Tar Heel 10 Miler Race Recap

James and I spent the night in Chapel Hill the night before to avoid early morning traffic. As soon as we got in the car that morning, his favorite song of the moment was playing and he said “oh this is a good omen”. If you know James, you know his fetish for his song of the moment lol. It made me laugh and I said oh am I going to PR? He responded with probably, do you think so? He always has more confidence in me than myself. We drove in from the hotel and arrived about 45 minutes before the start time. We walked up to the Kenan Stadium and as soon as we got up there from the Dean Dome parking lot I remembered I left our bibs in the car. UGH. So James stayed up at the stadium, and I used the trek back down to the car to warm up. I jogged on the way down, walked the hill back up and jogged the remaining flat part. Luckily we got to the race so early or I would have been stressing. We dropped our jackets at bag drop and actually spent another ten minutes trying to find an open bathroom in the stadium that didn’t have a line (this part was a little stressful because it was getting close to start time).

I parted ways from James and headed to the start line with about 10 minutes to spare. I planted myself in between the 7:00 minute pacers and the 6:30 pacers. Given that lately my half marathon splits have been around 6:40-6:50, I felt like this. was a good place and accounting for all the elevation in Chapel Hill. After the anthem, we took off and the first mile was fast. Of all the races I’ve done, I really feel like the Tar Heel 10 miler brings out some speedy people given all the collegiate runners in the area. I logged a 6:43 for the first mile and knew I needed to pump the brakes some. We turned onto Franklin street at this point and I’m feeling good. There are great crowds along Franklin, which was motivating. I never saw the mile 2 sign but my watch told me I hit at 6:53 which was right where I wanted to be. We looped around Rosemary and passed ADPi and back onto Franklin, after passing an elderly couple holding a flat Michael Jordan with the Final Four UNC Duke score from the weekend before 81-77. YES! That was hilarious and so motivating. I stayed steady through miles 3-4 hitting 6:52 and 6:53, respectively. I felt a little gassed at one point in mile four turning off of Franklin, but I think it was due to some headwind and an uphill. I decided now was the time to take my Huma gel. I got water right after that at the next station and felt good. My mile 5 was a 6:44. I was noting that my times on my watch were not matching exactly with the course signs for the past couple miles. One trick I have been doing in races is hitting my split button on my watch so it will reset the mile when I pass the course mile. This lets me keep a more accurate pace of what I am doing for the mile I am in. I said to the lady next to me as I heard her watch go off for mile 5 before we hit the sign, “my watch is off too” and she said yeah I'm ahead as well. So I guess we were both weaving a lot. We came up Cameron and onto Gimghoul, which is my favorite road in town. I didn’t quite get to soak it in like I did in college though as I was so focused on looping around and finishing the race. I stayed steady for mile 6 with the uphill on Gimghoul and hit a 6:46. The next mile was mostly down hill losing 135 feet of elevation! I really picked up the pace at this point knowing it was time to gain and just enjoyed that downhill. I hit a 6:26 for that mile and felt good to keep surging at that pace. We looped around another one of my favorite neighborhoods in town and there are always good crowds tucked back there too. Just before mile 7 the 7:00 minute pacers were at my heels. I knew from this point on I really just wanted to stay ahead of them. I knew I could and I told myself I could. Mile 8 was hard we were directly in a headwind but I was able to maintain a good pace at 6:34. Right at the start of mile 9 we are turning on Laurel Hill, which was 125 feet of elevation gain. There were four people at the start of it playing those pipes you see of the Ricola commercials! Although that was funny, I couldn’t really enjoy it because I was just trying to make it up the hill. Luckily there are some flat level changes for a bit on Laurel Hill so you do get a slight reprieve although its slight! I hit the mile 9 marker and there was a man standing there saying “alright last mile LETS GO!”. I needed that cheer, it was so helpful because we started to climb some more. About 0.4 miles of mile 10 is also uphill and its a burner at this point. I finally hit the top of Laurel Hill and the 7:00 minute pacers were on my heels again. I hit my watch because I wanted to know my exact finish split coming downhill off of Laurel Hill. There was another girl that I had been pacing back and forth with over the last mile and I surged passed her and she said good job! I applauded her back and was pushing to the finish. We turned onto Stadium and back up some uphill. MAN I thought in my head, this road is longer than I remember! I was pushing so hard at this point, but I could hear the 7:00 minute pacers behind me yelling “lets go! You can’t see the finish but is just up ahead!”. Based on how loud I could hear them I knew they were so close behind. I was so focused on not letting them pass me, I kept pushing. Finally I can see the finish and at this point I catch the glimpse of someone on my back side. I push harder, no that man is not going to beat me! The words of my high school XC coach flashed through my head, “kick it in Carolyn, kick it in”. And I did! Crossing the line at 1:09:01!! I beat my previous times from this course and broke 1:10 for the first time ever.

I have been doing this race since I was a senior in college, although not every year but i’ve done it many times. It is one of my absolute favorites. The course is hard, there is no doubt about that. There is almost 700 feet of elevation gain over the course of 10 miles. It usually ends up being a cool sunny spring day though that showcases the best of Chapel Hill. Its so fun to go back and run the roads I spent so much time on over 8 years of my life. This one ranks up there with one of my proudest races and one of the most fun.

Tar Heel 10 Miler April 9, 2022. 1:09:01, 17th female, 2nd age group, 100th overall