Run to Remember 11k Race Strategy

This Sunday is the 15th annual Run to Remember 11k/5k. I've signed up for the 11k and am really looking forward to it. I don't remember if they've always done the two race distances or if this is something they started recently, but I like it. I've run the 5k a couple of times in the past, and have enjoyed it. I'll write up a full race report after the fact on Sunday or Monday, but the main thing I wanted to outline was my general plan for the weekend and for Sunday.

After jetting over to pick up my race packet after work, I'm going to slog through the heat and humidity to get a 5 mile "easy" run in this evening. I took yesterday off, and intend to take tomorrow as a rest day as well, so even though it's awful outside (feels more like mid-July than early September), I got to get that run done. That's the bad news.

The good news is that it is supposed to cool off considerably by Sunday, but I'm willing to bet the forecast will be slightly off, and it'll still be really humid and steamy come race morning. This may actually be advantageous, as I've been running outside in this horrible soup for a couple months now, while a lot of the runners on Sunday will have been indoors on the treadmill, making for a very terrible wake up call. The race doesn't even start until 8:45, so it will likely be in the high 70's by then and should feel like the mid 80's with the humidity.

My plan is to go out slower than I think is fair, at least for the first 2-3 miles, for a couple reasons. First, this will ensure I don't flame out by mile 5 or 6 so I can finish strong. Second, it'll be very
tempting to run faster because the temperature will be lower, but the humidity will be high, preventing sweat evaporation and cooling. And finally, I can guarantee that a large portion of the other runners will go out hard simply from the excitement of the race. This happened back in May at the Memorial Day 5k I ran. Within the first half mile people had started walking and I spent most of the race picking runners off who had poorly timed their pacing for the humid weather.

I'm not going to set any land speed records, but for me, I can't expect to finish well if I try to push a very fast pace right out of the gates. The goal is to run smart, but to also end the race 100% spent so that my time is respectable. We'll see how I fare.

The course is a fairly flat one that goes from the Inner Harbor down into the Federal Hill, out to Ft. McHenry before turning around and heading over to M&T Bank Stadium and then coming back into Federal Hill and ending at Federal Hill Park.

 If that sounds and looks familiar, it should, as I ran an adjusted version of this course on Saturday when I did my 10 mile long run. I wanted to see a large portion of the course, particularly the parts around the stadium. The only serious inclines come along Fort Ave and then the two overpasses on either side of the stadium and even those aren't bad at all.

Like I said, I'll write everything up on Sunday to go through how I did and if I was able to stick to this plan, etc. Should be lots of fun no matter what and there's a free Shackmeister Ale, courtesy of Shake Shack, waiting for me at the finish line, so that's all the motivation I need.