Knights of Columbus 10k Race Report

9th overall/252 finishers

Simply put, this race was hard. 500 dollars for first attracts some amazing runners, and it was fun to just dawdle along at a strong tempo pace and watch them at the turnarounds. I had a feeling similar to a morbid curiosity to see how these athletes work; kind of like a kid that dissects small animals but without all of the future serial killing.

Pre-Race:
Woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed after spending Friday packing my belongings for the trip up to New York after the race. It was a lot of packing because you always have to be prepared for the inevitable zombie attack (Plan: 1. fill back pack with food and sharp objects, 2. bike over GW bridge into NJ, 3. Realize how much NJ sucks and bike back into New York to face the zombies--they are better than Jerseyites). Anyway, travelled to the race site after a big bowl of Peanut Butter Panda Puffs and immediately saw Jeff Gaudette (pro runner) and a group of Africans. Now, I don't want to reinforce ethnic stereotypes, but these guys looked FAST. I guess it's a good ethnic stereotype though, similar to Asians being good at math or Ukranians knowing how to treat a lady (Why, I am of Ukranian heritage, thanks for asking!). I thought about signing up under my pseudonym (Bone Dreamcrusher) in order to avoid contamination of my results page, but I decided to sign up under the boring David Roche. Quick 15 min jog, 2 strides, and THEY'RE OFF!

Race:
The Knights of Columbus 10k is notoriously climby like a trail race on perfect roads. The lead group vanished rather quickly (see kids, stereotypes are ALWAYS right!) with a sub-4:40 first mile with slight elevation loss. I started easy in the second group and no watch...so thankfully no way to measure time gaps at the turnarounds. Hit the steep, long hills in the middle miles. Like usual, I passed runners on the downs and held on the ups as much as possible while keeping my heart rate low. At this point, I was holding about 11th place. Two one's are better than one, right? Oh, it's not. Time to move forward. Kicked at mile 4 and ticked off a 5:09 mile to take ninth for good. Finished comfortably in no man's land between the first tier and the second tier of runners. Racing No Man's Land is named after WWI no man's land--finishing hurts the legs like barbed wire on an assault (comparing athletics to war is always an awesome idea!). 34 high duathlon sim (the course depressed times by about a minute or more from PRs across the top end) is great prep for Du Worlds in under 3 weeks. Also a good, comfortable pace for escaping the undead in the coming zombie wars.