Fall came quickly. It happened Saturday afternoon, Oct 16, 2021, while I was sitting in Scott Stadium watching UVA beat Duke 48-0.
At the 12:30 pm game start, the sun shone and 75 degrees with clouds drifting in from the west. Before the end of the first quarter, a strong front came through with heavy rains and a little wind. By the middle of the fourth quarter, the sun was shining, the clouds had cleared, and the temperature and dew point started dropping.
With the overnight radiational cooling, I awoke the next day to a temperature in the mid-40s for the first time this fall. By 6:40 am, I started my journey to Spotsyltucky Courthouse to run the 10km Run through History.
Today was the 11th edition for this race and the 8th edition using the course through the Spotsylvania Battlefield.
The Spotsy YMCA managed this race. The race course went through the subdivision, south, and east of the courthouse for the first three years. By 2014, the YMCA worked with the National Park Service and Spotsy Sheriff Dept to run on Brock Road, Route 208 bypass, and the Spotsylvania Battlefields.
The Battle of Spotsylvania between May 9 and 21, 1864, was the second major battle between Grant’s and Lee’s forces. The first battle was at Wilderness, about 10 miles to the northwest, which was inconclusive. Grant’s troops outnumbered Lee’s 2 to 1, and Grant searched for more favorable ground.
The YMCA placed historical signs along the race route with information on the battle for those you wanted to learn as they ran.
This battle was inconclusive, and Lee moved south toward Richmond with battles at North Anna and Cold Harbor before the nine-month siege of Petersburg.
After picking up my race number, I headed out around 7:30 am to run for 20 minutes before coming back to find a long restroom line at 25 – 30 Espresso. Fortunately, I had spotted porta pots at two locations, three behind a construction fence and two behind Anytime Fitness. A few people followed me, going to the latter set where there was no line.
I had on shorts over compression shorts and Saucony Endorphin Speed 2. I put on my old red FARC singlet, gloves, gaiter, and an overshirt.
I ran another 5 minutes before getting near the start with about 3 minutes to spare. Most were gathered in the sun about 100 meters from the start line. By that time, the temperature was up to 48 degrees with a 43-degree dew point. There was a slight, not noticeable wind.
I wrapped my over shirt around my waist as, if I bonked, I wanted something to keep me warm while I walked to the finish.
With one minute before the start, the crowd still had not moved toward the start line, even with the RD’s prodding. As I moved toward the start, I joked at the RD to fire the gun and get their attention. The faster runners did make it to the line with a few seconds to spare, and we were off.
The first mile is slightly uphill and flat on Brock Road. We got into the battlefield park at about mile 1.5. The route through the park is downhill until the two-mile marker, then ups and down until mile five. The course leaves the park just after mile 5 and runs straight on Route 208 bypass with a slight uphill, finishing in Spotsylvania Courthouse Village.
My first mile was a 9:36 and my second was a 9:04. By that time, there were only five people I could see in front of me. I tried to keep visual contact with the runner at the front, as he was in my age group.
As I went up the hill in mile three, I shortened my stride and increased my cadence, doing the uphill mile in 9:25. By the fourth mile, which I did in 9:06, I had passed three of the five runners and lost visual contact with all but one.
I ran the fifth mile, increased my cadence on the uphills in 8:48, hoping to reel in the two runners in front of me. I finally was able to regain visual contact just before turning onto Route 208. But, as hard as I could run on the bypass, I could not reel them in, running the sixth mile in 8:55.
Knowing I wouldn’t catch the final two, I still pushed for a two-minute flat last .213 miles.
My finish time of 56:57 was 2:40 slower than last year. Perhaps last week’s marathon or the extra 7 pounds and one year didn’t help.
I ran a 15-minute cooldown, put on a sweatshirt, and hung out for the awards in the sun.
I finished 56th overall, 36th male, and 8th in the 60 to 69-year-old age group. All my competitors in my Grand Prix age group finished behind me.
I’m happy with my negative splits and groin, hamstring, and quad muscles not giving me issues. There are two more Grand Prix races to run.