DRC 15K "The Loop". 48 days til Tulsa

Today's race served for me to start getting used to running at my marathon pace. I pretty much have determined that my marathon pace is somewhere around a  9:00 min/mile as I believe I am slightly faster than a 4:00 maratoner in perfect conditions. 

Race Start

It's still hard to tell because the weather still has not settled into fall and I really don't think it will for Dallas/Fort Worth until after thanksgiving.  The only thing I have to go by is the "Love the Half" which I raced two weeks ago where I "sub-two'ed" for a half marathon with just a little bit of forced effort in good weather conditions.  My plan today was to run that marathon pace for this race - a loop around White Rock Lake which is a 15K.  I had good company, Brad from my 4:10 maraton group who looked strong throughout the whole run.  Over the next few weeks I'm trying to script out the first quarter of my marathon, mainly trying to discipline myself from starting out too fast and keeping a good pace so not to burn myself out later in the race. I plan on doing at least one 6-7 mile run per week where I work on this.  Today went well. I planned on going out at a moderate pace and then settling in on a 9-ish pace or maybe slightly slower since the humidity was around 85%.  It went perfectly early-on numbers wise but it was so humid outside this morning that this may not have been the best time to practice.  And that's assuming that Tulsa will have perfect weather.  History has been good to Tulsa weather-wise in late November per some almanac research that I  done so we will keep our fingers and toes crossed. The first 3-4 miles of the run went fine and I think since the course is so flat, I had no issues. 


Me and Jesse the Great from NTX Runners

I was well fueled, well hydrated.  However, a little after half-way through as you can see by my splits below, I started struggling. And I found out everyone else had issues too.  It is just tough to run with weather conditions like that.  So I told Brad I may slow it down to the 4:10 groups marathon pace which is 9:27 min/mile if I start to struggle.  I never had to slow it down that far, but I did walk through the water stops to give myself a quick breather.  The other thing I knew my old nemesis the "Spillway Hillway" as I call it was coming.  The DRC 15K Loop was the first race I had ever done with the DRC back in 2011 and I remember well how bad-ass I thought I was until I reached that point.  Not really a "hill" as some runners will quickly point out, but it is a long upgrade on the south side of the lake that will slow you down and disrupt any good rhythm you have going.  So I when I got there I slowed up, didn't look at the pace on my Garmin but went by how I felt and was cautious to not blow myself up so I could finish strong for the race.  And by the looks at my spits it looks like I had to slow up quite a bit.  This is something I must practice because I hear the Route 66 Tulsa Marathon has its share of hills.  Everything went as I planned it and I finished as strong as I finished.  I plan on getting in at least one of these 'simulated' runs per week as the November 24th date creeps nearer. Overall it was a good race.  Funny thing is just after I finished, a strong cold front came thru and blew out all of the humidity and stickiness.  That weather transition took all of about 15 minutes.  Gotta love Texas.



My nemesis, the Spillway Hillway

 


Before and after:  Above before race, below after my 1:26 finish and a strong cold front.  There was rain on the way coming across the lake in this pic and much cooler weather.

Splits
1 - 9:09  
2 - 8:53 
3 - 8:52 
4 - 9:00 
5 - 9:02 
6 - 9:14 
7 - 9:21 
8 - 10:05 
9 - 8:54 
10 - 8:48

Total 1:26:36, 9.3 miles

-TNT-