Race Review: Scioto Miles 10k 2022
The Scioto Miles is a “pick your own distance” race series that happens in March. The course is in downtown Columbus, and runners have the option between a 5k, 10k, or 15k. I ran the 10k on March 6th and wanted to share my experience + race report for anyone else participating.
Registration + Packet Pickup
The Scioto Miles is actually two separate events held 3 weeks apart, on the first and last Sunday of March. The cost of both events is $135 total, and you get a race jacket. For just one event, registration was a flat rate of $45 + fees for all distances (no jacket). There was also a free half mile kid’s race, which was cute to watch.
While the race is “pick your own distance,” you do have to register for a specific disance, though you can email to change it later on.
Packet pickup was on the Thursday and Friday before the event at Fleet Feet Lewis Center, or you could pick up on race day, which is what my brother and I did. We got there an hour before the race, and there was no line at all.
Course
The course was a 5k loop that started and ended on the riverfront behind COSI, the downtown science center.
There were pacers starting at an 8 minute pace and going up to 12 minutes. The race was fairly small, with just a few hundred participants across all distances. There weren’t many spectators as a result, but there were a handful at the start/finish.
The loop itself was along the bike path, which was scenic but surprisingly hilly; I’d say there were about 4 noticeable inclines, all after the first mile of the loop. My watch recorded 202 feet elevation gain total.
Fuel
There was a fuel station at around 1.5 miles, which had small cups of Gatorade and water. At the end of the race, there was water, granola bars, and bananas.
Swag
If you registered for both events, you’d get a t-shirt and jacket. For single event registrants, there was no jacket, but you got a t-shirt.
I wish more races would let you opt out of the t-shirt and get a discount or donate to charity, but this particular race didn’t. The shirt was quite cute though, and it fit well, so I’ll definitely be wearing mine for workouts.
All participants also got a medal at the end (will share a photo of that and the shirt when I get back from traveling). My favorite perk was the free photos from CapCity Sports Media. Since some races charge $30 per photo, I’m always happy to get free ones!
my typical “race face” LOL
My Performance
I ran a 48:46, which is 7:51/mile. This was about a minute off of my PR, but still my second-fastest 10k time since I’ve only done 3 of them. I finished 12th out of 115 runners and 4th out of 74 women.
My watch actually tracked a slightly longer distance of 6.34 miles instead of 6.21, but GPS tracking is always slightly off. Going by the GPS time, I averaged 7:41/mile, which is only a second off my best 10k pace.
I was hoping to run 7:30/mile (around a 46:40 finish), and started off with a 7:28 mile, but then slowed down to 7:39-56 splits, according to my watch. Based on official timing, I did the first half at 7:43 pace, and the second half at around 7:58 pace.
I thankfully didn’t “die” or drop off my pace completely, but 7:30 did feel way too hard to maintain the whole time. During the last 400 meters, I was able to speed up to a 7:00/mile pace since my brother ran next to me and helped push the pace (he’d done the 5k and was waiting for me).
All in all, I was still happy with my time, especially given the inclines. I’d also had a nasty allergy flare-up the day before, so I was glad to be able to race at all that day, and spend some time with my brother.
The race was also one of my training races and not a “target” race, so I’m looking forward to more spring running! You can follow along with the rest of my race reviews.
