29 January 2017

Jus ReRun 10K

This morning, I ran the Jus ReRun 10K here in Las Vegas. It was put on by a local organizer Jus Run and had distances of 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon. It was a recycled race meaning that the shirts, finisher medals and awards were all leftovers from other Jus Run races.

The 5K and 10K were out-n-back on a paved trail with the half marathon and marathon doing multiple loops on the 10K plus a little extra out-n-back on the end to make up the distance.  Aid stations were at the 5K and 10K turnarounds as well as at the finish line which means that all distances saw an aid station appoximately every 1.55 miles throughout their race.

starting out with the crowd
The course was a gradual climb for the first half which meant a nice descent to the finish.  It was open to other runners/cyclists and there was one spot where we had to dodge a pair of cyclists who weren't expecting a horde of runners as they came around a corner. To their credit, they braked extremely hard and as a cyclist, I felt their pain.

The climb took a little bit of a toll as my pace dropped each mile on the way out. Miles 2 and 3 were 40-45 seconds slower than any other mile.  As I neared the turnaround,  I began to take note of how many people were ahead of me and counted 11.  At that point, I had no idea how many of them were marathoners or half marathoners since all three distances started together.  Once I did my u-turn and started back towards the start/finish line, my pace noticeable picked up.  Around Mile 4, I passed one runner and continued hard on the gradual downhill.  At Mile 5, I looked at my Garmin and say that I was slightly ahead of my goal pace of 9 min/mile and picked it up a bit more and covered the final mile in 8:09 to finish in 54:05. This was good for 8th of 39 overall, 6th of 20 males and 1st of 4 finishers in my age group. It was also slightly over two minutes faster than the Lake Mead 10K. Different days, different courses but it was very nice to get in my first race under 9 min/mile since Oct 15.
post-race with my 1st place age group ribbon



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