This was my first 10K and longest distance run EVER. You know what? IT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME! Soozy and I are pretty good match for pace, so she was a great running buddy. Mile 1 was just under 10 mins, mile 2 was getting closer to 9:40-9:45. Miles 1 and 2 went by fast and were mostly down hill. I walked through a water stop that had Gatorade, but I wish I took the water. The 5Kers then split off and for a brief moment I thought "what the hell have I gotten myself into?" We continued heading down hill. We started to see some of the super fast 10Kers looping back. Some of us cheered them on, but they were too focused to return the favor or even give us a smile or nod. Mile 4 was a LONG one. I never thought we'd see that 4 mile marker. Once we finally did, I said to myself "Just a little over 2 miles left and you've done that a million times." I walked through another water station, and Soozy went on ahead. I caugh up with her a bit, but she stayed about 5-10 paces in front of me the rest of the race. I played a little cat and mouse with a girl who I was determined to beat. Once the uphill finish got a little steeper, I left her behind. I yelled up to soozy that this was going to be the last leg of our tri in Sept and we could do the distance today in May! As we came up the hill, we saw the official clock that was ticking off the 59th minute of the race. Soozy turned around and said "Let's go!" So we kicked it up and finished in under and hour. I was totally stoked!

Nothing. This was pretty much near perfect for me. But I would skip the Gatorade. Lemon/Lime is icky. Running the hilly route in my neighborhood has paid off on many occasions. I'll keep doing it.

We walked around, grabbed some snacks and water. I stopped at a chiropractor doing a "stretch station." Having someone stretch my ITB and hammies was nice.


Lack of speed work in training, but that hasn't been in my plan.


The race was very organized with lots of volunteers. However, I did have to remind the volunteers to get excited for us and cheer us on. Everything started perfectly on time and there were plenty of goodies afterwards. They had kid activities and a short fun run for the families after the 5K and 10K races. All in all- good race. I'd do it again!

So, I can keep the same pace for 2 miles or 6... might be time to add in that speed work I keep reading about. :) Let the quest for a sub 9 minute mile begin!