I started this post three weeks ago but got sidetracked.
Background
After a lifetime of being something of a journeyrunner, average in college but after that locally then regionally competitive, I made some breakthroughs in my 50s, and then nationally about when I turned 60. With several US road titles (none in XC as of yet) and a world masters championship I have had one more big goal. An American record. It has been achievement that has proven difficult to attain!
I came close in 2018, my age group debut was at the Gasparilla 15K in Florida. I was 23 seconds short of the late and great Norm Green’s record (still standing) and feel that if it had been 5 or 10 degrees cooler I could have broken through.
A few weeks later later I just missed the Green’s record by a few seconds. Had I lined up a bit further at the start and kicked just a tiny bit harder it’s one that I could have held for four years (since broken). A few months after that I unofficially broke the existing 1 mile road record by a few seconds. However, even though this was at a championship event there was a timing glitch and the time was never ratified.
Bummer for me.
Into the new age group, the bar became actually higher at most distances. As a couple of very strong runners swept past the old marks by minutes, not seconds, in 2021 and 2022. In fact, the times they posted would be among the best ever for the 60-64 age group prior to 2021. There are now just a few remaining road marks that were still within my reach, one being the 25K road race.
Rather than running at World Masters in Poland, I prioritized the home USATF Grand Prix masters races (5K, 10 mile, and half marathon) this year, but also made the Amway River Bank Run 25K as a major event to peak for this spring. Being the last on plate I could do a proper taper.
Spring Training
I have already written up some on my spring training, and it was a mix of mostly running (about 50 miles per week on average, with a high of 64 in April), supplemented with 2-3 hours a week of xc skiing through March and about another hour or so each week on the spin bike. Per usual my weeks include a couple recover days, tempo training (20-45 minutes), some 10K/CV work, and just a little at 5K or under. And of course weekly long runs (usually 13-17 miles).
Had no issues with injury or illness during the winter/spring block and was able to maintain a very consistent training schedule. My races went really well (18:24 for 5K, 1:01 for 10 mile and 1:24 at that half on a hilly course on warm, almost hot, day. I felt that Alex Ratelle’s 32 year old mark of 1:01:39 was well within reach, depending on the day I had and the weather.
Travel
I like to arrive two days ahead when we go to Eastern time and we had an evening flight. I think next time I’ll plan to leave earlier in the day. After some delays we didn’t arrive to Grand Rapids until after midnight, a couple hours late and didn’t get to the hotel until 1 AM. So I was off and quite tired on Friday. Did a short shakeout run along part of the course and drove the other sections, while taking a side trip to the sand dunes along Lake Michigan.
Race Day
The goal was to run under 6:32 per mile pace to run under Ratelle’s record. I had emailed the race director beforehand and they were kind enough to provide me with an elite corral start position so I could get off the line quickly. That was an unexpected bonus.
At the start I sprinted out for about 100 m so as not to get trampled by the faster non-elite runners lined up behind me, and got swallowed up by a few waves of them over the first mile (6:27).
Was getting into a rhythm, but at 1.4 I passed a guy and few strides later he clipped my heel and I went tumbling down and hit hard on my right hip and elbow. I swore up a storm, and a couple guys other actually stopped to see if I was okay, I sat on the ground for a second or two before getting up, my hip was sore and elbow was bleeding, and I was pretty shaken up.
One guys who had slowed down, started talking and said he was doing the run as a progression and he’d run my pace for the first 5 or 6 miles. His name was Jack and he was a college runner for a team in the state. That was so nice. So we clipped along at about 6:30 pace and kept up a conversation, and soon I forgot about my hip and elbow as we talked about training and such. That probably made my race, and I am really grateful.
5K split was about 20:15, and Jack took off at his own pace after about 5 miles. My 10K split was 40:20. The pace didn’t vary much, as most of my mile splits for the day (13 of the 15) were between 6:26 and 6:32 pace. After half way I got into a good group of four or five runners, including the third non-elite woman. Although I didn’t get into the low 6:20s groove I had hoped for, I was able to run within myself and to keep pushing at an effort I could sustain. 15K was 1:00:30 or so (+/-10) and 10 miles in 1:04:50.
After about 10 or 11 miles the rain kicked up, making the roads a little slick (I had heard these shoes are a little slippery on wet pavement so I made sure I didn’t step on the crossing lines or delineators). I crossed the half in just under 1:25 and by then the pack had increased in size to maybe six or eight runners so I picked up the effort and pace. I didn’t want to tuck into a group more and wanted to keep running 6:30 pace or faster to ensure that record. Things got a little fuzzy in the stretch, with a lot turns a few gradual hills as we got into the downtown area. I kept pressing. The 15th mile was the toughest of the day with the hills. The wind also picked up and it kept raining. That was a 6:38, my slowest of the day.
It looked like I had about 4 minutes with 0.56 to go, and I tried to pick it up using 10K form, picking my knees up a little and driving through. But my calves would have none of that, and I got a string of spasms in my right leg. So instead of 10K mode I went into survival, with short choppy strides but higher tempo. As soon as I tried a normal stride I’d get another cramp. Took the last few turns and I thought it’d be harrowingly close! I kicked it in over the final block, the best I could.
I don’t know if the clock was off by a minute or my brain wasn’t functional (probably the latter), but I thought I saw 1:41:20 with just bit to go, and 1:41:41 as I crossed. I felt a bit crestfallen, that I had seemed to have just missed the record by seconds. However, I knew I had expended all I could for this day and was happy of the effort.
Aftermath
After getting patched up at the med tent, we walked (slowly) back to our hotel across the river. I scanned my bib QR code for the preliminary official result, and lo! I officially recorded 1:40:41, nearly a minute under the existing record.
I submitted the paper work the other week, and the race committee returned it within 10 days, so not it has been officially submitted and the record now stands as “pending.”
rrunnin234 