Bellin 10k - Race Report

The Bellin 10k is another race that I had on my race bucket list. In the past, though, I have always opted to race triathlons over the Bellin. The last couple years, I raced the Elkhart Lake Triathlon, which falls on the same day. This year, I have been running so much, I simply haven't found the time to get out on my bike or in the pool. I figured I would take advantage of my running fitness and finally cross the Bellin 10k off my bucket list.

The Bellin is a huge race, not just in central Wisconsin, but throughout the national running community. Regularly, the Bellin draws over 15,000 runners...for a 10k!!! In the past, they have brought in an impressive elite field, including USA Olympians, Marathon Champions, and historic running bigwigs. This year, they announced that Meb Keflezighi, who won an Olympic medal in 2004 and won the Boston Marathon in 2014. Once I heard that Meb would be running the same race I was, I was instantly thrilled about the opportunity to meet Meb.

This race will also be my first 10k in about 5 years. I had no idea what my goal time was for the race. My best 5k recently was just under 18 minutes. I then began checking last years results from the Bellin and looked up times for my age group. Without making a specific time goal, I made the goal for my race to finish in the top 100 overall and top 10 in my age group. I made a rough time goal of 37 minutes.

Training for This Race

I decided pretty late leading up to this race to register for it. Lately, I have been so focused on training for my Fall 50 ultramarathon, that I haven't trained for anything else specifically. With that all being said, I did nothing specific leading up to this race.

Prerace

The race was run on Saturday, June 11th and offered packet pick up on Friday evening. I had to work Thursday night into Friday morning. After getting a bunch of chores done around the home and around town, I made the short trip up to Green Bay to get my race packet. The packet pick up and race expo was held within Astor Park. It was very organized, as you would expect for a highly successful, large race that has been running for the past 40 years. I didn't stick around too long and pretty much left right after picking up my stuff.

Maya had her "Bridging Ceremony" for girl scouts Friday evening that our family attended. A strong storm passed through the area that evening which cut the ceremony short and we were home before 7:30. I was in bed around 9:30 and had my alarms set for 5:00am, with hopes of leaving by 6:00am. I slept pretty well and was up right about 5:00. After downing some fresh brewed coffee, I was out the door shortly after 6:00. To handle all the participants, in addition to parking in the street, the Bellin offered a shuttle service leaving from two different locations. One left from a parking ramp to the west of the race location and the other was to the east of the start line. I parked in a parking ramp, which was the shuttle location of the west shuttle. I was on the first or second shuttle which started running at 6:30. After getting to the starting area I walked around to let time pass before warming up. It didn't take long for the sheer number of runners and participants to multiply exponentially. Within the first 30-45 minutes of being near the start line, the streets and parks filled with people. I started warming up around 7:15 by running about 1.5 miles and then did some dynamic warm up exercises. I actually felt really good. I made my way to start corral #1 with plenty of time to spare and just hung out until the National Anthem and the announcing of the elite field.

Nutrition Plan

My nutrition plan was simple and was basically the same plan I have used for most shorter running races. Due to the impending heat during the race (temperatures were expected to be in the mid 80's my 10:00am), I downed a full water bottle of water with Hammer Nutrition Endurolytes Fizz to keep my electrolytes in check. I also took two capsules of Hammer Nutrition Anti-Fatigue Caps.

Equipment

New Balance Fresh Foam Zante V2

PRO Compression Socks

Nike Run Shorts

Hammer Running Singlet

TomTom Spark Cardio+ Music

Road ID Elite

Miles 0-6.2

The race started with about a two mile stretch without turns. It was mostly downhill. I think I may have gone out a bit too fast, but it's not like I totally imploded. The entire first mile was lined with music and large crowds of spectators. I was very impressed and surprised with how many spectators came out to see the runners. I could only compare it to the Boston Marathon. Now before you call me crazy, the crowds at the Boston Marathon were much louder and more enthusiastic, not to mention more of them But the Boston Marathon is the only other large race I have competed in. So the Bellin had the best crowds I have seen, outside of the Boston Marathon. Anyway, after crossing the mile marker 2, I took a second to evaluate everything. I thought about my pace, my breathing, my ego, and my body. I told myself that I only have 4 miles to go and felt as though I should slow up a bit to avoid crashing at mile 5. Plus, it was getting hot. I crossed the half way point and I was already working pretty hard. It was at this point were I first starting grabbing water just to rinse out my mouth and dump the excess on my head to stay cool. As I continued to check off miles, I felt like I held a pretty steady pace and never really lost ground to any other runners. I pretty much held my position in relation to the people around me at the half way point.

The second half of the race was by far the best part. Around the 4th mile, the Green Bay Packers had 3 players out on the course to cheer the runners and offer up high fives to the runners. By far, the biggest highlight of my race came shortly after the 6 mile mark, just before the end of the race. As I was making my way down the gated off area of the race, making my last couple turns to the finish line, I saw a tall and skinny runner running the opposite direction. It was MEB! I yelled out to Meb as we approached each other. He pointed at me and gave me a high five as I passed by him. This short encounter with one of the greatest runners in US history, gave me a new level of energy and powered me to the finish line. Even though I was probably as close I have ever come to puking while running, I pushed through the finish line. I finished in 38:15, 49th place overall out of 13,144, and 13th out of 530 in my age group (M30-34).  I am completely ecstatic with my race results, even if I didn't finish in the top 10 in my age group.  To finish in the top 50 out of over 13,000 participants is awesome!  This year the Bellin 10k drew a total of 16,944 total participants, including team participants, wheelchair, and My Team Triumph participants.

Post Race

After crossing the finish line, I had no clue what place I took and would have to wait a while to find out. The Bellin had no posted race results on site after the race. All of the race results where posted through their online race results website, which also offered text message updates. Regardless of what place I took, I was on cloud 9 after giving Med a high five. I thought it was so cool of such an elite runner to start running the course backwards to show respect for runners of all levels. It turns out Med won the race overall with a time of 30:08. My plan was to head home shortly after the race to get some rest as I had to work 12 hours that night. So I headed over to the shuttle pick up location to jump on the first bus to bring me back to the parking ramp, which was supposed to start running at 9:00am. I got there right at 9 and I was the only one around. I talked to the bus driver who said they would not leave until the bus was full. I opted to just run to the parking ramp, which ended up being just over a mile and half from the race location. I beat the bus to the ramp, in fact, I never even saw a bus show up, so I definitely saved some time.

What's on Tap

With the Bellin now in the rear view mirror, It's time to really focus on the Fall 50. I had planned on racing the Ripon Medical Center Triathlon in July, but due to my work schedule, I won't be able to be there this year, which bums me out. But, on the bright side, I will be able to focus that much more on the Fall 50 instead of investing time in triathlon specific training. Even though the Bellin is done, I totally fell in love with the race. It was well run, well organized, had awesome support from volunteers and the community. It also had awesome race course entertainment. I made a very aggressive and immediate post race goal. I want to race the Bellin in 2017 and finish in under 36 minutes. It's one hell of a goal, to take 2 minutes off of a 10k, but if I train hard and follow a specific 10k training program, you never know what could happen.

Thanks for reading!!