Less can be more when it comes to Road Runner Races, and Fort Hunt 10k Recap

Less is More: Small Club Races can offer a different experience than big gigs

Last weekend I ran a small club 10k, the Fort Hunt 10k (more on my experience at the race later).  I realized something, despite seeming irrelevent and pointless to some, these tiny road runner club races bring out the true runners, the purists, who just want to race against their peers.  They don't care about the race schwag, post-race party, or getting a shot at an age group award.  They just come out to run.

I started looking at some stats.  Also that weekend was the 4 Courts 4 Miler race, a great community run through Arlington that I have thoroughly enjoyed running in past years.  4 Courts however has a lot more of the buzz and pizaz of a typical sponsored road race, and an entry fee of usually 30-40 bucks.  My club 10k was free, but I think of the cost as being negligible since the race fee does tend to get you a tech t-shirt and post-race alcoholic beverage.

Now, back to the stats game.  I would say a good indicator for a 10k is how many runners finish under 40 minutes, a respectable time for a 10k (minute per mile pace of 6:26).  To accurately compare this to the 4 Courts 4 Miler I will normalize the times for the 4 Courts race using the McMillan Running calculator as a baseline.  McMillan says a 40 minute finish in a 10k is equivalent to a 25:02 finish in a 4 Miler.  4 Courts starts downhill but has a big climb at the end too, so lets round up to 25:10 for the purposes of this study.

4 Courts 4 Miler - Finisher Info (with times normalized to relative 10k baseline time)

• total number of finishers: 1,552
• winning time: 20:18 (32:26)
• time of 10th place finisher: 24:53 (39:46)
• percentage of finishers under baseline time: less than 1% (14/1,552)

Fort Hunt 10k - Finisher Info

• total number of finishers: 76
• winning time: 36:18
• time of 10th place finisher: 39:54
• percentage of finishers under baseline time: 14.5% (11/76)

Nothing beats an "official" looking race clock!

What conclusions can one draw from this?

• About as many "fast guys" show up for small, community races as do for big races with high numbers of participants (10th place finish of both races was very similar time and effort).
• The winner of big races is more of an "elite" status than smaller races, most likely because there is prize money on the line, and they are often sponsored by the same running company that puts on the race!
• Big races are better for casual or beginner runners looking to have some fun - there just isn't much to get excited about in no frills small races if you already don't love to run.
• The general [running] public will pay a race fee to get a bigger production with shirts and a post-run party.  Purists are more in it for the run only and could give or take the extra goodies and race fee.
• Marketing works - big visibility from marketing and advertising with incentives (like goodie bags) draw out much bigger crowds than small races (where you usually have to be "in the know" to even know they are going on).

Most of these conclusions should not come as a surprise, but as an engineer with an affinity for data and over-analyzing that data I find it interesting to compare!

Fort Hunt 10k Recap:

Okay, back to my actual racing experience.  After checking last years results I had ambitions of maybe placing in the top 3 finishers.  Having run under 61 minutes at the Army 10 miler about a year and a half ago, I felt like I am capable of holding 6 minute miles for a 10k (which would net close to a 37:15 time), however, I was in peak shape back then with a focus on speed.  Since then I have been focused more on distance, and am still in kind of a comeback phase after my leg injury last fall.  I ran a mile to warm-up, felt stiff, tired, and dead-legged.

When the race got underway I soon adjusted my goal to just breaking 40 minutes.  I was able to keep up mostly steady splits and found a pack gunning for a sub-40 to stick with for the final 2 miles.  I was happy enough to be running moderately fast, especially on dead legs.

The course itself was great.  5 mostly flat laps on an access road around Fort Hunt park.  The weather was cold for standing around (probably upper 30s, dry and clear) but great for racing.

Almost there!! I am NOT going to finish
above the 40 minute mark!!

Rock-n-Roll USA Half-Marathon: This Weekend

Looking forward I remain cautiously optimistic.  The sore ankles and dead legs was a bit of a setback but mostly a mental one.  The Rock-n-Roll USA half marathon is this weekend.  I am getting excited about the buzz of a big city race and am happily pacing a friend for the first half of his marathon.  He wants a sub 3:08:00 Marathon, so I am making him to an even half-marathon split of 1:34:00.  This shouldn't feel "fast" for me, but enough of a workout and enough to test the waters for my ability to run at a faster pace for a long period of time.  I am tempted to run the full, but that would be a foolish, unneeded risk in my journey to get to the starting line at Boston healthy and injury free.  Successful completion of this half-marathon in my planned time should mean I am in good shape for Boston.

Me and a few buds after the race last
year.  Randy (blue shirt) is shooting fora
3:05 Full.  I'll be pacing Reza (white shirt)
for a 3:08 Marathon.

Me running this race last year, with
 the Capital building behind me.