Race Report: Luverne (MN) Buffalo Days 10K.
This is one of those races from my youth. I think I ran this one right after I graduated from High School. It used to be on a Friday night, but now it's on a Saturday morning. This time around, however, it was a cold and rainy Saturday morning. 49 and windy!
The race turnout was VERY small, it was about 40 or so for the 5K and 21 for the 10K. The course is a point to point race. It starts outside the Blue Mound State Park, runs on a paved trail around the outside of the park, and then takes a straight path into the Town of Luverne and ends at the Community Pool.
At 8:15, we all got on one School Bus and headed out to the start. The starting line was a stick on the side of the road, and the starter had a stopwatch and shouted, "Get Set, Go!"
The first few miles were strong and fast. We started into a hefty headwind, so I followed behind the second place guy for the first mile. I felt at first that it might be a little fast for me, but boy I felt good as we got the first mile split (6:00)! Needless to say, this is a carefully laid plan that went by the wayside, as I was thinking more like 6:30 to start. However, now that I had the bit in my teeth, I kept going through mile two, hitting the second split at 6:05. By this time, we turned into the State Park proper, and I looked back after turning the corner. There was no one back there for at least two blocks!
Huh, well, it's me and him for second and third then. Sadly, though, I was almost out of gas. I decided then, to just cut back the pace a little bit and let him go. I also wasn't sure of the course at this point, the course maps were unclear about whether or not the course went over Blue Mound, or along the base, so I felt like I should conserve a bit of energy for that.
At the three mile mark, I came through at about 18:50ish or so, and other than the 6:45 split at three, I still felt moderately strong, I just wasn't sure where I was going. Finally, the path took a little bend around the mound and continued following it instead of climbing it. That made my race, and I picked up the pace again. Of course, that's when the rain really started to fall. The good thing is that we were out of the wind at this point, so while it was wet, it wasn't drive Mile 4 was a little crazy since it read Mile 1 5K and Mile 4 10K, so I wasn't sure what it was the split for. It read 6:24, and I tried to keep it up as we turned to go down the road in the Luverne proper.
All this time, the second place guy got farther and farther ahead, and I tried to make a move to keep up, but he was too far ahead. At mile five, the split came back down to 6:35, but the watch also read 31:35, which made me think that I had sub 40 in the bag, unless I really had a rough last mile. I picked it up anyway, to the point that I really worked the pace down into the 6:10 range. I crossed the finish line, with the rain pouring down, at 39:17. 3 OA.
Executive Summary:
Finish time: 39:17.8
overall place: 3/21
ag place: 3/15
splits: 6:00-6:04-6:45-6:24-6:35-6:10
Two great races in three weeks. This was probably the last race that rides the Bayshore peak. I wonder if the race course is a little short, maybe 6.15 instead of a true 10K. I just don't know if I'm really THAT fast. Even if it's a little short, this is likely a true sub 40 10K, something I haven't done since I was a freshman in college, almost 17 years. If it was a true 10K, not only did I pass 40 minutes, but I crushed it, and crushed my PR by over 2 minutes. Now, the cycle starts anew. But holy cow, has it paid off!
The race turnout was VERY small, it was about 40 or so for the 5K and 21 for the 10K. The course is a point to point race. It starts outside the Blue Mound State Park, runs on a paved trail around the outside of the park, and then takes a straight path into the Town of Luverne and ends at the Community Pool.
At 8:15, we all got on one School Bus and headed out to the start. The starting line was a stick on the side of the road, and the starter had a stopwatch and shouted, "Get Set, Go!"
The first few miles were strong and fast. We started into a hefty headwind, so I followed behind the second place guy for the first mile. I felt at first that it might be a little fast for me, but boy I felt good as we got the first mile split (6:00)! Needless to say, this is a carefully laid plan that went by the wayside, as I was thinking more like 6:30 to start. However, now that I had the bit in my teeth, I kept going through mile two, hitting the second split at 6:05. By this time, we turned into the State Park proper, and I looked back after turning the corner. There was no one back there for at least two blocks!
Huh, well, it's me and him for second and third then. Sadly, though, I was almost out of gas. I decided then, to just cut back the pace a little bit and let him go. I also wasn't sure of the course at this point, the course maps were unclear about whether or not the course went over Blue Mound, or along the base, so I felt like I should conserve a bit of energy for that.
At the three mile mark, I came through at about 18:50ish or so, and other than the 6:45 split at three, I still felt moderately strong, I just wasn't sure where I was going. Finally, the path took a little bend around the mound and continued following it instead of climbing it. That made my race, and I picked up the pace again. Of course, that's when the rain really started to fall. The good thing is that we were out of the wind at this point, so while it was wet, it wasn't drive Mile 4 was a little crazy since it read Mile 1 5K and Mile 4 10K, so I wasn't sure what it was the split for. It read 6:24, and I tried to keep it up as we turned to go down the road in the Luverne proper.
All this time, the second place guy got farther and farther ahead, and I tried to make a move to keep up, but he was too far ahead. At mile five, the split came back down to 6:35, but the watch also read 31:35, which made me think that I had sub 40 in the bag, unless I really had a rough last mile. I picked it up anyway, to the point that I really worked the pace down into the 6:10 range. I crossed the finish line, with the rain pouring down, at 39:17. 3 OA.
Executive Summary:
Finish time: 39:17.8
overall place: 3/21
ag place: 3/15
splits: 6:00-6:04-6:45-6:24-6:35-6:10
Two great races in three weeks. This was probably the last race that rides the Bayshore peak. I wonder if the race course is a little short, maybe 6.15 instead of a true 10K. I just don't know if I'm really THAT fast. Even if it's a little short, this is likely a true sub 40 10K, something I haven't done since I was a freshman in college, almost 17 years. If it was a true 10K, not only did I pass 40 minutes, but I crushed it, and crushed my PR by over 2 minutes. Now, the cycle starts anew. But holy cow, has it paid off!