Fans on the Field 10K

– 42:15 (6:49 pace, Avg HR 177)

Earlier in the week on Wednesday I had a failed speed workout and I knew right from then that I wouldn’t be racing this one but using it as a workout. On race day I decided on something in between race and workout, pacing my friend on his time goal. On Saturday my daughter’s friend had a birthday party at Jump Street and being the active parent I am I jumped with the kids for a couple of hours, which I still felt on race day.

Mile 1 – 6:44 (Avg HR 165). My legs felt like crud right from the start. This first mile felt way harder than it should have.

Mile 2 – 13:24 (6:40 mile split, Avg HR 177). As the excitement of the start wore off this mile felt like work, not fun. My quad felt like they were going to rip off of my hips and my friend that I was pacing was now pulling away from me.

Mile 3 – 20:07 (6:43 mile split, Avg HR 178 ). At the start of mile 3 we ran through the Pepsi Center and along the arena were the Avalanche and Nuggets play.

Mile 4 – 26:55 (6:48 mile split, Avg HR 178 ). I started to hit my stride and the pace just felt easier (quads feeling better). I caught up to my friend and took the lead as pacer again. Also on this mile we ran through Coors field (Rockies Stadium) and a short section along the dirt from home base to 3rd base and then out the back of the outfield.

Mile 5 – 33:56 (7:01 mile split, Avg HR 181). Back on the streets of down town Denver the tall building made nice shade. My friend and I were running with a small group and all of us really hit started to run out of gas and the pace slowed.

Mile 6 – 40:58 (7:02 mile split, Avg HR 184). Huge traffic jams as the 5K race merged back onto the same course. My friend says he is done and not to wait for him and go for it. I held the same pace be he and the group we were running with dropped way back.

6.2 Miles – 42:15 (6:25 pace, Avg HR 190). I picked up the pace a little for the final stretch but I still held back because my quads were burning up (and this was a flat course). The race finished on the sidelines of the 50 yard line of mile high stadium (Broncos). I felt like a star running out of the same tunnel onto the field.

I really did have a lot of fun and this was one of the coolest races I have ever run. But it was hard holding my pace through the halls and 90 degree turns inside the stadiums. I finished 35th out of all the men and 5th in my age group. My friend only fell behind by 0:20 in the last mile and finished with a PR by over 2:00 (he was pretty happy).