Two days ago, in Grand Prairie, Texas, I did my second footrace of the fall. On Labor Day, as you may recall, I did a 5K race in Fort Worth. This past Saturday, I did a 10K race. I hadn't run more than 4.3 miles at a time since 28 February, when I did the Cowtown Half Marathon. I run three times a week during the summer months, but at distances of 2.0, 3.1, or 4.3 miles. Now that cool weather is here, I'll be increasing the distance of my training runs to 4.3 or 6.6 miles. I hope to do two or three half marathons this fall and winter. I did four a year ago and had fun.
The race went well. Weather conditions were perfect. It was dry and overcast, with a temperature in the low 50s. We've had a lot of rain in these parts for the past month, so it was nice to have a window of dryness. I've done the Lake Joe Pool 10K many times, but not since 2003. For the past five years, there was a bike rally on the same day, and I like to do as many bike rallies as I can before winter arrives. The course was the same. We start at a picnic area near the lake, wind our way through the woods, and climb up to the dam. From there, we run atop the dam for over a mile, turning around at the halfway point of the race. We return, get off the dam, go back to near the start, do a loop, and finish.
The race is poorly organized. There's a 5K race as well as a 10K race, and they start at the same time and place. When I reached the loop near the end, I found hundreds of people (including kids and dogs) walking. They were finishing the 5K "race." I had to dodge people for nearly a mile. It was ridiculous. I feel sorry for the fast runners, who must have been slowed by the crowd. I also wonder about the intelligence of the walkers. Did they not realize that they were impeding runners? Maybe they knew but didn't care, which is worse.
I had no idea how fast I'd go, since I hadn't run 6.2 miles in a long time. I decided to start out easy and find a sustainable pace. I clipped off miles of 7:12, 7:22, 7:16, 7:16, 7:07, and 7:10. I sprinted the final two-tenths of a mile at a 6:09.58 pace and ended up with a mile pace of 7:11.62. (Elapsed time for 6.214 miles = 44:42.09.) I'm pleased with this result. Overall, I was the 26th finisher of 148, which is the top 17.5%. Most of the people ahead of me were young males.
Unfortunately, the race-timing company screwed up. My name doesn't appear on the list of finishers. I can see that I finished third in my age group and therefore won an award. I chose not to wait for the award ceremony, so it's doubtful that I'll receive the medal I earned. I wrote to the company to complain, but haven't heard anything. Oh well, it's just a medal. I have plenty. I know how fast I ran and I know where I placed. It doesn't matter whether my name shows up on the list.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 