Northern Lakes Run 10 Mile - May 14, 2011

This was my second time running the Northern Lakes Run 10 Mile event in White Bear Lake, MN.  Ran it back in 2008 as well.  It's a nice course that takes you counter clockwise around Bald Eagle Lake.  I haven't entered too many 10 miles races.  Only two previous, with the last being two years ago.  The weather was cool (45 degrees) but warmest race so far this year!  Winds were from the north with a light "off and on" drizzle.  The poor weather has also kept race participation down this spring.  There were less than 200 runners in this one which was a bit surprising as this is a fairly popular race...at least among men in their 50's.  More on that later.      

The race began just north of the high school heading south for a few blocks before turning north again toward the lake.  Winds were from the north at about 10 mph, in our face for the first 3-4 miles, but nothing like the winds I experienced in my prior two races.  The runners quickly thinned out with the small field today.  I wanted to run a time around 1:08 which would be 3 minutes faster than my prior best 10 time at this distance.  I settled into a 6:45/mile pace and found myself running behind a gentleman in my age group that I have crossed paths with in prior races.  He was running the same pace, so I decided to let him lead the way as he is a grinder who does a good job keeping a strong steady pace through the race.

Around the 4 mile mark it settled into a 3 person pack.  The leaders opened up a gap on the 3 of us while we opened up a gap on the field behind us.  I continued to be the follower, making sure I didn't lose contact as the miles went by.  My friend was doing a great job keeping us on pace each mile so all I had to do was make sure I didn't let a gap grow between us.  Miles 5-6 took us south along the west side of the lake with the wind to our backs.  I was surprised to suddenly hear footsteps behind me as I thought we had created separation with those behind, but a young runner in his mid 20's caught us and now there were 4 in our pack.

Miles 7 and 8 took us east along the south side of the lake and back into a bit of a headwind.  The four of us began to close on a runner in front of us who I later discovered was also in my age group.  The 5 of us were running together as a pack with nobody else in site ahead or behind.  At the 8 mile mark the course took us up a hill and then turned south toward the finish line.  The pace remained strong and I began wondering how this would play out among the 5 of us over the final 2 miles.  Would one of us make a move and try to break away from the pack?  I knew it wasn't going to be me.  I was spent.  My hope was to stay in contact with the others and try to make one final push with 400 meters to go to hopefully surprise the others.  

Our 5 person pack held together through mile 8 with some minor jockeying for position but at the 9 mile mark one of the two young guys dropped back leaving four of us.  3 guys in their 50's and a 25 year old (first picture below).  We turned south on Division St which is a straight shot to the finish line a little over a half mile away.  I had been mentally gearing up all race to make one last push as we neared the finish line.  I made sure I was stayed behind the pack so as not to give them an idea that I might have a kick left.  Then with 400 meters to go I took off.  I quickly created some separation from the other three and thought I was home free, but with 100 meters to go the young guy caught and passed me.  My 400 meter kick came up 100 meters short as I simply was out of gas.  However I was fortunate enough to hold off my two age group buddies who were right behind me as we entered the chute.    

I finished with a time of 1:07:07 (6:43 pace).  My best 10 mile time by over 4 minutes.  Overall I finished 13th among 151 runners and 4th among 14 in my age group.  A very strong age group I might add.  6 of the top 15 finishers were in the 50-59 year age group and the top two in my age group ran national class age group times finishing 2nd and 3rd overall in the race.

Race results:
http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=18886