HENNEPIN LAKES CLASSIC 10K REPORT

The good news is I ran much better than two weeks ago at the Lumberjack Days 10 miler. I was within “striking distance” of people who beat me my 2-3 minutes two weeks ago. The bad news is that’s not saying much. I went through the mile in 6:04 and thought that was right on pace. I didn't take any other splits, but they were reading them off at every mile marker. I was shocked to hear my splits were 6:20-6:30s. I ended up running 19:37/20:02 for 39:39. That's a minute slower than last year and two minutes slower than Get in Gear in April.

I guess more “good news” is that a lot of people ran 45-75 seconds slower than Get in Gear. Granted, it was hot and humid (probably around 70 and sunny at the start – not sure what the dew point was) but I thought it was worse last year.

About the only positive thing I can think of is pushing it during the last quarter mile. Usually if I'm running poorly I don't care where I finish – I just want to be done. But yesterday I was able to pick it up and pass a few people – including Jim. However, he wouldn't let me beat him and he came sprinting back to beat me to the line. At least I had a quicker chip time, since I started a couple of seconds behind him. :)

I’m not really sure what to take away from this race. Am I bummed? Yeah. Part of me wants to throw in the towel for the rest of the season and start over from scratch with some base-building. Part of me wants to do some shorter track stuff over the next few weeks and see if I can’t salvage a good race or two in the fall. The way I’ve run in cooler temps recently has given me some hope that I can run well this fall, so I don’t want to give up just yet.

Under the heading of Pushy Parent: One of the top local masters runner has a 15 year old son who runs a lot of races. Usually, dad will finish his race and then he’ll head back on the course to find his son. He’ll then run along side till the finish and shout words of “encouragement.” It’s a little irritating, especially if you’re running near his son, but I can live with it. Well yesterday dad took it to another level. After my race I cooled down while watching the 5k. I happened to be standing at the water stop as dad and son run by. Dad, who keep in mind has not registered for this race or the 10k, is running stride for stride with his kid, grabs 2 cups of water and dumps them on his head. Then he shouts more “encouragement.” It really made me upset, but I’m not sure what to do about it. It’s interesting, dad runs like 32 minute 10Ks, mom runs like 38 minute 10Ks and their son “only” manages 18-19 minute 5Ks. With those genes it seems like he’d be faster.