Jun
22
This past Sunday (Father’s Day), I ran in the inaugural Towpath Ten-Ten event at the Towpath Trail and Ohio and Erie Canal Reservation in Valley View, Ohio. This event has both a ten-mile and 10K event, starting at the same time in different locations and sharing a common finish line. I ran in the 10-mile event, my first race of this length and really first run of anything between a 5-miler and marathon in over seven years.
The race started off of West Canal Road in Valley View, near the Cinemark movie theater and Quaker Steak and Lube, which served as both the packet pickup and awards ceremony location. It was close to a mile walk to the starting line, which some runners complained about but which I found to be a nice early morning loosening up of the legs. The conditions were beautiful, with temperatures around 70º F at the start and a noticeable but manageable humidity.
The 10 mile course was largely an out-and-back course, with a loop just past the halfway mark. With around 300 runners in this event and 175 in the 10K, the narrow Towpath trail was adequate, even with runners running in both directions and the 10 mile leaders overtaking the rear vanguard of the 10K. I had expected this to be on the cinder trails of the Towpath, but discovered that north of Valley View the trail is actually paved – though still mostly flat and fast.
The bridge with the only real action in my Towpath 10 Miler
The planned 7:00 race start was delayed by 7 minutes while we waited for the portolet line to diminish – it was a questionable decision to place the portolets in front of the start line, otherwise it wouldn’t have been an issue due to the chip timing system used. With a 90 degree turn just 20 feet in front of the start line, I positioned myself in the first row of runners towards the inside of the turn to avoid getting cut off. While I felt selfish in doing so, I think the results justified the decision.
After the starting bell, I took off at a too-fast pace, again seeking to avoid getting cut off not just on the first 90 degree turn but also the second one which was just 100 yards further. I found myself in roughly 7th position at this point, and figured that couldn’t possibly last. Sure enough, one runner passed me shortly after that turn, but found the relative silence behind me after that point a bit surprising. I was in fact able to begin gaining ground on another runner in front of me, and passed the gentleman shortly after the mile mark, which I had crossed in 6:13. Given that my stretch goal for this race was 1:05 (a 6:30 pace), I tried to throttle back a bit.
At about 1.5 miles, the leading female runner passed me. I expected her to pull away, but was surprised to find myself hanging with her. In fact, I stayed about five feet behind her for the next 2 miles. At the first of the two bridges, I pulled even with her on the uphill, and we both passed the token “kid who went out too fast.” I allowed her to pass me on the downhill. When we reached the second bridge, I pulled ahead on the uphill, continued accelerating on the downhill, and left her behind.
This picture, in black and white, was the award for the race; it now hangs in my 5 year-old son's room
And basically, that was the race. The leaders were well spread out at this point, so the only people I saw were the 10K runners coming south on the trail, one of whom yelled out “Go Predawn!” as he passed. I knew this was Michael W., as he had planned to run the 10K. I saw the leader of the 10-miler fly by going the other way; he won in an amazing time of 49:49 (you can do the math on that pace). After the loop at the north end of the route, I started passing some 10K runners as well, a couple of dozen total. I could tell that the top female was falling further behind, and there was no one else back there. I could see no 10 mile runners in front of me either, even from atop the bridges on the return.
So the rest was just holding on, which got a bit tough after 7.5 miles as the heat and humidity started kicking up (and maybe the two-and-a-half glasses of wine the night before weren’t such a great idea). But I felt strong enough to pick it up the last mile, and closed with a 6:31 split (or so – the Garmin showed the total distance at 9.8 miles, and I forgot to turn it off after the finish) and a total time of 1:04:13 (6:25 pace, if you believe it was 10 miles). I finished sixth overall and first in my age group; I was pleased to find that all runners who finished ahead of me were at least 13 years younger. I was around 2:20 out of fifth place, and 39 seconds ahead of the first female, who finished seventh.
This was a well-run event on a scenic course, you could tell the organizers had experience pulling off this sort of event, probably gained from organizing the small-but-successful Towpath Marathon the past several years. The marathon is definitely on the future race list; as far as this event, maybe I’ll return to defend the age group title next year.
Approximate splits at the Towpath 10-Miler
