Looking at upcoming Thanksgiving Day races I decided to run the Fast Before the Feast 10k in White Bear Lake, MN. I've done two other Thanksgiving Day races but wanted to tackle a new race this year. This would be my first "up tempo" race since my last 10k more than 7 months ago. The way my race schedule laid out last year along with my injuries, I had not done any up-tempo training or stride workouts for months. With one month to get ready for this race I injected tempo and stride runs back into my workouts. It felt good to run fast again...and injury free. November weather in Minnesota has been unusually mild and snow free which aided my training in that I was able to run outdoors all month when normally I am back indoors on my treadmill for my shorter weekday runs.
Race day couldn't have been better for this time of year. Sunny and 45 degrees. There was a 10mph breeze from the south, but I wasn't going to complain about that with the warm temps and dry track. Last year's Thanksgiving Day race was on a sheet of packed snow and ice with much colder temps and stronger winds. Today's weather was perfect. The warm temps brought out large numbers of race day entrants, so they delayed the start about 15 minutes. There were about 350 runners in my race compared to about 150 last year.
The 10k race was an out and back race with the first 3 miles heading mostly south and into the wind. It also had a few more uphill than downhill stretches but nothing significant. I felt good as I reached the turn-around, maintaining a 6:35/mile pace over the first 3 miles. As I began my return back to the finish, I had two things going for me - a tail wind and more downhill than uphill running. It made a difference as my mile splits improved to 6:20/mile.
There was also a 5k race that started 15 minutes after ours with over 700 runners in that one. They ran a different course but both races merged together with about a mile to go, using the same finishing route. As they merged with us the road was suddenly packed with slower foot traffic as the faster 5k runners had already passed this point.
I must have passed over 200 slower 5k runners over the last mile as I weaved my way through and around them on my way to the finish. I finished with a time of 39:58. I came in 14th overall among 327 finishers and 1st of 14 in my age group. This was my 3rd fastest 10k time and the 3rd time I broke 40 minutes in this distance. I felt great about my race, although I think the distance was about 0.1 miles short of regulation based on the distance my Garmin was indicating.
My next race will be the Polar Dash 10k in Minneapolis on New Year's Day morning. I ran this race back in 2010. It was very cold which is no surprise for January in Minnesota. Maybe our mild November will hang on for a few more months. Then again, I doubt it. Winter running is something I tolerate, but don't enjoy very much on those brutally cold and windy mornings. Just thinking about it makes me already look forward to next spring.
Race Results:
http://www.andersonraces.com/events/events-detail.php?intResourceID=167
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