Rudolph's Revenge - Run

Started slow because of the crowd, but picked it up a bit once we were out on the road. Had to watch some slick spots. It was cold, but thankfully the sun felt really warm. Started a long, gradual climb, which really helped warm up my body and heart rate quite a bit! After we crested that, I could see another, much steeper climb ahead for the 10K course, after the 5K runners split off. Was surprised to see how many people were running the 10K, especially with how cold it was. Passed the point where the 5Kers split off (Travis was nice enough to point out that if we were running the 5K we would be halfway done then!) and began chugging up the hill. Made it to the top and began a nice, long descent - just opened my stride and let the hill pull me down. Hit the flat again, and at this point (~2.5 miles in) began to feel a little tired. At ~ 3 miles, grabbed (COLD!) water at the water table and drank a little. Caught back up with Travis and told him I definitely started out a little too fast, as I was beginning to run out of some steam. Backed off the pace a little, especially since I knew I had to run back UP the long, steep hill. Eventually hit the hill and did my best to power up it - even passed a few people along the way. Was relieved to hit the top and begin the descent. Again, let my legs just GO down. Knew my joints and quads might yell at me later, but wasn't worth the time and effort to brake. Turned onto the bike path around 4.5 miles and had to dodge goose poop and slick spots. Some more rolling hills - powered up the uphills and let it ride on the downhills. Knee was twinging a little and achilles was feeling sore at this point, but I didn't want to back off the pace. Caught back up with Travis again (he had gotten way ahead on the big climb earlier) and turned up the pace a little. For the past couple miles, I had been playing cat and mouse with a woman in a light blue jacket, so my goal was to leave her in the dust once and for all by the end of the race. After we made the last turn, with about .2 left to the finish, I picked up the pace and dropped her for good. With about .1 left, I REALLY opened it up and gave it all I had, because Travis told me a PR was attainable if I kicked it in hard. Stopped my watch just after we hit the finish and saw 56:00 flat (couldn't go by the clock time since we had been about 13 seconds back at the start) and knew I had PRed (but didn't know by how much - later I checked and saw it was only a 5 second PR, but in MUCH colder conditions and on a tougher course than my last 10K PR).

Pace myself a bit better. But considering I haven't raced a 10K since August (and prior to that, not since October '07), I did okay.

Walked around for a couple minutes before returning to the car to warm up again.


Cold temps and hilly course (haven't really been training on hills lately).


Started a few minutes late, which wouldn't have been a big deal if it weren't so cold. Could've been more food (particularly, something hot) afterwards, but with it so cold we didn't want to hang around long anyway. Good challenging course.