ATC Resolution Run 10K – 01/01/09
“Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” William Shakespeare
Or, in runners’ terms …
“Be not afraid of going for a PR; some runners are born to set PRs, some achieve PRs through hard work, and others have a PR thrust upon them.”
On New Year’s Day, for the second year in a row, I set a PR at the Resolution Run 10K! However, this year I didn’t mean to, want to, or even try to! It was “thrust upon” me.
My oldest daughter came home for two weeks during the Holidays and I had planned on running this year’s Resolution Run with her. I love running with my girls! However, when New Year’s Day rolled around, I could not get Allison to “rise and shine”! I got up, got dressed, and tried to wake her up. Fail. So I ate breakfast, and then tried to wake her up. Fail. I walked the dog, and then tried to wake her up. Fail. Finally, I gave up and went to the race, arriving just before it started.
As I was walking around, registering, etc., I ran into a few fellow GUTS members. After exchanging, “what did you do for New Year’s” stories, we talked about the times we were all shooting for. I had not done any speed work in many months, and lately even my weekly mileage had been pitiful, so I told everybody I just wanted to run the race as a relaxing fun run. When we went to line up for the race I stayed back in the middle of the pack to allow the faster folks a clear path to glory.
The Atlanta Track Club’s Resolution Run is a 5K loop course. The course is not really hilly, but it does have several long inclines which are harder than they look. Both the 5K runners and the 10K’ers start at the same time and have the same finish line. The 10K’ers, obviously, run two loops. This joint start can lead to trouble for a 10K’er because it is very easy to get suckered into going out too fast with the 5K runners. I know it’s easy, because it happens to me every year! Last year I trained for, and really tried to run a PR. I did! (41:51) … but it was a painful experience. I started too fast (dang those 5K’ers!) and suffered throughout the last couple of miles as I tried to keep up the pace. This year, even though I wanted to start slow, run slow, and end slow, I was sucked along with the 5K’ers once again.
I ran the first mile in 6:32. That pace was at least a minute faster than I had intended and in my head all I could hear was, “Dang those 5K’ers! I let them push me out too fast again!” But then I figured … what the heck! The damage was done! I might as well see how long I can hang on! I was surprised at how relaxed I felt. The long inclines slowed me a little, and I settled into a 6:45 or so pace. I finished the first loop in 20:55, briefly thought about being on PR pace and/or finishing in under 42 (the time needed to be “sub-seeded” at the Peachtree Road Race), but fully expected I would slow down on the second loop.
It never happened! In fact, I ran a negative split! And I’m not even sure how! With about a mile to go it dawned on me that I was pretty sure I would finish in under 42 and, unless the wheels came off, I had a pretty dang good shot at a PR. I tried to pick up the pace but I didn’t feel like I was all that successful. I wanted to have a big finishing kick, but when the time came I just didn’t have the energy. I even got passed in the last tenth of mile, something which normally would cause me to dig down for that last ounce of energy to fight off the attack, but on this day I just didn’t have it. The weird thing is, somehow I crossed the finish line all used up, nothing left for a kick, and at the same time, felt like I had, in fact, run the “relaxing fun run” I had intended from the start. Could it be I finally ran, what for me and my limited ability, was the perfect 
race?
Final tally: 41:38, a PR, 9th out of 58 in my age group (45-49), 51st out of 329 Men, and 56th out of 509 Total Runners.
Kudos to Joe Gibson of Big Peach Running Company for coming in 2nd overall with a time of 34:56!
