Monte Sano 10k and 5k

Monte Sano 10k and 5k Road Race Results

The 10k overall results.

The 10k age group results.

The 5k men's overall results.

The 5k women's overall results.

The 5k age group results.

As always, I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to the race volunteers. A couple of people that I know who worked to make this race possible are Madelyn Patton and Carl Smith. This is really a good, fun event. The course may be one of my least favorite, but the event is very good.

What To Do?

I was a little conflicted about how to approach today. My focus is completely on Rocket City Marathon. I really don't care about 10k and 5k times right now, but I really enjoy the camaraderie of medium sized races like this one. I needed a long run, so I decided late to go ahead and sign up for both races.

Then, I was wondering how to tackle the races as part of a 20 miler. I thought about really getting after both of them and just using whatever I had left to finish a 20 miler. When I started warming up, it became clear that today was not going to be my day. The 8:30 to 9:00 warmup pace felt harder than it should have. So, I decided to just treat the races as tempo miles mixed in the long run. That's what I did.

The 10k

I met my good friend Mark at the parking lot, and we ran a warmup with George. Mark and I ran almost all the miles together today.

We ran 4+ miles before the 10k. Then I ran the 10k at a 6:51 pace. Mark went a little faster, maybe 6:45 or so. I can't say that it felt easy, but it definitely was not a 10k race effort. It was a good tempo run because I ran a really even pace except for the last half mile or so where I sped up. My HR stayed in the tempo range for most of the run. It's amazing how many people you pass in the last mile if you just run a steady pace throughout the race! I caught up to my friend Scott in the last mile, and he still had another gear left, and that was good to see. He left me on the home stretch.

The nice thing about running it at tempo pace is that I had plenty of energy to cheer on other runners during the race. On this course, you'll see the runners ahead of you several times during the race. I also heard my name quite a few times today. Nice. Thanks, even if I didn't recognize you!

Between The Races

Between the 10k and the 5k, we ran another 4 miles. That put me at 14+ for the day going into the 5k. I was starting to get tired. It poured rain during this time. There were still lots of 10k runners on the course. We got drenched, and it felt great!!

The 5k

My goal for the 5k was to run it at tempo pace. That would be my 14-17th miles for the day at tempo pace. It was harder than I thought! I ran the 5k at a slightly slower pace. It was a little closer to 7:00. Mark was again way out in front. He probably was close to 6:45. Scott also had a good 5k. I didn't expect to catch folks at the end of the 5k, but if you run it even, you will! I caught my friend and Ragnar Relay teammate, Shawn Barber, during the last mile of this one. He had another gear! He poured it on on the .1 of the 5k and opened up a 4-5 second lead on me. He had a good race!

After the races, we were only 3 shy of 20, which is what the schedule called for. We hung on to run the course again at a leisurely pace to finish up the 20 miler. GREAT RUN TODAY!!