Huxley Prairie Days 10K - August 28

Some thoughts that may only appear random at first glance.

Bummer - they were out of t-shirts.

In June, when I finished my first Olympic, I was really really frustrated because my run was 1:00:06, and the six seconds just annoyed me for days because I wanted so badly to break an hour. So when I would run after that, especially on speed work, I would think of the Six Seconds as a mantra.

Evidently I had let that go in the last few weeks, maybe had finally gotten over it or just focused on other things.

So Coach Marty was planning a run where he said he was going to average 8:20. At the time, I was contemplating not coming back to Iowa this particular weekend because it was going to be such a short trip - which meant I needed to have a training plan in RDU for the weekend. I was reading that and thinking, "Oh. Well. Okay. Can't do that unless I decide to try and start with him and stay with him as long as I can - which would be about a mile. Wonder what that would do to my ego" Was kinda bummed thinking about it.

Decided to come to Iowa since I couldn't figure out how to get out here for a longer length of time anyway. And oh yeah. Hurricane coming. They freak me OUT. Don't like them.

2 mile / 20 minute warmup (it was more like 2.2 miles). Weather was beautiful - about 65, sunny and a little breeze. Grateful to not be in NC today - sorry :-( I hope Tassie is handling the storm okay.

First mile, I was following the 78-year old man in purple top and purple velvet stirrup pants - I kid you not, they were velvet and purple. He said he runs between 8:30 and 9:00, so why not use him as a pacer? I went out a little too fast and couldn't decide between trying to slow down a be a little conservative or trying to maintain. Decided to try and keep the pace and recorded a 7:53 for my first mile, just so I could say that one of my miles was under 8:00. I had forgotten my interval timer, so I also decided to commit to running and not focus on a walk break.

Second mile, half paved / half gravel. Trying to be very careful of gravel. This weird pain in my right foot happened again last night - right under my third and fourth toe and to the right of the ball of my foot. When I run on pavement, I don't land on it, but I sometimes jostle it on gravel enough to feel it.

Second mile 7:54 Feeling pretty good - breathing regular and decided to try to keep this pace for at least the 5K.

Ugh, slight gravel hills. Not like Umstead, thank goodness. I kept in mind that I had already done Umstead almost every week this summer, so this had to be easier, and it was - not that I was believing that at the time though. When I get to the top of the slope and it levels out, I have to remember for the next minute or so to just gut it out until my breathing recovers.

Third mile 7:49.65. Really? I have never run three consecutive miles under 8:00

5K in 24:12 Woo Hoo! My fastest 5K ever. This would have placed second in my age group and about 40th out of 115 competitors overall for the 5K. Trying to keep pace with a woman who flew by me on an uphill - she was in purple too. Purple power!

Fourth mile, starting to feel it a bit - one of the slopes was just a little much. Changed my Garmin display to show me lap pace and splits and made a game out of keeping it under 8. It was 7:49.12 Stunning.

Now I'm doing the math and, where before I had thought maybe I could pull off a 52-ish, all of a sudden I'm thinking that breaking 50 is a real possibility. Keep in mind my fastest 10K in training is somewhere around 54:30. Coach Bri had said a few weeks ago that I really had not had a chance to see what I could do on my own. This was far more than I thought possible.

Fifth mile. Finally got back to the pavement and decided to walk for 30 seconds. Breathing was heavier and I was feeling my HR higher. Felt much better after the walk and wanted to make up the lost time. Ended up doing this mile in 8:11.

Sixth mile. As Bri recommended, I was trying to think not so much about, "I have a mile left" as "I have ten minutes left." Watching my Garmin and trying to calculate how many minutes I had remaining. I'm still in the habit of calculating on ten minute miles though. Once I realized with about .75 mi to go that there was really about six minutes left and not eight, I was able to stick with my pace. 7:51 Holy freaking cow - 7:51 on the sixth mile. Never ever thought that would be in reach.

Turned the corner for the last .2 miles. I do have a finishing kick because I'm an overly competitive ego-driven person who wants to look good at the end. I'm pretty happy to dig into the kick. I now wish I had kicked it in a little sooner. Finished this at a 7:14 pace.

Garmin Time 0:49:06 for 6.22 miles

Six freaking seconds from breaking 49:00. Six seconds. That walk break now just aggravates me to no end.

Race Time 0:49:11 for an average of 7:56
I was in the back of the pack for the start - no chip timing, so my watch vs. race time were a little different.
I averaged 7:56 ?!?

So maybe I could have hung with Marty for more than his first mile, especially if I could have warmed up for 20 minutes first.

Ran a couple of miles as a cooldown. Had to stop the cooldown at less than three miles though. They were giving awards. There were only about 50 runners in the 10K, so I take this with a grain of salt - I was first in the 40-49 age group for women.

The overall 10K winner ran a 32:14. Whoa!

Didn't get a t-shirt. Got a medal instead. Even better - got a shocking PR in my first ever 10K.

Fun! Fun! Fun!