Baltimore 10 Miler – Humid, Hilly, and Hellish

The ten miler is an interesting distance because its long enough to require a deliberate pace, but short enough to push yourself and run uncomfortably the entire time.  I also love races that are marked off in plain and simple miles.  I know the metric system is the way of the world, but when it comes to running we pace in miles and nobody likes that little extra .1 or .2 to add at the end of a race.  Not to mention, a ten miler is long enough to use as an excuse to eat a giant brunch, and I find myself becoming a bigger and bigger fan.  Today’s post is a race recap for the Baltimore 10 miler, ran yesterday June 4th 2016.

This was my fourth ten miler.  The first two were Army ten milers, one in Afghanistan and one in DC.  The most recent was the Reston 10 miler in March.  Coming into this race I did a terrible job of scoping out the course and elevation.  I just assumed nothing could be as hilly as the Reston 10 miler and I ran that at a 6:47 pace, so being June in Baltimore I set a 7:00 mile pace goal.  I went through my normal fuel and hydration routine; a cup of coffee, Nuun water, and toast with peanut butter a few hours before the race.  16 oz of water and some Jelly Belly Sports Beans an hour prior.  My mistake was not drinking additional water right before the start due to the humidity.  It was at 85% at the start of the race.  I tried to shake that off because it was a cool 72 F with a slight breeze, and it bit me later in the race.  I cannot stress enough the importance of proper hydration based on temperature and humidity.

We stepped to the start line at 7:30 am after a salute to fallen heroes, as we had the legendary Sid Busch running with the American Flag in honor of an Army CPT who was KIA in 2006.  The gun went off and I was overzealous, again not knowing the course, and starting with a downhill I settled in at a 6:00-6:15 pace for the first two miles.  Right around mile two with the first big uphills, weird feelings started to set in.  I felt fatigued and thirsty, abnormal for me that early in a race, and was struggling to keep my pace running uphill.  I don’t train on enough hills in DC, but have always had decent hill strength in general. I slowed it down to a 7:00 pace, my original goal anyway, and did a decent job of maintaing that for the next three miles where the course stayed fairly flat and went around Lake Montibello.  I actually saw my friend Courtney as I was coming off the lake and she going going onto it.  That was a boost for me but I realized a few minutes later our contact had hit the stop button on my GPS watch and I lost my timing!  Haha I decided that may be a blessing because I was starting to feel like s**t, continuing to slow down and feeling overheated, and I needed to focus on surviving the race.

A few mins later, I did restart the watch and my pace just kept dropping.  I saw the watch fluctuate between 7:30-8:30 on some hill sections.  I tried to take a gel to help myself out and couldn’t even wash half of it down because I didn’t have water.  Two miles without a water point and it took a little toll on my stomach.  You’ve gotta have water with a carb gel.  I threw it to the ground around mile 8.  One by one people were passing me and I passed virtually no one.  The miles seemed so slow and everything seemed like an uphill.  I was gasping for air like I have never experienced and cursing the course.  I actually wanted to quit, or maybe wait for Courtney and run with her, but something deep down wouldn’t let me.

The final mile was true hell, as you can see on the course and elevation map, since its an intense incline.  I saw my friend Karen with half a mile to go and she captured this lovely photo.

I told her “Karen, I am f**king dying.”  To which she replied “No you look great!” and I said “No I don’t, I am f**king miserable.”  It is bad when I am cursing out loud on a course.

I mustered what I could to pick it up and was able to get down to 7:20 for the final half mile.  I wanted to scowl at the camera at the finish line but forced myself to keep just a simply pained look on my face as I crossed in 1:11:34, a 7:10 overall pace.  That actually surprised me but it was my decent first five miles balancing out with my crappy second five miles.  All I could think about was water, liquid, anything thirst quenching and watery that I could get in my body.  I stumbled through the chute, got my medal, grabbed water, an orange, water melon, downed gatorade, and saw my husband waiting for me at the end of the chute.  He had finished 7 minutes earlier.

We reflected on how much we hated the course and the weather, and then I got negative.  I was beating myself up over letting myself get passed, starting too fast, and things that didn’t matter because the race was over.  He “yelled” at me for being so upset with my time and hard on myself, and told me to get my proverbial head out of my ass.  Instead of sulking, I should accept that if I want a different outcome next time I fix my prep mistakes and train hills better.  AND understand that sometimes, regardless of preparation, humidity and other conditions may just slow me down.  (Despite my time, I finished 18th overall female and 5th in the 25-29 age group).  When he said that, I got my sh*t together and moved on with a smile remembering that I was also running the race because its FUN and I LOVE it. We went to cheer on Courtney to her finish and focused on enjoying the post-race party, which at this race, is actually pretty sweet!

Swerving away from my race misery, the finish medal was adorable with penguins on it in honor of the nearby zoo.  In addition, with registration to the Baltimore 10 miler you get a sweet long sleeve race premium pull-over.  Its sweat wicking material and has a zip pocket in the back to hold gels or whatever.

You also get two beer tickets and this wasn’t Michelob Ultra, it was ice cold craft beer.  A grapefruit ale and a wheat beer.  Both actually delicious and they hit the spot!  I managed to get free bottles of sunscreen and doggy bags from Channel 2 news and other vendors were there with samples and giveaways.  John’s Hopkins Physical Therapy had free ice packs and Subaru had drawstring bags.  Lastly, there was a live band!  For a 10 miler it was good swag and a good time!

The race is a great value if you register early considering the quality of the shirt, the free beer, the post race party, and the Chrono tracking options.  The race sends you an email, same day, with your final pace and breakdown for each five miles.  There is a finish line video available already, and there will be photos posted shortly.  See the example for mine HERE, where you can see how much my pace fell apart in the second half!  Parking is close because of the zoo lots near Druid Hill park and its not too terrible getting out after the race.  We drove up from DC and made it in an hour so you don’t have to get a hotel if you don’t want.  Its good for DMVers and gives you a chance to run outside the city and NoVA.

Overall the course is tough.  Regardless of humidity the hills and elevation changes are nearly constant.  I would prefer to run a course like this in March or late fall because heat and humidity just kill people during the second half of the race.  My only complaint that can actually be improved upon was the location of the water points.  They are front-loaded and back-loaded so around 7-8 miles when you could really use some water to help with, say, a Gu gel, they just aren’t there.  Simple solution – carry  your own handheld water bottle.  I don’t know if I will run the race again, but if I decide to try to redeem myself, I will carry a small water bottle.

I do recommend it if you don’t mind hills and won’t beat yourself up over a PR.  This was my slowest 10 miler time yet and I had to accept that.  You can have a ton of fun after collecting freebies and celebrating the accomplishment with friends, music, food, and beer.  Then you can spend the day exploring Baltimore!  Like we did 🙂

-Shaina