My plan said I was supposed to do a 10K race at the end of Week 13... these were surprisingly difficult to find! Not a lot of 10Ks in my area in general, and with the Veterans Day holiday coming up, most of them were planned for the day itself since it was a Saturday. For whatever reason, this one was a week earlier which made it fit into my plan perfectly and according to all the places I normally check to find races, was basically the only 10K within 50 miles of Pittsburgh! So while it wouldn't normally have been my first choice, it was what I needed and within reasonable driving distance. We headed down on Friday night after work with the goal of getting our bibs and getting settled so we wouldn't have to get up super early on Saturday after a likely short night's sleep.
We made bib pick-up with about ten minutes to spare and had a hotel that was within walking distance from the start. After getting bibs and hotel stuff sorted out it was time to figure out dinner. I told Mike I'd heard of this local pizza joint that does things a bit differently than other places and he was game, so off we went in search of DiCarlo's Pizza. The thing that's notable about this pizza is that they don't put cheese or toppings on until after it's baked, so you get these lovely fluffy just-starting-to-melt piles of provolone on - and falling off of - your squares (yes, squares!) of pizza.
I had two slices, and we also split that pepperoni roll that was in the background. I'd been eating bumped up calories for the past two days in order to prep for the race, so I was already pretty full from indulgences earlier in the day (post-Halloween is an excellent time to suddenly have extra room in your calorie budget!). Based on our tastes, the overall pizza was reasonably tasty but lacking in seasoning, and not necessarily something we'd get again. I do kind of understand the appeal, but kind of a one-and-done for me.
Back at the hotel I put out all my gear to make sure I was ready. The weather was supposed to be mid-thirties but clearing (a relief after earlier forecasts called for rain), though I was pretty sure that I'd be done by the time the sun really got going. So I packed a long-sleeve and planned on using my vest to bring along my key, phone, and I even managed to fold and tuck a heat sheet into one of the pockets since I knew the race finished down by the river and that I'm always cold when I stop running.
After that it was time to turn in for the night. I did a bit of stretching as my right hip flexor is still a bit cranky, especially with car rides and sitting at my desk so much, but it responds well to stretching it out and didn't complain too much. For a race night, I actually slept reasonably well, which makes a nice change!
Since we didn't have to go far, Saturday morning's alarm was not too bad at 6:30. I'd packed a mini bagel with PB as that's been working really well for me and I wasn't sure what to expect from the hotel's continental breakfast. That was probably the right choice as it was pretty minimal, though I could have gotten toast and peanut butter at the very least, which is what Mike had. I'd brought my regular coffee and banana along as well so I was more or less set, but couldn't resist snagging this unusual version of a toaster pastry that was cinnamon roll flavored and reasonably tasty.
The race had a post-run banquet that was scheduled from 11-1 so we went ahead and checked out of the hotel and stuffed all our things back in the car before driving the whole two blocks to the school and parking there. It was a point-to-point race but they were providing shuttles back to the start after, which was nice. The ground was a bit soggy but thankfully my feet didn't get too wet. We went inside since it was still quite brisk, and there were bathrooms available, and then did a couple quick laps around the parking lot area to try to keep warm before the race started. There was a pretty good turnout and we even spotted a few shirts from Pittsburgh races we'd run before!
Without much ado, people started filling into the street, and not too long after, we were off and running! There was no start mat and the actual starting point wasn't immediately obvious (to me, anyway) so I think I kind of whiffed getting my watch started, but not by much as far as I could tell. The roads were kind of half-closed, with cones blocking off at least one lane for runners, but there was a fair amount of cross traffic, usually with someone directing but sometimes not. Considering we were on a pretty major path it wasn't too bad.
The course is the second half of the Ogden Half Marathon, which used to be the Wheeling 20K and I think one other name that I didn't catch. We were grateful it was the back half, because get a load of the hill in the middle of the first part!
I had lined up about halfway back in the crowd seeing as it was a run+walk, but still got passed by a whole lot of folks for the first half mile or so. My key was banging against my phone in one pocket so I carefully moved the key to the other side, as there was no way I wanted to listen to that for six miles! Initially my pacing strategy had been to do as well or better than my 10K at the end of September (so, better than 1:02), with a stretch goal of going sub-1 hour if everything fell into place. Having checked out the course map I knew we had a couple hills to deal with but was hoping I could make up time on the downhills, especially when I knew my legs would get shredded by that last big incline at the 5th mile. So my initial pacing strategy of negative splitting with 2 miles at 9:50, 2 miles at 9:40, and 2 miles at 9:30 then finishing with whatever I had left got tossed out pretty quickly. Between the hills and the fact that I did the first mile in 9:34 (and had my HRM buzz at me that I was under my target HR a couple times) I figured I'd just run fast enough to stay in zone, give equal effort on the hills instead of trying for equal pace, and use the downhills to my advantage as much as I could.
That seemed to be the right approach and I soon settled in to a pretty good rhythm. My fresh legs helped me get up the first hill without much issue. I leapfrogged a couple a few times when I caught them on small uphills and then they passed on the down, but for the most part I passed people and not the other way around. Usually that's a fair indicator of a good race on my part and I felt like the hill running I've been doing was definitely helping me here, even on the little rolling bits that weren't what I considered the official "hills" of the course. Mile 2 was 9:36 and I was happy with my consistency and glad I was banking time against the challenges to come as this mile was actually more uphill than the first and I was maintaining speed thanks to being able to confidently run the downhill portions.I was warm enough that I pulled off my gloves and stashed them in my pockets.
Mile 3 was almost entirely downhill, and I didn't let up, pulling out a 9:14 as we started into the middle hill of the course. This one was smaller and transitioned us from a sort of residential district full of houses and churches to an area with more businesses and traffic to match. I got up the hill without too much trouble, but did accidentally pause my watch when I saw the 3-mile clock posted on the route. I use a screen on my Garmin that's supposed to calculate your splits and estimated finish time based on where you are, and you can use the lap button to sync the mileage up in case you gained extra dodging people or running bad lines or whatever so it's as accurate as possible. But since I was using the training activity in my plan, that function didn't work and I inserted a lap instead. Oh well!
I got it going again quickly enough that I wasn't too worried about it, though it did make me a little confused later on when my watch tried to tell me I was at mile 5 when it was only mile 4. That one came in at 9:25 so I'd successfully used the downhill to keep my pace where I wanted it to be. At the 2/3 point I definitely was starting to feel the fatigue in my legs, but with only a couple more miles to go I was pretty sure I could push through it without too much trouble. We were in the sun a little bit more, and I could feel my vest chafing my collarbone (I guess I've only ever worn crew necks with the vest, and this was a v-neck that left more skin exposed) so I unzipped a little to cool off and keep the rubbing from getting worse.
Mile 5 wasn't too bad, a more uphill section overall but some course support and it was rolling enough that I didn't feel any worse than I did going into it. However, as you come up the crest of a little hill in the middle of Mile 5, this is what comes into your view (with blue line added to illustrate where the road is behind those trees...
Yep, that's the biggest hill on the course, which is, of course, dwarfed in that course map I linked up above! You're doing this on legs that have already covered almost 5 miles, plus you have a perfect view of any and all people in front of you who are in various stages of negotiating this monster, and most of them are walking.
I was at least somewhat prepared for this, and as I started up the incline I made it my goal not to walk if I could avoid it. Granny shuffle I would, but walking was not on the agenda. It did kind of seem like it was going to go on forever. I just ignored my watch other than periodically checking my HR, and kept telling myself that once I got up there it was a speedy downhill mile to the finish and then I'd be done! About halfway up, as my watch went off showing 11:04 for Mile 5 (woof!), I heard someone starting to catch up with me and - probably because I needed the distraction - I started making chit-chat. This guy was former military (they had different bibs) and was quite a bit taller than me. I found myself matching his pace, though, and actually managed to keep up. Another guy we passed tried to latch on but didn't succeed, and so the two of us plodded upwards.
The view at the top was absolutely gorgeous - sweeping valleys on both sides! I didn't have much time to process it though as the guy took off in front of me and I started down after him. I don't love to race downhills because I always feel like I'm going to lose my balance, but in this case I'd been doing the math and even with that slower uphill mile, as long as I could get the last mile in under 10 minutes I was going to PR and even come close to my time goal! And it was the downhill that never seemed to end. I passed the guy who helped me up the hill, and as we came down into the downtown area, picked off another guy too. Mile 6 buzzed in at 9:03 even with the rest of that uphill thanks to gravity, and the clock placed at the mile marker was 58-something so it was going to be close! I knew which street to watch for to make the final turn and heard one of the course workers radio my bib number up to the finish line announcer, but I was solely focused on the finish and definitely didn't hear them call my name (though Mike assures me that they did). It was yet another tiny downhill and I tried to surge as I heard footsteps coming up behind me but 3 people came sprinting out of absolutely nowhere and passed me right before I crossed the line.
I tried to stop my watch but apparently after the earlier snafu it didn't want to stop and instead lapped again as I got my medal and water and wandered around a little bit attempting to find Mike. Once I connected with him again I noticed it was still going and eventually managed to get it to stop. It immediately congratulated me on my fastest 5k, 10k, and mile times (per Garmin, anyway) and said 6.3 miles total. I'm not sure how much I added on the course as opposed to the extra wandering around afterwards. My official time was 1:00:09, and between the watch nonsense and not having a chipped start, it's hard to say if I really got in under an hour or not. Either way a PR is a PR, and I'm super happy regardless as I thought with that beast of a hill that there wasn't really much of a chance for me!
We nabbed donuts (Tim Horton's, what?!) and I wrapped up in my heat sheet, glad I'd had the foresight to bring it along. I saw the guy who helped keep me going up the hill and thanked him. It wasn't even 10AM yet and food wasn't happening until 11, so after puttering around a little (there wasn't much going on at the finish area and it was mostly shady) we decided to take the provided shuttles back to the start, change, and try to warm up, then go back down to the finish area where lunch was being provided in the arena. That was definitely the right choice as even on the bus ride back I was starting to get uncomfortably cold (no thanks to the one guy who opened a window and let out all the heat for no apparent reason) and being all sweaty and wet was not helping.
We drove the course on our way back downtown, which is how I got the course pics above and the video below - sorry for the foggy windows and silly commentary! At least this gives a sense of what that big dumb hill and the view after it looked like!
They'd set up the banquet in the arena where the Wheeling Nailers play, and since there'd been a game the night before it was quite chilly - not sure if the ice was still there under our feet, but it wasn't as warm as I'd hoped for, though changing had helped since at least I wasn't wearing cold wet running gear anymore.
After some various speakers and whatnot, we were invited to eat, and I crammed way too many potatoes and pieces of buttered bread into my face (this was the first plate)...
And then after lunch was over we explored the Center Market, got some warm beverages, and ate even more food...
Overall that was a great race for both of us! We both got PRs and I know I'm at least feeling more confident in my ability to conquer the hills in the Amish Country Half. There will be more of them, but my legs are strong and as long as I pace myself and take advantage of the downhills properly, there's no reason that I can't have another good day in just three short weeks!
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