The Mission Inn Run

On Sunday, November 8, 2009 I ran the Mission Inn 10K. Sunday was World Running Day...a little tidbit of useless trivia.

I was very excited about this run. I had read great reviews about the event and knew they had a strong race tradition after 35 years of putting on the race. A November run would mean cooler temperatures and a mostly flat course would mean faster times. An added bonus was that we started in a small downtown area and then looped around a lake would would provide terrific views. The only draw back was the idea of running the 5K loop two times. The second time around is almost always boring.

I was pleasantly surprised at the first mile a man was standing there with a stop watch yelling out the mile times. 8 minutes and 40 seconds he shouted! Mile 2, always my worst mile...the drudgery sets in. 17 minutes another guy shouted. I was shocked, really?! Well, the bad part is that now I start calculating end times in my head. I always run the first 3 miles faster than the second three. But, I always hope that I will miraculously speed up so I get excited that I could shatter previous records. We came upon a steeply graded hill half way through the second mile...such a shocker. At the end of that 2nd mile we came out onto the downtown streets again where the crowds were waiting. We merged with the half marathoners at that point and the crowd was cheering. The kids were yelling "Go Mommy Go!" The guy at the 3rd mile marker shouts out 28 minutes! Not bad, I think...but still 27 would have been better and now I know I'll likely come in right around an hour for the whole race. My hopes of a 56 or 57 minute race are dashed.

I make the loop and I'm headed back down the downtown streets when I see that Rami and the kids had crossed over and are on my right now. I glance behind me and there's a few people to my right but most are headed left because we're going to make a turn soon. I sprint over to the side of the road to high five the kids because they are so excited and then they come out on the street and start running a little with me. Mom mode sets in and I get nervous that one of them will trip and fall and trip another racer. They were so proud and they really love getting involved with me. I veer back over to the left and I'm more motivated from seeing their happy faces.

4th mile and the guy with the stop watch shouts out 37 minutes. I'm back on my pace. Then I feel a large group coming up behind me and out of the corner of my eye I see the Riverside County Firefighters in cadence closing in on me. They are speeding up, they had started at the back of the race and they're moving up strong. They pass me shortly after I cross the 4th mile mark. A little deflating to be passed by a large group of runners at that point. I decide to step it up while it's flat because once I come out of this mile I know that I'm going to encounter that hill again. I'm thinking about my strategy for the hill. Do I stop and take the water from the water station and walk up the hill while I'm drinking my water or do I just blaze up the hill as fast as I can and skip the water? I decide to just do it and not take chances stopping for water.

I come up the hill, trying to stay strong, turn the corner into downtown. I know there's about a half mile left. I want to stop...but now I can't. I've run without stopping the whole race. I can do this last half mile. As a matter of fact I'm intending on sprinting the last .2 miles and coming in strong.

6 mile marker...58 minutes Even, the guy shouts!

I decide to hold pace to the final turn. At that point it's one block to the finish. I turn the corner and lay down a full sprint. I crossed at 59:03 according to the official clock. My Garmin, that is fickle during races, decided it didn't want to turn off. 30 minutes later in the car it beeped that I was going 30 miles per hour. LOL. Ultimately the Garmin says I finished the actual race portion around 58:20. Minutes and seconds matter in these kind of things.

I'm sticking with my official time of 59:03. Not a personal record (that's still the Lake Elsinore run that I clocked at 58 even). This run is still a mental favorite. With recent runs coming in slightly over the one hour mark I'm excited to be a full minute under my Playa Del Rey time.

As a side note: The female winner of the 10K, who smoked everyone with a time of 35 minutes also won the half marathon for her sex. That means....this 33 year old woman ran (and WON) a half marathon at 7am in 1 hour and 18 minutes. She had 12 minutes to recover and get 3 blocks back to the starting line and then she ran the 10K and WON that too. 13.1 miles and then another 6.2 just for fun! Slightly over 5 minute miles for 19+ miles. WOW! I get excited when I get an 8 minute mile and I'm happy when I run a race with an average pace that is around 9 minutes and 30 seconds. I chuckled when I thought about these winners of the races. Their times mean they are running close to 15 miles per hour and at one point during the race I saw a speed posted sign for automotive traffic that read Speed limit 15 mph. Funny!