It was a perfect day for a 10K and Marin County does a good one every Memorial Day. I ran this one in uniform with the team and from beginning to end it was just a blast!
The course is flat and fast, save for the multiple turns in the 4th mile. Otherwise, it's smoking. I believe 6 men finished in under 30:00, and 3 women finished in under 36:00. Of course I was nowhere near them, but that's beside the point.
So my goal for this race was to improve upon the 5K I ran in April (21:42 at 6:59/mile). McMillan predicted I could run a 45:00 10K based on that 5K time. Going in to this 10K I knew I'd run better than 45:00. The question was how far off of my current PR of 41:19 would I finish? My plan was to get to the 3 mile marker feeling good, going fast but not all out effort (yet), and then pick it up over the last 3 miles, specifically the last mile or so.
My splits were:
6:45
6:52
6:42
6:50 (My sweet husband cheered for me)!
missed mile 5 & 6 markers
Garmin Finish: 43:03 (with a 6.29 mile course... clearly suggesting I need to run tangents better).
"Official" time said 43:07.
Although I felt good through most of the race I struggled a little bit in the last mile or so and got passed by two females, but they helped pull me in. Without them, I probably would've jogged the last half mile. We finished on the track after running 300m of it and I just kept thinking, "This track feels way too big."
My first three miles were at 20:19 so I'm sure had it been a 5K I would definitely have had a better finish time than the April 5K. The bad news is I clearly ran a positive split. Did I start too fast? Maybe, but it didn't feel too fast at all. It felt just right. Did I improve over the 5K? Yes. My Garmin said I ran a 6:51/mile average... but of course I have to take the official time which said I ran a 6:57/mile average. Still an improvement, but a lamer one. Whatever. I like my Garmin information WAAAY better!
On a personal level I feel great about this race. Not once did I want to throw in the towel. I kept wanting to push... plow, plow, plow. During the last 10K I ran (last August), I distinctly remember walking somewhere around the 5 mile marker. It was misery. Not today... but then again I was almost 2 minutes slower today than I was last August. Oh well... at least the improvement is happening! It's been way too long. In fact, I stopped improving after that August 10K.
As long as I'm headed in the right direction, I will be happy with ALL my race results this year... PR or not.
Followed the race with a few beers with the team, and then a hearty lunch and more beer with the team & our family members. What a great day! Makes me very, very thankful to all the veterans who have served and sacrificed so that I could enjoy a day like this. THANK YOU!
Managing Hydration When You Are a Runner
5 years ago
8 comments:
You are definitely heading in the right direction. Kudos to a great race, positive split or not.
Plow, plow, plow.
Congrats!!! Nice race.
PR, no PR, whatever. I am so proud of the perserverance you've shown over the past few months. Great things are coming to you; I can feel it! Great job getting out there and racing hard.
Great job! You are making some great progress. The important thing is, you felt GOOD. Yay!
She's baaaaack!!
Good to see u getting back into the swing of things. Missed u on the pavement recently. 43 minutes is not too shabby!! Its still sub-7 min/mile. Keep up the good work.
Talk about the Comeback Kid, missy, you are on your way back to yourself, bigtime! Congratulations on such a great race and especially the inner stuff (not wanting to quit, just pushing and pushing). This is thrilling to hear. YAY!!!
congrats on a great race!! glad you are feeling good about it :) i was looking at this one, i will have to run it one of these years!
For new runners like us, your finishing time is still amazingly fast. A time we could only dream about. Sounds though that you enjoyed the race, and you still have room for improvement. Goodluck on your training and your next races.
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