New 10k Personal Record

Today I got up at 6am to drive to a race at our city zoo. I spent the morning by myself cheering on the 5k racers. Trying on new Saucony shoes that they let me run in for free and waving at baby ducks in the pond. I saw lots of local elite racing teams warming up and winning this local race, those people are fast! I'm still waiting to see the results posted on-line.

I felt good the first three miles but faded due to lack of fuel. They weren't handing out Gatorade (just water) and I didn't have any gu to eat to keep my legs movin. Nevertheless I still ran it in 54:54 (8:50 pace).

Mile One: 8:19
Mile Two: 8:32
Mile Three: 8:56
Mile Four: 9:00
Mile Five: 9:13
Mile Six: 8:59
Last .2: 1:50 (I didn't have much kick left)

Last year I ran a 10k in around 66 minutes or a 10:40 pace so 8:50 pace is much faster for me. My goal is 8:30pace or less (I'll get there some day). I felt actually rather slow especially since I ran pretty much this pace for my half marathon on March 14th. My training has really slowed down since then though so I think therefore I am slower than I was on March 14th (or for sure I have less endurance). This race also shows how amazing my half marathon showing was since I ran the first 10 miles of that race at 9:12 pace and then the last three at 8:45 pace to make it under 2 hours. I kept telling myself to run three 8:45 miles at the end of this race, since it was much shorter (but without proper fueling they wouldn't comply). Perhaps I was just missing my brother Eddie motivational phrases to kick it into a higher gear near the end like, "You are an endurance athlete! Look at you! You are amazing sis! You are doing this for your kids! Look how fast you are!" I think each sentence takes like 5 seconds off my pace.

It is funner to run a race when your friends and family are running with you or cheering for you. But lots of races are held on Sundays so that is hard for our family. I did make it home, then to the shower, and then to church in time (which really was the real race).

Keep running!
Sarah