The Bethel 10k Race

I set out to run this race with two goals in mind. #1, beat last year’s time, which was a 58:32 or something close to that & #2, get as close to 55 minutes as possible. I am happy to report that I met my two goals!

Got checked in this morning and got the bib number pinned on my OAR race shirt, drank some more water and went for a quick warm up run. Finished my 1.3 mile trip around the walking track and get ready for the race. It was nice having about a half hour between warm up and race start, it gave me time to cool off and focus. I had a feeling I would be posting a time really close to what my second goal was after running the warm up.

When the race started I felt like I was running slow, but wanted to ease into the first mile and pick up the pace only after the first mile was behind me. As I approached mile 1 I felt like I was gliding along at a pretty average pace, but when the GPS told me I was running an 8:46 mile pace I knew I wasn’t going so slow! Kept going and pushed myself a little on mile 2, which I ran an 8:12. I was at that point nearly a whole minute below my target pace of 9:03, but kept cruising along. By the time I hit mile 4 I had decided I should back off a bit to regain some strength for the finish.

Getting back into town gave me a slight burst of energy and I knew when I was passing my house that I was going to at least beat last year’s time. Saw the wife & kids as I passed and made the turn towards the finish. At mile 6 the GPS gave me a reading that was, in my mind, off the charts! I still had two whole minutes to run the last .2 mile to beat my second goal - I knew I had it in the bag. Or so I thought.

This race is divided between runners (10k) and walkers (5k). I didn’t figure any of the walkers would come into play because they started a minute behind the runners. However, as I crested the hill just before the finish line I saw the horror of it all! I ran smack in the back of a wall of walkers. I couldn’t even run to the finish line, I was forced to walk the last 15 - 20 yards because there was no way to get around them and still make it into the chute. I lost somewhere between 10 - 15 seconds right at the finish due to walkers.

It wasn’t all bad though. In spite of having to walk the finish I still made the 6.2 mile trek in under 55 minutes. When I walked past the time clock it read 54:55, five seconds below what I set my second goal. With that finish I was happy. I knocked 3.5 minutes off of last year’s race time, which is a pretty big feat in a 10k race. And after a few minutes I was able to walk normally again. Free water, free pizza, free ice cream, and lots of fruit helped get me back on track.

During the run I had thought there was no way I was going to win my age division again, as I had last year. However, quite to my surprise, some of the guys running were either older or younger than me - ones I had picked to beat me and take the age group. I somehow managed to get another medal for this one, two years running.

It was a fun race, a good race, and a personal record race. I am more than happy with the results and based on this, I know I am improving through all the training.

Official results haven't been posted yet, but I'm pretty sure my guess will be within a couple of seconds.