I didn't get enough training as I was nursing a right IT-band injury that kept showing up during my training runs at around 2.5 miles so I limited my running to easy runs, with the exception of 1 short tempo run the week prior to the race. I was also on vacation so I knew that this wasn't going to be a PR, and with the injury, I wasn't even sure how to pace it.

I set a target of about 45 minutes, knowing that I may not have enough endurance to keep up a good pace through the whole race as my longest run has been about 5.5 miles and that even had some walking sprinkled in.

The zoomba warm-up was hilarious and it was interesting lining up in darkness (though the finish line arch looked pretty fancy with all the different clocks for each distance). After the 21K and 16K waves went, it was time for the 10K. I tried to go up front but ended up about 3 rows back and had to dodge a bunch of people in the first 500m. It did sort itself out after about the first km. My HR monitor was acting funny since I didn't get a chance to get it wet prior to the start so I went by feel, and since the first portion was slighly downhill, I didn't think it was an issue starting off around a 6:48 pace.

I settled into a pace picking off people one at a time. I didn't know how much water was going to be on course, but was relieved to see water stations about every mile. Around the halfway mark, I felt a very slight tightness on my IT band but it wasn't too bad so I pretty much ignored it and it went away, especially since the course was uphill (I noticed that I feel it more on flat or downhill sections, especially if I shorten my stride).

I had a good race in the 2nd half when I was trading spots with 2 guys, but with about 2K to go, I started picking it up, and passed both on the uphill section. I did have some moments when I was pretty much running alone since I couldn't see the other runners up front, so I was worried that I may be getting lost on course but did manage to stay on track (though there was always this doubt in my head). I had some excitement when one of the marshalls was about to let a taxicab cut me off and I was yelling for them to stop it as I wasn't going to slow down.

I found myself on one last turn and saw the finish line and did a little bit of a kick since I didn't know how close anyone was behind me as I didn't bother looking. I saw 44:55 on the timer and came in right at 45:00 on the gun time.

It was cool that the 2 other guys, who were only a few seconds behind came up to me and shook my hand after the finish.

Train better. Normally, I'd like to get a few 8-10 mile runs in along with intervals in preparation for a 10K race.

Know the course - it would have been a better idea to look at the course map so I knew where I would be going. It's hard to focus on running hard when you aren't quite sure you are on the right course. It had enough twists and turns given the multiple distances that I could've gotten lost. There was a lot of signage but some were not placed at critical turns and marshalls weren't as focused as they should've been.

not much, just hit the water shower coming out of one of the trucks at the finish lines, then walked over to get my finisher schwag.


Injury and not enough training. It was also pretty hot and humid so that didn't help.


Better marshalls/directions near some key turns at the end would have been great. In addition, the sections that were completely dark needed lighting as I was just hoping there wasn't a pothole or crack to trip over. However, everything else was pretty good. Just wished they gave out AG awards (or at least Masters) - had to compete against high school and college runners!