Tunnel Hill 10 miles November 3 2007

(Marvin) This has become one of my favorite races. It even made Runners World Magazine "nations top 10 of 10 mile races." The field can only support 200 people, so you have to register about two months in advance. The four years that I have been running it the weather has been perfect (cool and sunny). Packet pick up is in Vienna and the race starts ten miles up at Tunnel Hill. Take a bus or in my case my wife drives me to the tunnel. The course is an old railroad that has been converted into a trail. The tunnel is at the beginning of the race and is 500 feet long. It would be bad if you had to finish through the tunnel because it is very disorienting in the middle. I can only imagine how tough it would be to run straight, being tired, and not falling down. I knew that I wouldn't break my last year time, so I went out with a more conservative pace. Dave and I ran together for the first 3 miles before we settled into our own paces. When I pulled ahead another runner kept right behind me. After a mile I slowed a little to get side by side and had the silent understanding that we would use each other to keep pace. This has always been a great strategy for me to run my best. Towards the end I was making ground and passed two people in the final mile. My pace partner had more gas in the tank towards the finish and pulled ahead of me, but I was happy with my time. I finished 1:08:35, 6:52 pace, 1st 30-34, 15th/189. My paces were as followed 1-6:38, 2-6:54, 3-7:23, 4-6:43, 5-6:41, 6-6:53, 7-6:56, 8-7:00, 9-6:52, 10-6:43. I feel relieved after this race because the race season is winding down for me. Marathon training is about to begin, my knee is fully healed, there are not many races to do, and it feels like I should come out of this winter faster than before.

(David) Why did I let Marvin talk me into this run? I have never run 10 continuous miles before. We did run over 10 miles for the Monster Adventure Race but that was not continuous. (Check out the blog for that one, it was tough.) As I said in Anna Colorfest Biathlon blog, I usually quit running by this time of the year. Somehow Marvin talked me into it, or I talked myself into it. I figured up that since Anna, three weeks ago, I have ran three times, mountain biked twice, and rode my exercise bike twice. I don’t think I was ready for this run. My goal was to run with Marvin for the first two or three miles and then run eight or nine minute miles after that. I ran with Marvin for the first three miles, he said that third mile was his slowest, sorry. Once I slowed down I had quite a few people pass me. After a group of five passed me I decided I would try to pace them. It seemed to work. One of the group slowed and I passed him, the only one I passed the entire race. I kept the rest of the group in sight and ended up with a time of 1:13:49, 5th out of 17 for age 35-39, and 27th out of 189. I was very happy with this time. My goal was to get under 1:20, and run eight minute miles. My mile times were: 6:39, 6:54, 7:23, 7:23, 7:37, 7:39, 7:31, 7:44, 7:34, and 7:30 so I was pretty consistent. However, I ended up paying for it in the end. I am writing this on the Monday after the race and I am still very sore. The bottom of my feet started hurting about mile seven and still hurt. My thighs, hamstrings, calves, etc. all hurt. I called in sick for work yesterday because I have to walk around a lot there. After the race I had to leave early so I could get home and go to work. I probably should have called in sick that day too and soaked in ice water all day. I don’t like leaving races early because one of the fun things to do is talk to the other runners and swap stories. There were quite a few people that I wanted to talk to, I guess that’s how it goes. This is a pretty good race. I like the Tunnel Hill Trail, Marvin and I biked it once down and back, about 93 miles. They limit the run to 200 runners and it is apparent why at the starting line. We were packed in there pretty tight. I started with Marvin and probably should have started farther back. Being on an old railroad bed it is pretty flat. Running through the tunnel can be pretty disorientating. I just tried to keep my eyes on the back of the guy in front of me. There is a point in the middle of the tunnel where you can see both ends but everything else is pitch black. It is easy to start running at an angle and not realize it. The run is very scenic, but I never really looked around. I just kept looking straight ahead. I will probably run this race again. I know now that I need to train a lot more for it. I guess I need to extend my running / riding season.