Saturday, September 18, 2010

10K race report

Okay, so I don't have a ton of time to write this, since we're finishing up a big party, so I have to be quick!!

Neil and I ran our first 10K this morning.  We arrived there and it was just a bunch of people bouncing up and down in the freezing cold early morning.  I was laughing to myself because only runners are crazy enough to get up too early and run in the cold and the rain and then PAY FOR IT. 

Anyway, so this race had the following:
  • A spray-painted starting line
  • A woman on a ladder with a megaphone telling us to line up behind aforesaid starting line
  • Woman on a ladder saying, "On your mark, get set, go!"
Which is to say, it was not the largest race ever.  I was bib #590; I'm not sure how many total entrants there were.  A pretty decent-sized field, but definitely on the smaller side.

We started out and I was running WAY too fast; about 7:00ish/mile.  I slowed down because I started feeling dizzy, and we ran down the first hill.  To be honest, I was not feeling great.  I didn't feel very good when I got up this morning, and I ate about four bites of oatmeal and couldn't eat any more.  I managed to choke down a little bit of bread on our way to the race, but I was just kind of running on adrenaline and willpower the whole time.  Then the skies opened up and a typical Michigan monsoon began, and let me tell you, it can seriously dump some rain in Michigan.  I was soaked pretty fast, and the thunder and lightning was a little crazy. 

I kept feeling like I was holding Neil back, so about 3 kilometers in, I convinced him to run ahead of me. He finally agreed to go, and I just ran along by myself.  Actually, in some ways it was a little easier running by myself, because I just zoned out and focused on catching up to the person in front of me (and avoiding the deer).

It rained the whole race.  And it was cold.  And my iPod kept telling me I wasn't going as fast as I wanted to, (but then guess what?  When I got to the end, I realized it was miscalibrated and so it was under-pacing me).

When we got to the end, I was actually running pretty strong; I'd picked up the pace again after coming over a nasty (long build-up) overpass, and I'd skipped the third and final waterstop so I could just push through--which turned out to be a really good decision.

So when I saw the finish chute, I just powered it up.  I switched into full-out sprinting mode (shades of middle-school track) and pushed as hard as I could up the HILL to the finish line--the runners on either side of me did a double-take and pushed hard and we all ended up crossing together. 

My final time was 52:34, for about 8:28/mile.  But here's the best part:

I placed 16th overall for women...AND...

3rd in my age division!!  I was SOOO excited!  But of course, I wasn't expecting anything like that, so I just jogged the mile back to my car through the rain without waiting around...so hopefully I can pick up whatever certificate or thingie later.  But seriously, I am SO pumped!!!  I was feeling a little bummed about this race while I was running most of it, because I just didn't feel very strong through most of it, and I started out too strong and then took awhile to recover, but I was REALLY happy with my time and my place, which was completely unexpected.  My goal for this race (when I realized how crappy I felt this morning) was under 9/mile with my "top goal" of 8:45/mile, and I totally smashed it.  :-)

STATS:  10K, 52:34; 8:28/mile, 3rd place for age division

5 comments:

  1. Jessica and I ran the Sombrero Trail Run in Estes Park yesterday. It's 4.5 miles, but they suggest you use your 10K flat time as an estimate. Boy were they right, it was like running stadium stairs! I think I finished in 1:11. My last 10K was 1:03, so you're definitely speedier than I am.
    http://www.bolderboulder.com/The_Race/sombrero/SombreroDetails.htm
    The 'cowboy breakfast' at the end was probably the highlight of the day.

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  2. Awesome! Way to go. It's always nice when you meet and then exceed your goal for a race. Yay you!

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  3. Congratulations! How did Neil do?

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  4. Chad, he ran with me for the first third, and then went ahead to finish with an overall time of 48:05.

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