This morning, I ran the Run for Hospice 10K in Easton. While the weather had cooled significantly over the last two days since my topless run Tuesday morning, it warmed up again enough by this morning that I was totally comfortable in shorts and a short-sleeved tech shirt. However, there was a lot of rain in the area, so I took a hat in case it was raining when the race was to start.
It turned out we dodged the rain showers and the entire race was rain-free. The sky was also overcast, so there was no glaring sun. There was a little breeze, but no stiff headwinds to run into. In other words, it was spectacular running weather.
The race didn’t start until 10 a.m. I picked up a small black coffee on the way to the race site. TK got there before me and picked up my race packet. I met her at her car and pinned on my bib and attached my timing chip, then went to hit the bathrooms before the race started.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the race. All speed workouts since the marathon indicated I should be able to set a PR, but there was the Thanksgiving dinner factor, the one that did me in last year. I didn’t exactly restrain myself yesterday. I really ate quite a bit at the first dinner, at Clark’s parents’ house, including two desserts (out of three available!) I was still pretty full when we got to my grandmother’s house for dinner No. 2, but I managed to put away a normal-sized plate of food and, of course, a slice of cheesecake. I held off on the alcohol though, only drinking one glass of red wine at the first dinner and a Michelob Ultra at the second, so dehydration was definitely not a concern.
Anyway, I, uh, managed to empty out things this morning when I woke up, but I ate A LOT yesterday, so for all I knew, there was a still a lot in there to digest and thus make things pretty miserable for me while trying to run.
I didn’t warm up at all for the race. This year, the race organizers had a moment of clarity and decided to start the 10K before the 5K, since our course has a little loop to the right of the parking lot, while the 5K runners/walkers immediately turn left out of the parking lot. Last year, that meant all the 10K runners caught up with the back-of-the-pack 5K’ers on a very narrow part of the course, making it difficult. This year, the 5K’ers were still standing in the parking lot, waiting to start, when all the 10K’ers ran by. Much better.
I could really feel the caffeine in that coffee in that first mile. I felt jittery almost. It probably didn’t help that I had not warmed up at all, so I went from zero to race pace immediately.
I fell into a comfortable pace and hit the first mile in 7:38, which was exactly the pace I wanted to run for the whole race. I felt like that was a pace I could maintain.
I hit the 3-mile marker, or almost halfway, in 22:56, an exact 7:38/mile pace. Sweet, still right on track.
I fell off a bit in the fourth mile though. In every 10K I have run, when I hit the halfway marker, I stupidly remind myself I would be a tenth of a mile from the finish line if I had just signed up for the 5K instead, and then I notice how tired I am and running another 3.2 miles sounds impossible.
But I got my stride back when a guy passed me around the 3.5-mile mark and I decided I was going to hang with him. I let him get a little ahead of me and I did just that.
We passed the fourth mile marker and the water station, and I remembered how last year, I’d had to stop and walk there for about 30 seconds to gather my stomach. This year, I had no stomach pains and I ran right past it at full speed. Just a couple more miles. However, I had just run an 8:00 mile. Time to pick it the hell up again.
And I did! I actually got over the mental hump and ran faster at the end of the race. Something just clicked and I was skimming along the shoulder of the road, keeping my rabbit in sight. I felt strong and happy to be running. It was awesome.
I ran up on the end of the 5K walkers, coming out of the Easton Club, where the 5K and 10K courses rejoined for the last bit of the race. I managed to hit the intersection just right and didn’t have to wait for the police officer directing traffic to let us through. Once through the intersection, I was back on the sidewalk and then the narrow lane to the parking lot to get to the finish, and I had to dodge packs of walkers. I was losing steam.
But, I held on and crossed the line in 47:53 (officially — my chip actually registered a time this year!), beating my previous 10K best time by more than a minute! My average pace was 7:43/mile, only a few seconds off my first mile, and probably due a lot to the slow fourth mile. I figured out that if I had let myself stay at the 8:00/mile pace for the last 3.2 miles of the race, I would have finished in 48:31, so I was proud of myself for pushing through and picking up the pace again in the last miles.
It turned out my time was good for second among 15 finishers in the female 16-29 age group, and I was only about 90 seconds off the time of the woman who was first in my age group. However, only the age group winners won anything, so I guess I’ll just have to make do with the satisfaction of a job well done, haha.
I was also the 19th finisher overall out of 72 finishers.
I showered at TK’s house and now I’m at work for the rest of the afternoon by myself. Nothing is going on here today. The other reporter worked the first half of the day and I’m here for the second half in case anything catches fire or blows up and I need to take a picture of it, pretty much. The only work I’ve done is give some old guy a copy of this week’s paper since his wasn’t delivered.
Tonight, we’re going to yet another sort-of Thanksgiving dinner at my parents’ house, and tomorrow morning is a 5K in Rehoboth followed by Christmas shopping at the outlets. I’ll probably spend the rest of the afternoon trying to think up inexpensive but amazing gifts for everyone.
