The event's official site can be found HERE.
This year is the first that three of KC area's favorite fall-time 10k's are being rounded together in to their own series: the Heartland 30k. Similar to the Heartland 39.3 (three half-marathons over five weeks), this challenge can only be defeated by finishing all three events. Different from the 39.3 series, this 30k series has no off-weeks between each race: all three 10k's are on three consecutive weeks. Included in the series is the ever-popular Broadway Bridge 10k, the ever-popular Plaza 10k, and the newly-popular Paulina Cooper Dot-to-Dot 10k.
With last week's Hy-Vee Triathlon, I had very little time to post a course preview for Broadway Bridge, but throughout each of the series I will try and get a course preview posted days prior to race day.
With that, let's get to the first race in the 30k series, the Broadway Bridge 10k.
Course Preview
Each of the Broadway Bridge routes this year has changed dramatically. Still featured in the 10k and Half-Marathon iterations is the Broadway Bridge, though 5k'ers only get a front-row run to the Bridge, as the run over the bridge has been removed from the 5k route.
Linked are the official maps for the Half-Marathon, 10k, and 5k, but for this in-depth course preview, I will only be covering the 10k.
Here are the basics for the new 2014 10k route...
Distance: 6.24mi
Route Type: Loop
Terrain Type: City Streets (Blacktop, Concrete)
Start Location: Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
Start Elevation: 866ft
# Climbs: 5
Elevation Gain: 640ft
Maximum Elev.: 938ft
Finish Location: Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
The Broadway Bridge 10k has always been an elevation-challenged route; with the original start line in River Market, the immediate area is river-front, with the surrounding areas over a hundred feet higher in elevation. Overall, there are 640 hard-fought feet in elevation gain from start to finish, spanning over 5 climbs, one of which is massively difficult. Here's a small outline of each...
Climb 1: East Village, 0.35mi @ 3.0% avg grade (7.3% max), +70.7ft (Rating 3/10)
Climb 2: River Bottoms, 0.14mi @ 4.5% avg grade (11.3% max), +35.2ft (Rating 1/10)
Climb 3: Broadway Bridge, 0.40mi @ 3.2% avg grade (8.0% max), 80.0ft (Rating 3/10)
Climb 4: Quality Hill, 0.67mi @ 5.5% avg grade (11.1% max), +186ft (Rating 5/10)
Climb 5: Power & Lights, 0.52mi @ 3.0% avg grade (5.7% max), +74.0ft (Rating 3/10)
By far the most significant climb is Quality Hill, which tacks on a whopping 186 feet of climbing on the back end of the climb up the Broadway Bridge (which actually increases in altitude when south-bound). It is long, it is steep, it is slow. Beyond Broadway Bridge and Quality Hill, the remaining climbs are about what you'd expect for downtown Kansas City, although race organizers seem to have had fun finding elevation increases when developing the new route.
Competitive runners will do best to save energy for those latter-stage climbs, particularly Quality Hill, but also the often-overlooked climb back in to the Power & Lights District to finish off the race.
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| The 2014 Broadway Bridge route. The highlighted area is the Broadway Bridge climb, which doesn't register on the elevation profile due to difficulty mapping elevation over water. But rest assured: it's there. |
Packet Pick-Up
Packet pick-up this year was featured at Sprint Center, also the location for race start and finish. Entrance in to the Sprint Center's main lobby was accessible via the College Basketball Experience doors, to the left of the main lobby doors. A quick walk-through of a metal detector and we were good to roll.
Though the packet pick-up was set up expo-style, there really wasn't much to browse, other than some lovely items that were to be auctioned off for a charity silent auction on race morning. For packet pick-up, the flow seemed to be from right-to-left; first grab race packets at the first table on the right side of the lobby (as well as Heartland 30k shirts, if so-entered), then move along to the long middle table to pick up the Broadway Bridge-specific t-shirt.
I arrived at packet pick-up just as rush hour was perking up outdoors, so foot traffic hadn't arrived quite yet -- I was in-and-out in less than 5 minutes. I would assume, with Friday rush hour, most would be opting for the Saturday pick-up option anyways.
Race Day
Sunday arrived with the slight chill in the air so-common to autumn-time races. Of the first chilly mornings of the year, I slapped on some arm warmers and head out the door. Upon arrival at Power & Lights District -- an hour before race time, mind you -- parking was quick and painless. Although, of note, I parked in a flat $5 rate garage, which most opted against anyways. To me, $5 was worth the quick access, and easy entrance and exit -- especially considering I like to hit the car and grab a change of clothes and a protein shake before heading back to the finish line to watch my friends cross. Any further, and I wouldn't have had time.
As is generally the case, nature calls it seems just before start time. With the Broadway Bridge event including each a 5k, 10k and a Half-Marathon, this meant more restroom-ers than normal. Yes, there were plenty of port-o-john's, but there were also actually that many people waiting to use them. A solid 30 minutes of wait meant a solid warm-up was out of the question. I grabbed a quick quarter mile jaunt up the block and back before it was time to toe the line.
From the get-go, the run was uphill -- specifically up the climb to the East Village and City Courthouse. This lead to divides in the runners right out of the gate. The lighter, more efficient runners sped on ahead, while the less efficient began to lag halfway up. I was able to maintain effort up and over, about 15 runners out of 1st overall.
Runners love to take advantage of the downhills, knowing little what the hard landings do to their quads. Knowing I had to make my way back up Broadway Hill late in the race, I tried to maintain as smooth a turnover as possible cruising down towards River Market. Yes, I wanted gravity to help, but I wanted fresh quads more. I was overtaken for 16th.
Once through River Market, another descent came with the crossing of the Broadway Bridge. Take advantage of this downhill, as it is slight, and gorgeous. On the approach to Wheeler Airport, you're at the lowest point of the race -- everything from there to finish is uphill. First, from Wheeler to the Broadway Bridge itself provides a short-but-steep start to the climb that is Broadway Bridge (there's a sizable difference in altitude between north of the river and south of the river).
Once overcome, only a couple hundred meters gave me a short time to catch my breath before taking on the massive Broadway Hill climb. At the base, I'd lost to 17th, but pulled up behind P-16 and maintained an equal pace for the entire climb. Once elevation started to even out, I was able to take back P-16, with what leftover energy, I'm not sure.
Late in the race now, we passed over I-70 towards the Crossroads District, a nice long and shallow decline. What left I had in energy reserve I would have to dig up for the final climb -- albeit shallow -- back to the Power & Lights District. I lost some space to a late-break runner, falling again to 17th. It was a matter of time before at least one negative-split caught up with me. We turned around just short of Crown Center, and made our way back north. The climb started, and I put space between myself and P-18. Steady pace, steady cadence.
A quick left turn at the Sprint Center, and another quick right to put us on Grand and the final stretch.
Once the finish line was within sight, I looked back to see no one challenging. I could cruise in. Then I saw the finish clock: 44:00! I'd never clocked a sub-45 before. I'd come close a couple of times, but never could reach the line before 45 minutes came and went. I sure as hell wasn't going to let it go now. I turned the effort up to 11, which, given my exhaustion at this point, didn't translate in to much additional speed. Especially considering the uphill finish to the line. 44:15, 44:30...and I was there. With time to spare, I crossed at 44:39. A PR, and my first-ever sub-45 10k. And good enough for a 2nd-place in-category, and 17th overall.
Packet pick-up this year was featured at Sprint Center, also the location for race start and finish. Entrance in to the Sprint Center's main lobby was accessible via the College Basketball Experience doors, to the left of the main lobby doors. A quick walk-through of a metal detector and we were good to roll.
Though the packet pick-up was set up expo-style, there really wasn't much to browse, other than some lovely items that were to be auctioned off for a charity silent auction on race morning. For packet pick-up, the flow seemed to be from right-to-left; first grab race packets at the first table on the right side of the lobby (as well as Heartland 30k shirts, if so-entered), then move along to the long middle table to pick up the Broadway Bridge-specific t-shirt.
I arrived at packet pick-up just as rush hour was perking up outdoors, so foot traffic hadn't arrived quite yet -- I was in-and-out in less than 5 minutes. I would assume, with Friday rush hour, most would be opting for the Saturday pick-up option anyways.
Race Day
Sunday arrived with the slight chill in the air so-common to autumn-time races. Of the first chilly mornings of the year, I slapped on some arm warmers and head out the door. Upon arrival at Power & Lights District -- an hour before race time, mind you -- parking was quick and painless. Although, of note, I parked in a flat $5 rate garage, which most opted against anyways. To me, $5 was worth the quick access, and easy entrance and exit -- especially considering I like to hit the car and grab a change of clothes and a protein shake before heading back to the finish line to watch my friends cross. Any further, and I wouldn't have had time.
 |
| The fast and furious start (photo courtesy of Run and Shoot Freelance Collective). |
From the get-go, the run was uphill -- specifically up the climb to the East Village and City Courthouse. This lead to divides in the runners right out of the gate. The lighter, more efficient runners sped on ahead, while the less efficient began to lag halfway up. I was able to maintain effort up and over, about 15 runners out of 1st overall.
 |
| Over the gorgeous Broadway Bridge (photo courtesy of Run and Shoot Freelance Collective). |
Once through River Market, another descent came with the crossing of the Broadway Bridge. Take advantage of this downhill, as it is slight, and gorgeous. On the approach to Wheeler Airport, you're at the lowest point of the race -- everything from there to finish is uphill. First, from Wheeler to the Broadway Bridge itself provides a short-but-steep start to the climb that is Broadway Bridge (there's a sizable difference in altitude between north of the river and south of the river).
Once overcome, only a couple hundred meters gave me a short time to catch my breath before taking on the massive Broadway Hill climb. At the base, I'd lost to 17th, but pulled up behind P-16 and maintained an equal pace for the entire climb. Once elevation started to even out, I was able to take back P-16, with what leftover energy, I'm not sure.
Late in the race now, we passed over I-70 towards the Crossroads District, a nice long and shallow decline. What left I had in energy reserve I would have to dig up for the final climb -- albeit shallow -- back to the Power & Lights District. I lost some space to a late-break runner, falling again to 17th. It was a matter of time before at least one negative-split caught up with me. We turned around just short of Crown Center, and made our way back north. The climb started, and I put space between myself and P-18. Steady pace, steady cadence.
A quick left turn at the Sprint Center, and another quick right to put us on Grand and the final stretch.
 |
| The finish (photo courtesy of Run and Shoot Freelance Collective). |
2014 Broadway Bridge 10k Race Metrics
- Distance: 6.32mi
- Time: 44:36 (PR)
- Average Pace: 7:04/mi (PR)
- Maximum Pace (1mi): 6:28/mi
- Elevation Gain: 874ft
- Average Cadence: 170spm
- Placing: 2nd/30 in age-group, 17th/790 overall
Keep R/B/S-ing.
-tds
-tds
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_-/<,_
@/ @
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