Hermes Towpath 10-10 (part 2 of Towpath Trilogy) Race Report

This past Sunday I participated in the Towpath 10-10 race.  This year a Trilogy series was created to highlight the area Towpath.  The first race was a half marathon this past April.  The Towpath 10-10 was the second race in the series and the Towpath Marathon in October will be the final race in the trilogy.  This race had two options, a 10K and a 10 miler.  I participated in the 10 miler.

New for the second race was title sponsor, Progressive.  If you are not from around here.  Progressive Insurance is one larger employers in Northeast Ohio, quite possibly the largest.  It is cool to see one of the big companies in the area step up and support people being active.  Even with a new sponsor, this race was a bit pricey for a 10 miler.  With an on-line processing fee.  The cost for the 10 miler was 49 dollars and some change.  I'm pretty new to the running game, but that seems a bit pricey for 10 miles.  I did hear that the money does go towards OCC Towpath, which is good, because I really don't feel like I got my money's worth on this one.

Packet pickup was the day before the race at Quaker Steak and Lube.  My plan was to ride to and from packet pickup  as it would have been a nice 40 mile ride.  Unfortunately, I could not find my bike lock.  I moved this past October and apparently I misplaced my bike lock and I wasn't about to leave my new ride anywhere unprotected.  Also wasn't in the mood to roll my bike through the bar like a tool.  So, I road here locally and made the trip to Independence in the afternoon.  In retrospect I wish I would have eaten there as their wings are freaking outstanding, but I didn't want to miss out on carbs as I had been doing a lot of cardio the past few days.  Packet pickup was pretty easy except for a volunteer who was a little disgruntled that I wouldn't sign a petition.  Sorry, but with all the information stealing lately.  I'm signing a document for a complete stranger.

The race started pretty early on Sunday at 7am.  So, I was up at 4:30 going through my pre-race routine and made the quick trip to Valley View.  Parking was about a mile and a half from the start.  Yes, for fifty dollars the closest parking was a mile and a half away.  I think for the price they could have atleast shuttled people.  I made my way to the start and was feeling fairly nervous as my hip was tight.  I shrugged it off and made my way to the start.  Sipping water and GU along the way.

I grabbed a spot in the middle and actually saw fellow tweep @StephCharles.  Now, before I get into the details of the race.  Let me tell you my plan.  I didn't do this event to score a PR or set an amazing pace.  I was off this past Friday and made the decision to ride over 100 miles between Friday and Saturday then race the 10 miler on Sunday while being tired.  The plan was to try and hold a solid marathon pace of 9:00 per mile while exhausted and fight through the adversity no matter what.

As the race started the tightness went away.  I was running an easy pace while letting the crowd of runners sort out.  The start of the course was flat and I was maintaining an easy pace in the mid 8's.   The race began heading South towards Rockside Road and we looped around down by the train station before heading back north.  The trip North was flat as well except for two bridges that are fairly steep.  I made it through the first 6-6.5 miles in roughly an hour and was feeling pretty good.  That was until I hit the water stop and slammed a GU.  I started getting sick and almost earned a @Tridiesel pukie.  It wasn't from the GU.  There was goose shit everywhere!  After taking a gel then seeing crap everywhere, was enough to send my stomach into knots.  I fought through it and regained my stride making the turn back South.  At this point I began to tire and the humidity was starting to accelerate quite a bit.  A headwind had also picked up.  I tried to focus on the music.  At this point, my average was still below 9 by a few seconds.  I came to the two bridges next and lost a bit of time.  This was the first time I slipped above 9:00 and I was really starting to feel those 100 miles at this point.  At mile 9 I came up to a group of runners and was actually passing them.  This was surprising as I usually don't pass many people at these running events.  There was even a Brighhouse photographer there as I was passing the final two.  Hopefully the photo will come out pretty cool, but I am not getting my hopes up as I look pretty horrid in my running photos.  At this point I came to mile 9.5 and I looked at my watch.  The average pace had slipped to 9:02.  I could also see the finish line in the distance.

While motivating myself to finish strong.  I remembered a video I had seen earlier in the week.  It was all about setting yourself on fire.  The video was of a State Championship Track meet where a kid ran like there was no tomorrow.  I'll link the video below.  As I thought of this, I decided to set myself on fire and run as hard as I could.  I kept running and running for what seemed like an eternity.  I came to the finish and tried to look cool for the finisher photo by flashing the number 9 as this was my 9th race of 2011.  At the finish, I stopped my watch.....finished in 1:29:39...making it exactly at 9:00 average per mile.

So, I collected my finisher medal and headed to the bar to enjoy a tasty beer.  I was pretty proud that I achieved my goal of riding 100 miles then running a 10 miler with a 9:00 minute pace.  It was also nice that Quaker Steak was open for us runners that morning and I got the visit with fellow tweeps @Stephcharles, @raymondromero, and @jeffreytrottier.  The Towpath 10-10 was a great race eventhough it didn't rank too high in the bang for your buck category.

Race Playlist


1. The Ecstasy Of Gold by Metallica
2. Never Let Me Down Again (Eric Prydz Remix)  by Depeche Mode
3. Love Is Darkness (Original Mix) by Sander van Doorn
4. Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) [feat. T-Pain] by Pitbull
5. Moments by DJ Tatana
6. Transmission (Public Domain Remix)  by Fast
7. Encore Une Fois - Future Breeze by Sash!
8. Enviromental Product by Brisk & Vagabond
9. World Painted Blood by Slayer
10. In My World by Anthrax
11. Crazy Horse by Black Label Society
12. Nitro by Awesome!
13. DJ Virus by Future
14. Thomas Trouble by ECHOES
15. Zwitter by Rammstein
16. Worq It by Ignition
17. Track 2 by Vicious Vic
18. Matt Darey by Electro Buzz
19. Live For This by Hatebreed
20. Exhale by Armin van Buuren featuring System F

BEAL