Race Recap: FM Valley 10k - 10/10/09

I was waiting to write this until race pictures were finally posted. On Thursday, I got an email saying that the race pictures were ready. Here is the picture they gave of me:

I am not any of the girls in the picture above, so I was a little disappointed. I searched through the unidentified pictures and found a few photos of the race I liked.

Race Report:
I got to the race about 7:00 (scheduled race start was 8:10). The first thing I did when I got to the Civic Center was go to the bathroom. As I walked in, there was not one person using the urinals. However, every single stall was taken. I thought that was kind of funny as I stood there waiting for a stall to open up.

I then did a little light stretching, then went outside to run a quarter mile warm up. I had my warm-up on and it didn't seem too bad. There were a lot of people in the Civic Center that were dressed way too warm. After the warm-up, I went back into the Civic Center to do a little more stretching. In the Civic, there were a couple of starting speeches by both Fargo and Moorhead Mayors. Then they sent us out to the starting line at 8:15.

I took my place on the starting line about in the 3rd row back. I was wearing shorts, a technical tank top, and a technical long sleeve shirt, however there were several people around me with jackets and pants that were complaining about the cold weather. I didn't think it was too bad out and realized I have a huge mental advantage because a lot of people had a negative mindset.

The Fargo Mayor was going to be the starter for our race. He had a megaphone and was less than 5 yards away from me, however I couldn't hear a word he was saying. (Which was probably good because I wasn't very impressed by his speech inside.) All of a sudden his megaphone starts making a siren noise. We look around at each other wondering what the hell is going on, then realized that means GO, so we all take off.



Mile One: I wanted to run about a 7:00 1st mile. It is always tricky finding the right place to line up at the beginning of the race. I found a pretty good spot at this race, although I could have been closer to the starting line. From the start, I weaved around a few people and quickly found my pace. About a half mile into the race, I passed 3 women. From this point on, I could tell there were about 5 to 8 people in front of me, but did not want to make a move too early in the race so just relaxed and kept them in my view. I crossed the 1 mile mark at about 6:30. This pace was a little faster than I wanted to be so slowed up a bit to have some energy at the end.

Mile Two: I kept the runners in front of my in my sight but my pace slowed a little. The closest person behind me was about 15 yards behind me. My split for mile two was about 6:50.

Mile Three: No change in position, lead runners extend lead on me a little, but I can still have a view on three people. Mile 3 split was about 7:00.

Mile Four: Again no change in position. Person behind me is still 15 yards away. Mile split was 7:00 again.

Mile Five: I lost a little steam this mile. I started to loose ground to the people in front of me. I can also hear the person behind be gaining ground. Mile split was around 7:20.

Final 1.2 Miles As the person behind me is starting to make her move right after the 5 mile marker, I know I have to respond. She gets what sound like about 5 yards behind me, but I quickly respond. The rest of the race, I really focused on lengthening my stride. This helps me move quite a bit faster. I really had a good final mile. After I start striding out, I really leave the lady behind me. With about a quarter mile left in the race, I turn around quickly and don't even see her. I made up some distance on the people in front of me, but don't really come close to catching them. I ran the final 1.2 miles in 8:10 (average pace of 6.48/mi)



My final time ended up being 42:59. I placed 7th overall and 2/20 in my 25-29 age group. In the Men's Division i was 6/101. I was very happy with my race and new PR.

Later that day, my wife and I attended the 2009 Special Olympics State Banquet where I was awarded 2009 Area Volunteer of the Year for our state. I consider running and Special Olympics two of my passions in my life. It was nice to be given an award in both areas on the same day. I don't think I could have had a better day.