Jones Ten-miler -- Sun. Feb. 27

Another lovely day (hah!), but not too cold -- arrive in good time, and dodge puddles and snow to go and register ($35! not cheap). See SteveO with lovely golden retriever Brady, and several other old faces. Back to car to change, then run for a bit to loosen up. Find Ken and Nick, also Dawn and Kara; Nick assumes we're running together, and I'm dithering, but in the end decide to do it -- see what he can manage. He's aiming to get 7:30s or so, but I figure 7:15s. He's done 8 miles (I thought 10) at 7:17, so it's in reach.

Take it easy for first mile after a slow start, but pace is still quick for him (6:40s). Then on to the main route, with me trying to slow us down a bit, but not too much. That holds till we get to the steeper hill, as we're pacing Rich C all the way. The hill wears Nick down, but stick with him and he recovers at the top. Looking strong right up to the reservoir, but slower to pick up there (and the going's not easy. Finally make a bit of pace once we get to the downhill stretch, and I tell him I'll stick around to 8 mile mark.

Once we get to 8 miles down, at the start of the open straight, decide to stick with him -- he's doing well and I want to make sure he doesn't slow down, and also be there at the end to see how he does. By this point, unless he folds heavily in the last uphill, I'm thinking possible 1:13 for him. The uphill near the end is tough, but hang around and he keeps coming back, and then finally we're over the crest and I'm nagging him on to the last loop. Figure he's got a sprint in him so stick close, and as we come to the last 100 yards or so he attacks and so I go hell for leather for the line (not going to just let him win!). Pull a couple of seconds away there, ending thus:

Time: 1:11:57 (official)
Distance: 10 miles (")
Pace: 7:12s

Comment: my first race as a coach! I was elated to find Nick had beaten 1:12, and quite happy to have spent the 35 bucks on a non-race effort. It was a perfect MPace workout for me, and the final sprint reminded me how much I need to work on sprinting! (and my quads were *sore* after that!). With warm up miles and a bit of a cool down run around town I managed 13.93 total. A useful day. The after race eats were generous and various; chatted with Ken for a bit, then headed home.