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Hangover Classic 10K at Salisbury Beach

We decided to do a fun race to start the new year, the Winner’s Circle Running Club’s Hangover Classic 10K at Salisbury Beach. As we walked toward the beach, we noted the crowd was a mix of elite runners competing for the prize money, running club members, families running or walking together (we imagined some were fulfilling a new year’s resolution), and the usual crowd of local racers. We saw lots of familiar race shirts, including Half at the Hamptons, Reach the Beach, Pow Wow triathlon and even the McNaughton race. A volunteer working the registration table said they had 1200 pre-registered and another 500 on race day, including the two of us. The sunny skies and 60 degree temps helped motivate lots of people to participate.

We opted to not worry about a race plan – on the way there we briefly discussed running our own races and maybe holding out a bit up front, then kicking it up at the end, but this event was about having fun and pushing ourselves at a shorter distance. A 10K is forgiving because even if we went out way too hard, we knew we could hold on for the last couple miles without negative consequences. I was personally interested in just racing for the fun of it – picking people off, surging with impunity, and running the course without more than a glance or two at my watch.

The start was a little hectic, so we went out fast to wind our way through the crowd, hitting at 7:24 first mile. I actually missed the one-mile mark and hit my watch at the 5 mile point (1.2 miles from the start), so just in case I picked it up a bit for mile 2, coming through at 7:16. (One of those times I missed Beej’s ability to do split calculations in his head.) By mile 3 I settled down to a 7:45, and was planning to sit there for miles 4 and 5, until the course turned through a neighborhood and onto the beach – as in loose sand underfoot for over half a mile. I still managed an 8:32 for that mile thanks to recent runs on trails and snow, but was a bit winded, and my already tired glutes were screaming. I took another half mile to recover and reassess. I worked on self-motivation a bit, recognizing that I have room for improvement in pushing myself toward the end of the race. I put in a 7:46 for mile 5 and then squeezed in just under 8s for the last 1.2 miles to come in at 48:48 (my unofficial watch time was 48:13). Brian was right behind me at 49:44 (unofficial watch time was 49:23).

Every race is a learning opportunity. Lesson 1: calibrating how much impact the previous day’s activities can have on performance. We had done a Martina workout on New Year’s Eve and woke up with very sore glutes and pecs on New Year’s Day. Some yoga helped loosen things up a bit, but we were both pretty sore and stiff compared with having “fresh legs” for other events. That being said, we were uncomfortable but didn’t get injured, a good data point when we return to serious training.

Lesson 2: hydration is always important. We didn’t do any special fueling for this event (again, it’s a pretty forgiving distance). I had some electrolyte drink before and after, I picked up a few sips at the water stop on the course, and we noted how well the cool dry air removed sweat during the race leaving our faces and necks salty. Even so, I was surprised how much I had to drink before I felt “normal” again after the race.

Lesson 3: Know the course. I head read that the course went along the beach, but I assumed it was the boardwalk or the beach road, not the *actual* beach. I also didn’t have a good idea how far it was to the finish after we got off the beach. I tend to hold back when I don’t know how far I have left, so it pays off for me to scope out the course, especially the last mile, before the race.

Lesson 4: I like having a goal. I didn’t have much motivation to run negative splits or push hard at the end of the race – I wasn’t trying to beat a PR or a particular person, and it was too long of a race to just go all out. I like the structure of last year’s training so I definitely need to put together a training plan at least weekly.

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