Race Recap: Tenacious Ten

Cowbell medal (It works!)

The Tenacious Ten took place Saturday, April 22 at 8:00am in Seattle, Washington. The race had two distances: 10k and 10 miler. I ran the 10k. [Race Information]

We registered before our move and when we found out flights were a lot cheaper (and direct!) from Bozeman, we decided to stick with it. As I mentioned in my goals post, the trip came at a weird time, but it all worked out. It was a nice break from all the moving crap!

Packet Pickup
We arrived Friday afternoon, road the train to our hotel, then walked to packet pickup. I had a VIP registration and since this race was presented by Oiselle, I received a Flyte tank, Roga shorts, a drawstring Oiselle logo bag, and a wristband for the VIP tent at the race. Alex and I both received the race trucker hat and temporary tattoos. (I probably wouldn't do VIP registration again because I now have three Flyte tanks and I like Toolbelt Roga shorts better.)

Pre Race
Oh yeah! On Friday morning I woke up with an aching ankle. It bothered me a few times during runs the week before, but nothing quite like the pain I had on Friday. I ended up buying athletic tape and wrapped and iced my ankle when we got back to the hotel. I think we went to bed fairly late (I blame cable), but the 6am alarm wasn't the end of the world. I forgot my normal PB and bread, so I tried to make do with whatever I could find.

Gas Works Park

The walk to the race start was over a mile and my ankle still hurt. I was pretty bummed. At first, I thought maybe it was a phantom pre-race pain -- all mental. Unfortunately, it was real. We got to the park at 7:30am for announcements, I went to the porta potty while Alex checked our bag, and then I found some of my Oiselle friends before we lined up.

The Race
I lined up near the back half of the 8:00 corral, chatted with some ladies, turned on my podcast (2 Dope Queens), and started my watch a little bit before we crossed the timing strip. I intended to run Friday to get used to Seattle air, but decided to rest my ankle. I was happy to find it was extremely easy to breathe! Finally!! I forgot what it feels like to be able to run 6 miles without stopping for deep heaving breaths.

Free race photos!

The course had a few rolling hills ranging from 30 to 130ft. I'll be honest: if I still lived in Columbus I would have walked the big ones. My Bozeman training is already paying off! I ran the hills and didn't have a significant slowdown!

My ankle hurt until about mile 4 when my entire body started to ache, so I didn't notice it as much. ;) I can't really do a mile by mile recap because my GPS goofed (see map below). Plus, it was a pretty uneventful race. The scenery was mostly lovely with lake and city views, runners spread out so I never felt crowded, and traffic was perfectly controlled so I was never intimidated by cars. I didn't carry a water bottle, so I stopped at two water stops. There was a GU stop, but it was pretty early on. I think they should probably move it to a later stop next year.

I swear this is an optical illusion, b/c I never saw these people near me! (minus the couple on the right)

Around mile 5 the 10 milers split off and the 10k went up a hill and over a bridge. The hill was a butt kicker even though it was one of the smallest in the race. Again, very thankful for Bozeman. I felt sluggish and slow in mile 6, but I got into the 7s even on my bum ankle. I have to admit I was very happy I didn't sign up for the 10 miler -- and, of course, started to question running a mountainous 25k in June.

Regardless, I came around the final turn into the finish and I guess I sped up, but not fast enough to keep another Oiselle teammate from passing. I did not care in the slightest. I just wanted to be done!

Trotting home.

Post Race
I got my cowbell medal and water, then found Alex. He was beat. He ran a 7:00 pace and claimed he's "out of shape." He also hasn't run more than 2.5 miles in months. (What a turd.) But he was super tired the rest of the weekend (and even on our run last night) so I don't feel too bad. I could have run another 6 miles about an hour after the race ended. I guess I need to work on "leaving it all on the course?" Puke pace or bust?

Goodies

Freebies at the end included small donuts, big donuts and chocolate milk in the VIP tent, Picky Bars, Picky Bar samples, Nuun samples, some other kind of energy bar, and a few other tents I didn't visit. The DJ was good, too. I hear the weather got a little dicey during the awards ceremony, but we'd already started our walk back to the hotel. (And ended up walking 11 or 12 miles the rest of the day! Needless to say, we figured out the bus system Sunday.)

The rest of the weekend included a few more Oiselle events: a tour of the O office, an O party at a brewery, and a photo shoot. More to come on that last thing.... assuming the photos look good.

Messed up data. Green start mark at mile 1, yet it gave me mile times...(?!)

Stats and Thoughts
First off, I would run this race again in a heartbeat. I'd like to imagine Alex and I in super shape next year. Since it's a direct flight (one of the few from Bozeman) it is a nice excuse to visit Seattle.

Final Time: 53:41 (8:39 pace)
Overall (10k): 160 / 651 (25%)
Female: 111 / 539 (21%)
Age Group: 24 / 106 (23%)

I guess I PRd? (I don't race 10ks.) My Strava data is messed up so it didn't mark it as my fastest, but my official chip time suggests I met my [revised] A goal. I think I could have crushed it if I'd had one more month of training in Bozeman (and if my ankle was 100%, of course). Oh well.

Honestly, this was a nice confidence booster. I've been struggling on nearly ever run in Bozeman. Even when my paces are good, I can't make it more than a mile or two before needing a short break to catch my breath. Perhaps I need to schedule flat, sea level races every time we travel. ;)

Up Next: I might sign up for a race this weekend in place of my long run. If not, we're going to run some 5ks in May.