As usual, I start out near the back. I try to settle into a nice cadence and not push things too hard. Given my pre-race "condition", I thought this to be the smartest plan.

I was surprised to pass mile 1 at 8:15. Ahh, I didn't really feel the downhill portion of it. But it was there. The second mile was in 8:30. I actually felt ok during this stretch. I was aerobic, chatting with fellow runners for much of this first 2 to 3 miles. My HR monitor was fritzing in and out on this run, but it seemed to be in the 140s for most of this stretch.

As I was about the 3 mile mark, Marmadaddy was coming back the other way. He said, "The race starts on the return leg!" Yep, it did.

I hit the turnaround (5K mark) at 26:30. This actually represented a PR 5K pace for me. But there was another 5K to run. And it was more uphill going back.

There was a slight downhill about half a mile after the turnaround, and I picked up my pace a touch there. I caught up to my friend, Rena, from swimming. She and I ran together until probably the 5.5 mile mark. We both pushed each other and both of us were working hard.

Rena and I continued to pick off other runners. My breathing was definitely hard on the return leg. I think my HR was around 155. We continued to push one another though. As we went up the long hill from about mile 4 to mile 5, my stomach started grumbling a touch. Was I approaching my "H" pace????

At the five mile mark, Rena told me to push ahead. I said not yet. At 5.5 miles, I did. I took it up another level. At mile 6, I almost stopped. My stomach was turning over hard. I just wanted to be done. "YOU CAN DO THIS FOR POINT TWO FREAKING MILES!! GO!!!"

I kept it up. As I approached the finish line, I saw the clock ticking 51:45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50... "RUN GET THERE BEFORE 52:00!!!!!!!!"

I crossed the finish line at 51:58. I was swallowing back my stomach. I guess I hit my "H" pace. Or was right at it.

It took me longer than expected to settle back down. I normally am recovered in a minute at most. But this hurt. I forced myself to keep walking. I knew I had to keep moving.

After settling down and doing some analysis, I could not believe I broke 52 minutes for a 10K. My return leg 5K was 25:28, over a minute faster than my out leg, and over a minute faster than what had momentarily been a PR 5K pace! The return leg average was about an 8:13 pace. My previous best run pace in any race was 8:31. So I'm freaking psyched to crush that!

Given that I PRed this race by a long stretch, its hard to say much went wrong. But I can't imagine that my "pre-race carb loading" helped in the least.

See above


Not drink beaucoup quantities of beer the night before.


Well organized race. Things ran smoothly.