I was in Rouen this week to close on a house in Bois-Guillaume. Driving around on Friday I noticed road closure signs for the Bois-Guillaume 10K and Half Marathon races this Sunday. Technically, registration was closing on Thursday at 4 pm but the city website was listing Friday instead. I managed to get one of the organizers on the phone who accepted to sign me in given the website error, super nice of her! For my first race this year, about time...
Like most of this year, the week was quite rainy again but the forecast for this Sunday had no rain but overcast skies and temperatures in the 58-60F range: great running conditions! The 10K course:
There were about 800 runners on the 10K starting at 12:30 pm, and 400 participants in the Half Marathon at 2:30 pm. That was a certified course and FFA-sanctioned event (Fédération Française d'Athlétisme, the equivalent of our USATF), there were a few big guns on the front. My main goal was to test which speed I still had in me, an aspect I didn't have the time and opportunity to gauge based on such a long and late recovery.
One of the last 10K runners had collapsed on the course at the finish so our start got delayed for almost 15 minutes, the time that the ambulance got off the course.
I didn't have much to lose so decided to start ahead of the 1:30 pace group. I clocked 6:37 for the first mile, a pace which felt rather uncomfortable, breathing wise, as I've not been running under 7:40 min/mile since March. Philippe Levasseur took and posted 3,648 photos of us!
I slowed down to 6:53 in the second mile but was able to push a bit in miles 3 and 4, respectively at 6:44 and 6:45. But that was way too fast given my current form and I had to slow down again to a 7:08 mile, which led me to get passed by the 1h30 pace group, which had about 10 runners. I still managed to complete the first loop in 45 minutes but I was so tired, I contemplated dropping at the halfway mark. Then I remembered that I had run 12 half marathons in a row at Spartathlon, I may well do one today!
But, coming back from the dead, I wasn't able to smile to the photographer on the second lap, sorry!
Thanks to the encouragements of spectators and volunteers spread along the 10K-loop, I kept pushing, now completely outside my comfort zone. On the second lap I clocked slower miles from 7:11 to 7:32. But I managed to finish at least, in an embarrassing time of 1:33:45. 60th overall and, to my surprise, 1st in my M60-64 age group. Embarrassing for someone who broke 1:15 at 49 and ran 50Ks at faster pace in his 50s... But definitely taking it, while it lasts...
I'm glad that my average stride got much longer than the past weeks, at 1.22 meters, but that's still so far from my 1.35 meter marathon stride. I'm stunned by how much glutes and hamstring strength I lost this year, it's going to be a significant uphill effort to rebuild, literally speaking. I also lost quite some VO2max apparently, my lungs are trashed tonight, with some asthma, which hadn't happened in a while. Still, I wasn't bothered by the knee at least, an encouraging sign I can ramp-up the training. I'm also very glad that I was able to get back to same-day race reports, after barely making the same-year deadline for my Spartathlon report!
A few additional stats from my Coros watch (I also ran with my Garmin):
My sister and brother in law joined me at the finish. I jogged back to their house, a mile from the start/finish area, to shower, then we drove back right away for the award ceremony.
That was an urban run and I was impressed how the local community came together to ensure our safety along the course, special thanks to all these volunteers! Very timely and professional timing system from ChronoBoost.fr, with real-time online results. I was also very grateful to the organizers for letting me register at the last minute!
I'm sorry I missed our annual Ruth Anderson Memorial in San Francisco (50K/50-mile), but what a way to get introduced to my future city and running community!
PS: award ceremony pictures.
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