Crim

On Saturday I ran my 13th consecutive Crim 10 Mile race, dating back to 1997. The weather cooperated much more for the racers this year than in years past, with the temps in the mid-60s at the start compared to the hot and humid weather we're usually greeted with on race day.

Over the years Ive been in varying degrees of fitness for this race, which is the only race I do without hesitation each year, whether Im in shape or not. Not surprisingly, my times generally coincide pretty well with the amount of running I do leading up to the race. In previous years when running was my main form of exercise (obviously now its mountain biking) and I ran 4-5 days a week all year long I did much better. But those days have long since passed, and now I run maybe 1-2 days a week at the most, except for a week or 2 before this race when i foolishly cram in as many miles as possible.

Since my time last year was about 79 minutes, and since I prepared for that race about as much as I did for this one, I hoped to finish around 75 minutes. Then the day before the race I received a little extra incentive from a friend who told me she'd buy me a beer if I broke 70 minutes. When I said that I wasnt capable of doing that anymore she then conceded a little and agreed to honor the bet if I just broke 71 minutes. So, 70:59 was the figurative carrot I was chasing down, although truth be told I realistically didnt think I had any chance of getting that.

For non-runners, the difference between running 70 or 71 minutes versus 75 minutes over 10 miles may seem relatively easy, but in reality that's a difference of 25-30 seconds per mile which is not something that just happens.

So the race.... I lined up Saturday morning along with about 8,500 others intent on getting through the course as quickly as possible. In previous years Ive either been fortunate to have a seeded number and was therefore able to start at the front, or Ive attempted to line up as close to the front as possible to avoid having to run over slower runners in the beginning of the race. This year I didnt have a seeded number, and didnt really line up as close to the front as I could have either which I thought was going to be a huge mistake. It felt like I stood still at the start for at least a minute after the start before I was able to start moving up towards the starting line. Although starting further back in the field isnt a huge deal from a timing perspective since chip timing is used and yours doesn't begin til you cross the starting line, it does take a lot out of you having to run/walk through a sea of people which means it takes quite a while into the race till you get clear and run your own race.

Since I barely run these days, and I certainly dont run on the track and/or do any speed or tempo work to get a feel for a certain pace, I just started running with the hope of making it through the first mile in about 7:30 so I could start to settle in and run my race. To my surprise when I crossed the first mile marker my watch read 6:58 (the clock read 7:23 so from that point I knew it took me only 25 seconds to get to the starting line versus what felt like a couple of minutes) so it turns out I had lined up much closer to the front than I had thought. Lucky break there.

I felt pretty good after the first mile, so I just settled into my race although I missed the 2nd mile mark so I didnt really know what kind of pace I was doing. When I crossed mile 3 I saw I was still running just over a 7 minute pace and I still felt good so I just kept chugging along. At that point I just had a goal to get to the 5 mile mark in the 35-36 minute range and then just try to hold on after that. I ended up crossing the halfway point at 35:35 so I was feeling pretty good but I knew the second half of the race was the hard part. As predicted I got really fatigued in the second half of the race, and slowed a few seconds per mile over the next few miles, but I had some energy left in the last mile and just gave it all I had through the finish line and finished with a faster final mile.

I finished in 71:17, or a 7:08 pace. Good for 68th out of 572 in my age group and 611th out of approximately 8200 overall. Although I missed out on the free beer by 18 seconds, I still am very happy with that time due to my basic lack of training and that my realistic goal was actually 4 minutes slower.

I missed the 2nd mile split, but I got the rest of them:
Mile Time Pace
1 6:58 - 6:58
2 -- -
3 21:22 -
4 28:28 - 7:06
5 35:35 - 7:07
6 42:52 - 7:17
7 50:01 - 7:09
8 57:13 - 7:12
9 64:24 - 7:11
10 71:17 - 6:53

As Ive done on a couple of other blog entries since Im finally now recording everything electronically, Im including my other Crim times for my own reference. Some year's Ive gotten the 5 mile split time and have included that when Ive gotten it.

CRIMS
Year Finish Pace
1997 75:30:00 7:31
1998 68:20:00 6:50
1999 71:49:00 7:11
2000 71:14:00 7:08
2001 65:16:00 6:32
2002 72:30:00 7:15
2003 65:37:00 6:34
2004 73:17:00 7:20
2005 73:13:00 7:20
2006 72:56:00 7:18
2007 72:20:00 7:14
2008 78:53:00 7:52
2009 71:17:00 7:08

Who knows, maybe in 2010 Ill break 70 minutes again :)