Run to the Pub 2018

I'm joining Hoho Runs and Taking the Long Way Home's Weekly Wrap linkup to recap my St. Patrick's Day race. I've been running, but not writing training recaps for a few weeks because I'm not following a plan, continue to have sporadic knee pain and swelling, and honestly my week's aren't exciting. On to the race recap....

Me (black jersey) and the half marathoners who all ran sub 1:38s. Whew.

Run to the Pub took place on March 17, 2018 in Bozeman, Montana. There were two distances: 10k and half marathon. I ran the 10k.

Pre Race
We volunteered for packet stuffing on Thursday and came away with a volunteer t-shirt, beer token for after the race, and some beer and snacks while packet stuffing. We were so efficient that our four hour shift took 45 minutes. Score!

This is a point to point race, so we had to ride buses to the start line. The 10k buses loaded by 9:45 (yay late start!) and we arrived at our destination minutes later. Super easy. The week leading up to RTTP was relatively warm and spring-like, but unfortunately a cold front came in and the race was overcast, 28-33º, and with a strong breeze. (brrrr) In the end, it was great running weather, but it was tough standing at the starting line for 40 minutes trying to stay warm. They said it was the coldest RTTP yet! I felt bad for Alex who wore a t-shirt and shorts.

Goals
Since I've been injured (or more specifically, battling runner's knee) I wanted to get a gauge of where I am. I set some loose goals:

A: Under 8:45 pace
B: Under 9:00 pace
C: Under 1 hour

Race
There weren't any pace markers or corrals at the start so I seeded myself honestly and lined up about 25% of the way from the front. Big mistake. 

The course

As soon as the race began I did that little walk/shuffle to the start line. No biggie. It happens. BUT as soon as we turned onto the first road I was immediately stuck behind walkers! Who does that? I spent the first two miles dodging and weaving. People were walking and running several bodies wide and not moving to the side. No one was rude and I certainly didn't yell, "move out of the way!" but it was a little frustrating. On the bright side, I was sufficiently warmed up!
Mile 1 and 2: 9:42, 9:11

I had some knee pain at the start (I blame the cold), but it was out of my mind until it reappeared on the downhills at the end. We turned into a neighborhood for a little horseshoe and I knew the biggest hill of the race was coming. I felt bad for the halfers. They had a 45 minute head start, but merged with the 10kers. Luckily, it sounds like they had an easier time after we got out of the neighborhood and onto a wider road. Next year they should make the half folks stay to the left and the 10k to the right. Anyway! After the neighborhood we tackled the hill and while people walked near me, I kept trucking. Somehow! I suppose I kept running because I know there are two big hills in next month's 10k so I'd better get used to them.
Mile 3: 9:02

The race is mostly downhill after the big hill. I didn't run super fast - it didn't feel fast anyway - but gravity carried me and my miles times were fairly quick for my current level of fitness. By the way, before this race my longest run was 7 miles... with breaks.
Mile 4 and 5: 8:38, 8:38

We crossed a main road at the tail end of mile 5 and I knew we were in the home stretch. Unfortunately, I never realized how long Church Street was until I was running on it! I wanted to stop. I tried to remember, "the faster you run, the faster you're done" but mostly I thought, "I'm so glad I'm not running the half." It was hard but I honestly can't remember how bad it was now. Maybe the post race beer helped?

I knew the course would be short (unless my GPS lied) because we kept crossing mile flags before my watch beeped and as we got closer to the finish I was just under 6 miles. I'm not complaining! I turned the final corner, sped up and passed someone (then got passed by three dudes), and finished. I was tired, but not dead. I recovered in a matter of seconds. Alex says I need to work on "leaving it all out there."
Mile 6: 8:29

This is last year, but it was pretty similar.

Post Race
I met up with Oiselle teammates and said hi to some other folks I recognized, then we cashed in our free beers, grabbed some food at a brunch place, and stuck around to see if we won a trip to Dublin, Ireland (we didn't).

Stats and Thoughts
It was a really fun race with lots of great swag. It could be a PR course if the walking/slower traffic stuck to the right and if it was actually 6.2 miles. (Again, maybe my GPS messed up.) Still kind of bummed about mile 1, but maybe it allowed me to hold on for 6 miles.

Time: 53:40
Pace: 8:40 (on race website), 8:53 (my GPS)
Overall: 528 / 2950 (18%)
Gender: 200 / 1952 (10%)
Age Group: 78 / 634 (12%)

Up Next: I'm running the Tenacious 10 in Seattle in late April (I ran it last year), so I hope to improve my training, keep my knee together, and pick up some speed. The week after I'm going back to Columbus for the Cap City Half (free entry). Probably a crazy idea. We shall see how it goes...