This was my first 10K run. Its actually a touch longer, but thats fine. My plan was to focus on cadence, keep under control, use gravity to do the work on the downhills, and most importantly, have fun!

Mile 1 went well. It took about 10 seconds to reach the start line. I settled into a nice cadence and nice pace. I passed the 1st mile marker at exactly 9:00 on my watch. My HR was in the high 130s to low 140s after getting going.

Mile 2 was mostly uphill and my pace slowed a touch. My HR went up some too. I found it going into the low 150s going up the hills. I passed the 2nd mile market at 18:30, meaning I did the second, uphill mile in 9:30.

Mile 3 included a lengthy downhill, and I tried to let gravity take me down. I was moving at close to a full sprint. My HR went to the low 150s again. Ahhh, but then the bottom came and the course turned uphill quickly. ANd I was breathing hard coming off my sprint. So I slowed my pace to settle down. My HR moderated to the high 140s and I just kept plugging away going up the hill. Back down we go again and up went my pace. I lost track of the mile split time here.

During the 4th mile was the steepest hill on the course. I initially thought I would keep on jogging, just shortening my stride. But I soon realized that it was faster to walk. So I did. And my HR and breathing kept going up. My HR peaked at 162. I don't think I got it that high even once last year. ANd my breathing was very very heavy.

At that point, I was fearful that my maintaining a HR in the high 140s for most of the race to this point was going to catch up to me. I had previously estimated my LT at about 135 to 140. So I thought that I was running anaerobicly for most of the race.

Once I got up the steep part of the hill, I continued to walk a bit to settle down. Once I got more under control, I started running again. Focus on cadence. Keep the turnover high.

I passed the 5th mile marker at exactly 45:00. I knew that I'd beat my hour goal at that point. I didn't know the course, but I thought the toughest parts were over. I was right. The remainder was largely downhill. ANd I tried to let gravity do the work. I was going probably 90% of max pace down a lot of the hills. When I passed mile 6, I tried to keep my pace strong. I was definitely working hard, but closed strong.

When I crossed the finish line, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I not only broke 1 hour, but also went below 57 minutes. And I had a smile on my face the whole time! It was GREAT!

Nothing! I ran as good of a race as I could!

I felt a touch naseous after the race, but that quickly passed. I walked it off and found Mike, Jackie and Ken. Shortly thereafter, Rena crossed the finish line. Next we got to cheer on Dudley. He just barely missed his goal time.

I jogged back to the lodge and got some gatorade. Hung out and chatted with folks.


The race was well organized. The mile markers were a big help. Volunteers were at every intersection. Yellowjacket did the timing chips. Everything went smoothly. A well run race.