Atlantic City 10k Recap

Stats: 25th place; 48'34" chip time; 24'27" 5k split; 7'50" avg. mile pace

Well that was one wet and wacky weekend in Atlantic City. I knew we were in trouble when it rained all day on the drive into town. I knew we were in deeper trouble when I saw the seedy area around our hotel. But we ventured to Caesar's casino nonetheless for packet pickup and dinner. After dinner at Morton's Steakhouse, we all turned in early with visions of a rainy morning hanging over our dreams.
It was windy and cloudy when we woke up on race day. The rain held off until we got on the boardwalk and paced around a little. We scouted the boardwalk for the best pre-race photo before settling on this Bally's sign as a background.

Professional work from the boardwalk copper

The rain quit before our start and we nervously readied ourselves for the six miles to come, quite a familiar feeling by this point. Running on the hardwood was a unique experience, but not wholly different from running on pavement. The boards didn't creak or crack and if you didn't look down you could convince yourself you were running on the road. At least there was no traffic to negotiate and no neighborhood routes on which to get lost. It was straight down and straight back. We had to suffer seeing the 5k runners turn around after 1.5 miles and head back to the start; they should have stepped it up a notch. The rain began to fall on the first 5k and I started looking out at The Atlantic once it became visible to my left. I kept a very steady pace; the iPhone consistently told me I was running around 8 minutes miles. That was fine by me and I felt comfortable in the 60 degree temperatures.

Wet wood running

After turning around the 5k road cone, I was greeted with a strong headwind. There gusts of 15 to 20 mph on occasion that nearly kept me from maintaining my stride. I warned Mike of this as we past each other. The rain continued to come down and intensified somewhat on the back half. I went into zen mode and watched the ocean waves washing onto the shore which was on my right on the return trip. I spotted a few runners who kept a similar pace and made sure to stay in sight of them. My endurance proved stronger than expected given my lax training leading up to this race. Once I saw the Bally's casino sign I started to increase the pace. The last three-quarters to half a mile, I ran between a jog and a sprint. Getting out of breath would let me rest knowing I gave my best, even in New Jersey of all places. I hit the finish sucking wind, but not totally exhausted. The weather actually helped my breathing and kept me cool.

Nice try, Ken Shelton. Computers have snipe functions now

Finish Line montage

I got the customary water and fruit/bagel or whatever they give you in the recovery station. Then, I had to duck into a restroom before meeting up with the rest of the family. I came back to the finish line to see Mike limping past the finish with a bandage wrapped around his lower leg. Uh oh, this has to have a story to it. Apparently, home boy blew out his calf ligament/tendon sprinting in the last 200 or so meters. Oh dear.

We have a runner down

Mary and Emily had significantly better stories to report. Emily finished with a near PR and Mary finished less than two minutes behind her. The consensus seemed to be that the rain was not that bad and may have even helped. And everyone was happy to score a finishers medal out of this one. Generally we only get t-shirts, but this is more like it! Below are our results, the course map, and my splits.

Love that last mile!

The recovery was filled with food. First at Caesar's as we got some lunch and left Mike to rest up at the hotel. Some celebratory gelato was a high point. We shopped briefly before the rain made us flee from the outdoor outlet stores. The rest of the evening was highlighted by dinner at Capriccio's where some people got a little carried away with their food.

Take the picture already!

The next day we stopped in Philly for a brief look around before the girls had to fly. We got to posture around the Rocky steps at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some weird Crossfit like cult was doing a routine on the steps that morning. After photo-ops, we went to the Reading Terminal Market for brunch. Then, it was time for farewells. But no need to worry, the Harmons will return to the pavement in 2014 as talks were made about the next state to fall to our 10k obsession. Look out Omaha?

Yo Ashley, I did it!