Saturday, February 13, 2010

Valentine's Day 10K



Well first off, and let me get this out of the way, I DID NOT hit my 48 minute goal. My time was 50:29, which was good enough to grab 8th in my Age Group. I am happy with it. Here it my race report:

Mile 1- 7:27
I started off way to fast. The first .3 mile of it my GPS said I was at a 6:20 mile, which I knew was way to fast for me and decided to slow it down and run at a pace I could continue to run at. A buddy of mine, Daniel, also ran the race with me and we knew better than trying to run in the 6 minute pace. The first mile is always the hardest for me, but once I got through it, I was feeling good. We had a big hill to get up in the first mile, but it was not that bad.

Mile 2- 7:44
Right on schedule. I was happy with this pace and was planning on maintaining this pace for the rest of the race. I was not really tired or struggling, but still feeling good and running relaxed.

Mile 3- 8:48
This was a really hilly portion of the run, which I was not prepared for. The reason I was not prepared for it is because when I was out driving the course, I drove it backwards, so all the downhills I expected were actually uphills! I was still feeling good at mile 3 and was at 24 minutes, so I still had hope. My buddy had dropped back a bit and I was pacing off anyone I could.

Mile 4- 7:57
I knew I needed to get back on track, so I pushed it on mile 4 and was surprised I was under 8 minutes. I still had a shot at the 48 minute mark and wanted to stay sub 8:00 the rest of the way.

Mile 5- 8:34
More hills. I was at 40:32 at this point and still had my shot, but I was struggling on the hills. I had to start picking out mini points on the route as my goal. "just get to the mailbox, or the next light" trying to trick myself into maintaining a pace. It didn't work, but I tried.

Mile 6- 8:25
Another disappointing mile for me, but again it was uphill for the most part. I met up with a guy with about .5 miles left and asked if I could pace off him. It was nice to have him in front of me, so thanks guy, whoever you are. As I hit the marker for mile 6, my older boys were standing there. Jake was taking pictures and Jared was yelling for me. Nothing fires you up more than to have your sons cheering you on. Jared yelled he was going to race me to the finish line with about 100 yds to go. That was all I needed and started to empty out the tank. The guy I was pacing with started cheering me on, which helped, and I beat Jared to line! LOL




Overall, I was OK with my time. I still have a goal to shoot for and I will get under 48 minutes. Some things I learned from this race:
1. I need to run more hills.
2. It was an iPod legal race, and was happy to learn that I do not need my iPod to run a race, but I did kinda miss it.
3. I learned that I have grown as a runner and did not get sucked into running the fastest I could right out of the gate, guess I am maturing a bit. (as a runner only)
4. This is my first top 10 placing in a race. I have finished as high as 11th, but never int he top 10.
5. I appreciate everyone in blogland that cheered me on with the comments on here, you guys that post are one of the reasons I was able to push it at the end. Accountability is sometimes overrated, but it is nice.
6. I have a great family. My boys are awesome and my wife is super. Last thing she said to me was "You are going to do great, you have trained for this and are ready", then she said she wanted a sub 7 mile at the end! LOL

Sorry Baby, I tried, but it is nice to see her at the finish line.

3 comments:

  1. Congrats on a good race!
    A top ten placement, all the things you learned today and your kids cheering and racing you to the finish line. Sounds like your Valentine's day is off to a great start!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great job on the race and a well done race report!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Congrats on a well run 10k race!!

    ReplyDelete

Please leave me a comment on my blog and let me know what you think, good or bad, I can take it, and thanks for stopping by! Sorry for the word verification, but the spammers be spamming...