CTS 782: Charles Harris 10K

The time'll do itself. All you gotta do is show up.
-T.I.

TUCKER, Ga. -- I gave myself every chance to skip out on the race. I stayed up late, giving myself little chance for sleep.

But in spite of myself, I woke up early. I got myself ready to run.

I ran this race five years ago and qualified for Time Group IA (10K of less than 50 minutes) of the Peachtree 10K.

This year I had a more modest goal -- a 10K of less than 55 minutes to qualify for Time Group IB.

Although my training runs have been pretty good, I wasn't running anywhere near the 8:45/mile pace on a consistent basis to be sure I'd qualify.

It was pretty cold outside. I bundled up and waited with everyone else in a church gym. But when I went outside I immediately had to use the restroom. The line for the portajohns was long.

I tried to ignore it and just did a warm-up run. But then I discovered a Kroger was on the other side of the road -- I made a bee line for there, and sure enough, there was no line and it was a regular bathroom. w00t.

When I got out, I really had to book it to the starting line. I got there in plenty of time, as the gun started three minutes late.

My first mile I did nine seconds under the time I needed. That time surplus grew to 44 seconds in the second mile, 58 seconds in the third and up to 1:26 in the fourth mile.

The last two miles, with a nice time lead, I decided to not push it too hard. I still gained another second for 1:27 in the fifth mile and another 22 seconds in the last mile, not to mention an extremely fast last two tenths of a mile.

So I was pretty happy with things. I wanted to run fast enough to qualify but not so fast I would burn myself out and have nothing left for the last two rolling hills of the course.

I wore a bunch of gear but quickly got rid of the hat and windbreaker. I've run plenty of races with that same windbreaker tied around my waist so it was ok. Shorts would have been nice but I've done a bunch of races with my North Face Ultrawick running pants so it was fine.

I was not sure about running in my pretty new pair of shoes (only about 50 miles on them) but they had felt pretty good recently and I opted for more padding instead of less with my AP/D1s that have 337 miles on them. The D2s were great.

So w00t. Pretty happy to make it on the first try. I will say that I need more 5-6 mile runs, as I could feel that my legs were not as strong as they should have been in the 4th mile of the race.

Time: 7:48 a.m.
Temp: 33 degrees
Race time: 52:47 (about 8:30/mile pace)
Gear: Windbreaker, CFLST (William's Run), SST (UNLV), North Face Ultrawick running pants, hat, gloves, AP/D2.