Absurd 10k!

Why the hell can't these people get it together when it comes to road racing? I know that most of these organizers do it for fun and to support the community, but when there are cash prizes offered for breaking certain times, the courses better be marked accurately, and everyone needs to have a good idea of where they are going. Here are a few of the problems with this mornings Dean Kelley race in Amarillo.

1. The one mile, 10k, and 5k all started together with the groups simply staggered, 10k started behind the 5k so I was dodging 5k runners through the first half mile.

2. The race started about 15 minutes late, which is significant when you follow a specific warm-up routine. Everyone was getting tight, waiting for the gun...you can only do so many strides.

3. The 5k and 10k runners were on different routes which led to confusion when people are breaking off on certain paths and yet you have no idea who to follow, or who is in your race, because there was no lead vehicle.

4. There were no mile markers, no k markers, every now and then there were turn markers if you were lucky enough to stay on the right path.

It goes without saying that no one ran the right course. I knew the course was screwed when I crossed the three mile marker at around 20min! I knew we were in trouble when at about a mile in everyone in the lead group started going different directions. Come to find out, me and a few others went about a half a mile longer on the first loop and by the time I got to the 5k marker we had had enough of the confusion and misdirection. No one wanted to post an inaccurately slow time so we stepped off to the side.

It is really too bad, because I only plan to race a handful of times during my summer training and I really feel like that was a waste. We salvaged some of the morning though. After we stepped off, me and a couple of my athletes went for a hard 15 min tempo run to complete the planned workout for the day, and then cooled down with an easy 1.5. As far as how I felt during the race...legs felt heavy when we started, but loosened up about 10 minutes in and then I started rolling a bit. I started conservative as usual and then started picking guys off. I was sitting at about 5:30-40 pace pretty comfortably and felt like I could have hit mid 17 for 5k, but I guess we will never know. I feel good about the day considering this is an 80-85 mile week for me, which is as high as I have gone. I really felt good on the 15 min tempo run after. Training is on track for now, but please...race and meet organizers...have a lead vehicle!

Will probably get in about an easy 5-7 tonight and then at the canyon tomorrow for an easy 16.