Maybe the 5K win gave me a boost of confidence. Maybe I was thinking about how I had not done a 10K in a while. Maybe I plain lost my mind, but for some reason, I signed up for a 10K that took place exactly one week after my 5K.
During the week in between, I repeated the previous week's pre-race training, but with a 40-minute tempo run on Wednesday, instead of a 30. I rested on Friday and Saturday and showed up at Paramus Park Mall bright and early in the mild, sunny morning. I had written down turn-by-turn directions, but as the parking lot got more and more crowded, it seemed I would not need it. This was a much bigger race than the previous week, I felt ill-prepared, and I was not comfortable with the size of the field.
After doing a mile warmup and walking around trying to find somewhere to put my car key (finally settling on my back pocket), it was time to line up. I went up front but stayed to the side a bit, sizing up the other runners and putting myself near the first bunch of ladies because my race is usually comparable to theirs. We were given the signal and we were off.
I had given myself a reasonable goal - finish this thing in the 40-minute range and be happy with it.
If for no other reason than to escape the crowd, I pushed off as quickly as possible, running south along Ring Road, with the mall to my right and the Garden State Parkway to my left. Crossing under the parkway onto Midland Avenue, I hit a 5:57 - my first sub-6 mile in a year. Off to a good start, but I knew there was no way to sustain that. And that was OK because a sub-40 suddenly seemed quite doable.
The leader pulled away and there was a cluster of guys behind him, then another small cluster, a couple of stragglers, then me. From what I could tell, I was maybe around 10th place. There were so many turns, it was hard to tell - two rights, and then a left on Elmwood, where there was enough of a straightaway that I could push the speed into a 6:06 second mile.
More turns - left, right, then a loop around a block. Thank goodness the turns were clearly marked and there were people ahead of me to chase. Unfortunately, there was also one person right next to me. Every time I tried to move away from him, he moved with me. I would try to drift away and he would drift right with me. He would not pass, he just stayed glued to me. Is this guy drafting me? Is that even a thing at the amateur speed we are going?
Look, I just started dipping my toes into public road racing again. My personal space boundaries since covid started have gotten huge. I started freaking out inside. And then, outside...
"Get away from me!" I yelled.
"What? It's a race," said the guy.
Realizing my outburst probably seemed insane, I tried to apologize through the huffing and puffing that came with the combination of my weird rage and trying to sustain this difficult pace.
"Just keep running," said the guy.
So I did. And on the next straightaway on Wedgewood Drive, I passed him, never looking back. I was angry at both him and myself and I was now determined to use that energy because my third mile was 6:34 and I was losing that cushion I built up.
Halfway through...math time. If I did the first three miles in 18:37, that means that if I can do the second three, plus the extra two-tenths, in 21:22 and get in under 40. Buuuuuuut, if I were to do it in 20:22, that would get me in under 39! When was the last time I did that?? Is that actually possible today???
After four more turns there was another straightaway, then two more turns around another block and another straightaway. I used those to pick up the pace to a 6:17 fourth mile. That is 24:54 for four miles. I would need about 75 seconds at the end for the last two-tenths of a mile, so I had just shy of 13 minutes to do two miles in order to finish under 39. In less than 25 minutes, my crazy brain radically shifted my goal downward by more than a minute.
After going back up Elmwood, I was in a solid ninth place. A couple more turns led to a small but significant enough hill to feel jarring after all the previous flat terrain. Just as I was thinking how rough that was in the fifth mile of a 10K, a female voice from behind me said it out loud, "Well, that's just rude!"
I had already known that the first-place woman was trailing me because I heard people cheering for her behind me. And, I expected she would pass me because she was coming in hot. What I did not expect was that as she came up to do so, she said, "Dan?!"
I turned my head to see the one and only Sarah Schillaci, an old co-worker with whom I ran many races in the late '00s and early '10s. Well, I did not so much run races with her as much as I ran races chasing her. And after hitting mile five with a 6:22, here I was again, like old times, trailing Sarah and eating her dust.
Most importantly, though, all I had to do was get around the last few turns and onto that straightaway home stretch on Ring Road, and I needed to hit that sixth mile with no more than a 6:20 if I had any chance of busting that 39 barrier. Time to make like it was 2011 and try to catch Sarah.
With a 6:19 at the six-mile marker, I had around 80 seconds to get to that finish line, which was already in sight, if I wanted a 38 on that clock.
I pushed hard as I watched Sarah cross the finish line, breaking the tape they set up for her as the first female finisher. And then, I could see the clock ticking away the last few seconds of the 38th minute. Somehow, I managed to cross the line at 38:59, making it my fastest 10K in seven years, and my third sub-39 ever. Unreal.
Of the 245 total runners, I came in 10th, taking 9th among the 138 men and finishing first of the 21 guys age 45 to 49. For that, I received a lovely medal in addition to the nice long-sleeve t-shirt.
Oh, and that guy I yelled at - I found him after the race and apologized again. We chatted for a while and he turned out to be a really nice guy. This is truly the sport with the best people.
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