HMRRC Winter Series #3 10K - Race Report (Kinda)

While it was technically a race, I used the HMRRC Winter Series Race #3 (a 10K) completely as an opportunity to do a tempo run outdoors. Being a member of the Hudson Mohawk Road Runner's Club allows me to participate in any of their Winter Series races for FREE. How could I say no to that extra motivation to get my ass outdoors and workout?!?

 And they're off!..

Buuuuuut, before we get to the race...

[begin tangent]

Pre-race preparations technically began Saturday night where I proceeded to consume 3 aluminum bottles of a "beer" from a brand which will remain nameless for fear of embarrassment. Said beers were consumed while I was in attendance at my first ever LIVE Roller Derby Bout! Wow, that shit is intense and INCREDIBLY entertaining! Now, I don't have any previous knowledge or experience to compare this with (other than having an ex-gf who eventually started dating girls and now excels considerably at the derby), but I'd say our derby experience was a bit different than the norm. For starters, we got to listen to a great LIVE rock/punk/ska/alternative/whatever band the entire night! That made a world of difference in the energy and the mood of the whole arena. Secondly, the girls were surprisingly not as fat or butch as one might incorrectly assume, which makes for great ogling, as well as a strong advertisement for any male friends who might still be doubters. Unfortunately, our team, the Capital City Legislayers, lost big-time to The Empire Skate Troopers. Despite the outcome, it was a great way to spend a Saturday evening and I'll definitely do it again.

At this point in the evening, I was still doubtful that I would actually make it to the line the next morning to start the race. You see, earlier in the day I strained a muscle in my back pretty badly after I engaged my wife in a surprise rough-housing attack. I'll spare you the details, but the end result had me immediately short for breath and tumbling to the ground like a house of cards. This was around 11:30am, and I pretty much had to lay motionless on the ground until closer to 3:00pm, when the pain started showing signs of retreat. In the interim, however, I solicited the application of some ICY-HOT on the troubled spot. Not being able to find the icy-hot, my wife opted to instead bring out a bottle of Vick's Vaporub. Unbeknownst to me, she proceeded to rub vaporub all over my back.

...........!@!)*@()!*

As she was walking away, I noticed the unmistakable bottle in her hand and said "wtf?!?!" in so many words. She, of course, burst out laughing at being caught red-handed and then admitted to not being able to locate the icy-hot. A great laugh was had by all and I eventually directed her to the location of the actual icy-hot. Despite my killer back pain, my sinuses were crystal clear!

[end tangent]

Oh yeah, the race...

So, I was never convinced that my back would feel healed enough that I could actually run, let alone walk around the apartment doing normal everyday stuff. It turns out the beer/advil/ice/rest combo did enough of the trick to get me to the starting line the next morning. It was cold as F*CK though, and easily the coldest conditions I've ever run in. We started the run off at around 20-degrees with wind gusts of 15-25 mph throughout the entire race. NASTY!

 Our route around the SUNY campus.

No timing chips involved in this little community affair, so I was at the mercy of the start/finisher's clock, as well as the Garmin on my wrist. We got going and I warmed up a bit with Elaine so the crowd could start to thin out. Eventually it did and I took off ahead up the road. It was relatively uneventful from there until the finish. I passed a ton of people and was only passed by 3 or 4 people. I turned the jets on a bit at the end coming up a hill so that I could have the mental victory of passing 4 people whom I'd been trailing the whole race just before the finish line.

 I negative-split a tempo run - is that good or bad?

After the race, we could go inside the local university (SUNY) and enjoy free fruit, hot-chocolate and hot vegetable soup! Ahhh..... (sorry, no pics!)

My goal was for this to be a tempo-run with an 8:30 min/mile pace. I finished with an 8:32 pace so I'll call it a success. Onto training week #2!

52:46, 64th Place