Pikes Peek 10k Race Report
Race morning started out as it normally does... ready the night before... clothes out... all I had to do was get dressed and eat my bowl of oatmeal before I scooted on out of the house. Since it was a point to point race... my dad drove me to Shady Grove metro where the race started and then made his way down to White Flint Mall to see the finish.
Shortly after arriving at Shady Grove... my dad took a few pictures before heading down The Pike to White Flint for the finish. As I warming up I could alread feel the heat rising from the street. It was sure warm for 7:30 in the morning. I knew it was going to be a hot race. After my warm up I staged myself in the second corral... leaving 1 minute after the really fast runners. I talked to the guys standing next to me... telling them how this reminded me all to much of the middle of the summer Texas heat. After final instructions it was race time. About a minute after the first corral left... it as my turn. Take your marks... get set... GO!
The first part of the race... about a quater of a mile or so took us on one road... to then make the final turn of the race... onto the northbound lanes of the Pike. My first mile was way to fast... but I felt good and kept running at that pace. Every half mile there was a sign was sign for either "half mile" or "mile whatever we were at". The first aide station was 2 1/2 miles into the race. I was already getting dehyrdrated so I gulped to big cups of water... then doused myself with two more. As the race headed south on The Pike... the temperature felt like it was rising more and more. I hit the halfway point at a decent 23:13... I was well on my way to a PR for sure. That all changed quickly. Once I hit mile 4... the heat started getting to me and I started to slow quickly. I wasn't wearing my Garmin so I had no idea what my pace was between each mile marker... all I knew was I was getting slower and slower... and it was getting hotter and hotter. At this point those around me were walking... that's what I wanted to do... but I couldn't... I had to keep running my way to the finish. Once we got further south on The Pike and closer to the finish I recognized where we were... I knew it was still aways till the finish but all the shopping centers were familiar. Unlike described... the course wasn't all that downhill... lots of flat... lots of little ups in the road. With about a fourth of a mile to go I saw some guy go down. It was quite scary. I slowed down to see if he needed any help but there were so many around him along with med help on the way... so I continued on. Finally, with a few hundreths of a mile to go... the steepest downhill of the race. I ran as fast as I could into the finish. Boy was I more than happy to be done.
Then it was normal post race stuff... watching kids races... eating food... good times.
Overall very unique and fun race. Will definitely do it again the future. Hoping though it won't be as hot the next time around!
More to come..
Shortly after arriving at Shady Grove... my dad took a few pictures before heading down The Pike to White Flint for the finish. As I warming up I could alread feel the heat rising from the street. It was sure warm for 7:30 in the morning. I knew it was going to be a hot race. After my warm up I staged myself in the second corral... leaving 1 minute after the really fast runners. I talked to the guys standing next to me... telling them how this reminded me all to much of the middle of the summer Texas heat. After final instructions it was race time. About a minute after the first corral left... it as my turn. Take your marks... get set... GO!
The first part of the race... about a quater of a mile or so took us on one road... to then make the final turn of the race... onto the northbound lanes of the Pike. My first mile was way to fast... but I felt good and kept running at that pace. Every half mile there was a sign was sign for either "half mile" or "mile whatever we were at". The first aide station was 2 1/2 miles into the race. I was already getting dehyrdrated so I gulped to big cups of water... then doused myself with two more. As the race headed south on The Pike... the temperature felt like it was rising more and more. I hit the halfway point at a decent 23:13... I was well on my way to a PR for sure. That all changed quickly. Once I hit mile 4... the heat started getting to me and I started to slow quickly. I wasn't wearing my Garmin so I had no idea what my pace was between each mile marker... all I knew was I was getting slower and slower... and it was getting hotter and hotter. At this point those around me were walking... that's what I wanted to do... but I couldn't... I had to keep running my way to the finish. Once we got further south on The Pike and closer to the finish I recognized where we were... I knew it was still aways till the finish but all the shopping centers were familiar. Unlike described... the course wasn't all that downhill... lots of flat... lots of little ups in the road. With about a fourth of a mile to go I saw some guy go down. It was quite scary. I slowed down to see if he needed any help but there were so many around him along with med help on the way... so I continued on. Finally, with a few hundreths of a mile to go... the steepest downhill of the race. I ran as fast as I could into the finish. Boy was I more than happy to be done.
Then it was normal post race stuff... watching kids races... eating food... good times.
Overall very unique and fun race. Will definitely do it again the future. Hoping though it won't be as hot the next time around!
More to come..
Comments
Congrats, still a very good showing. Sub 8 miles is always a treat!
xoxo