It was every bit as cold as I had expected at the start. Luckily, I parked within sight of the start line, and just hung out in my car, jamming to my iPod until nature called. My heart sank when I realized that using the portajohns meant basically exposing myself to the chilly weather. No thank you! I snuck in to a nearby hotel and found an empty, warm restroom, with running water, soap, paper towels, and muzak. Awesome!
Once at the start, I bumped in to Jen of Jen on the Edge! Yay! She's a newbie runner, but is pretty badass as far as I'm concerned, because she walked there from her house (1.5 miles away!!) and her husband was going to come pick her up after the race on a tandem bike.
The race started with a sharp right turn and a hill. Chugga chugga. I kept a careful eye on my pace, and held back - I didn't want to run out of steam, because I knew a really big hill was coming in Mile 5.
After the uphill, it was mostly flat, and then a long downhill to the river. My first mile was about 10:30 - a little faster than I had intended, as I was shooting for 10:45's.
At the water stop at mile 2 (10:15 on the split), I took some gatorade, and headed down to the path by the river. I love this stretch. I have done a few training runs on it in the past, but since it's not near where I live, I don't come here nearly often enough. I noticed frost on the ground, and geese on the water, and just let my body do its thing while my mind doodled around. It was entirely pleasant, which was great, because after this lovely stretch I knew what was coming.
The 3 mile mark was somewhere along the path, and I hit it in 10:06. So that's what it's like to run on a flat course!! I was pretty sure that would be my fastest mile of the day.
And then happy time was over, and it was time to go up a huge hill. Oy. I used to live in that neighborhood, so I already knew what was coming. It was even steeper and longer than I remembered. The 4 mile mark was partway up the hill, and my split there was 10:17. I'll be honest, I think I was walking at that point. I must have really been flying on the flat part to squeak out a 10:17!!
The hill topped out, and it was back to mostly flat, and I reached mile 5 in 10:31, which was pretty good for me, considering that I had walked a little and was not feeling so hot at that particular moment. The good news was that I was through with the hardest part of the course!
I wound up all by myself for basically the last mile of the race. Which I quite enjoy, except I escaped the notice of the officer directing traffic at a busy intersection and had to wait quite a while before I could cross. Both he and the race volunteer apologized profusely for not stopping traffic sooner, but I told them quite honestly that I enjoyed the break.
And then, ZOOM. Downhill. Feeling good, lots of fuel still in the tank, and it was time to make it happen.
I hit mile 6 in a 10:05. That's right, people. Negative split. Can I get an AMEN!
Down the downtown mall, zigging and zagging around pedestrians, and across the finish.
Final chip time: 1:04:14/10:20 pace.
I did a little internet research and found my 10K PR to be 1:06:37/10:45 pace. This was during marathon training four years (and one kid) ago.
I smashed my PR. Second race in a row. I can't begin to describe how awesome it feels. I'm running faster now than I ever have, and I know I've got more in me. I spent most of today trying to slow myself down. For the first time ever, I feel that a sub-10min pace for the shorter distances (5K, 10K) is within reach. Could this be the year that I break 30 min in the 5K?
1 comment:
You had such a great race! Congrats!!!
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