The Fort Hood Army 10 Mile Shadow Run

This was the third year in a row running this race. 

Two years ago, I remember being happy that I completed the race.  I was still new to distance running and hadn’t learned how to prevent cramping in my legs.  I didn’t even realize the pain I was feeling was cramping at the time, as it wasn’t a traditional charlie horse style cramp and instead was a solid pain in my leg muscles.  I finished that race in 1:32:42 and was very happy with the performance.

Hard to read but that's me in the box

Last year, I was peaking during my training for my upcoming marathon and I had one of my top three road race performances for the year at this race.  I’d been running a lot and made PRs at the one mile, 5k, and 10k distances during this race.  I took nearly 10 minutes off my best 10 mile time, too, and finished in 1:12:42. 

2017 results

2017 - Cruising to some PRs

This year, I’m in a different place as I train for a different event and recently got back into training after an injury.  But I was excited and ready to see how I could do on this race. 

I got out to the race start early so I could get good parking and get ready for the race.  I ran about a half mile to get things moving and stretched a bit while chatting with various friends.  I was talking about the course with folks and probably exaggerating the bad hill during mile two and underselling the rolling hills in the middle six miles.  It’s all relative, though, as I tried to explain to someone after the race.  Once you run that big hill early in the race, the later, smaller hills aren’t really noticeable.

I went out probably a little quicker than I should have.  I was only a few seconds off my time from last year at the one and two mile marks but I dropped off the pace after that.  I was confident I could hit a time in the 1:10’s range and two miles in, I thought a 1:15 was realistic.  But the heat and humidity started to get to me.  I ran this race without a handheld water bottle and that was probably a mistake in hindsight.  At the water points, I grabbed water cups but it’s hard to keep pace and drink water from a cup, so I ended up with most of it pored over the top of my head or spilled down my chest.  

Through the halfway point, I felt strong, but my pace slowed down.  I knew I was closer to a pace that would take me to 1:20 and I’d have to push to keep on it.  I had a few runners ahead of me but I wasn’t making any progress on catching any of them.  Neither were the folks behind me at that point.  I was holding solid at 21^st place.  I regularly count my position at the start of the race and confirm it on out and back races like this one. 

On the way back, I passed two runners and was passed by one putting me into 20^th place with about one mile to go.  The long downhill near the end was almost harder than the uphill at the start.  It took a lot of energy to control my pace and stride coming down the steep portion and I felt the impact of each step in my knees.

The last little bit of the course is an uphill to the finish line.  I could feel someone behind me but I never look back during races to check.  I was feeling the heat, humidity, and distance but pushed up that hill hoping the person behind me wasn’t gaining.  

That final hill

I finished the race today in 1:19:32.  It’s crazy how loaded the 40-49 male division is in this area, as I took 20^th overall but 9^th in the age category!  

2018 results

I’m really happy with how the race went today.  After the Ragnar last weekend, I felt confident I could get a sub 1:20 10 miles in and I was right on that pace.  I have the Houston Half Marathon coming up at the end of October and it’s another race that I absolutely rocked last year.  I’m excited to run it again as it was my favorite road race of all 2017.  

Finish line selfie!

Run Hard

Be Grateful

Celebrate Love