01:39. 

Of course right after the race I had to get some caffeine into me as soon as possible.  I quickly ravished a piece of watermelon and made my way over to Starbucks to get a cup of tea.  By the time I arrived back at the finish line I was able to meet up with my friend Richard, who was waiting for me on his bike.

With the exception of the fact that I probably was in the wrong starting position when the race began, I feel I had a successful race.  I beat my goal time by 3min 21sec and was surprized by this because the course was so difficult.  I attribute this to the fact that I managed to adhere to my split pace range strategy using RPE (thankyou Trifuel members!)  Overall I finished 6/23 in my age category of W40-44.  There were 353 people in the 10K and about another 200 in the 5K, and we all started at the same time so it was a fairly large event for a charity race.  After the race my feet hurt quite bit, so I think I might look into buying another pair of shoes to use for races on pavement.  I noticed most of the people wearing normal running shoes but there were a few that had on marathon minimalist runners.  I was the only one who had on barefoot shoes, which didn't surprize me because the Newmarket running store doesn't carry them. 

I am looking foward to my next road race which will either be another 5K or 10K in July or a half marathon in October.  We'll see what happens.  Thank you Joe Persechini for a great Sunday race!