I've done this 5x10K relay the last four years. My team won our AG last year despite a very competitive field. I always run two 10ks and this time I was doing the the second and third legs.

I got to the venue and it was 37F so COLD, DAMP, DRIZZLING with a wind off the Lake. I was cold from the time I got out of the car until I finished and got back in it.

My goal for this race was to learn better pacing for 10Ks (and yes I know I was doing two back to back).I always start out too fast and fade. The first 10K I wanted to have an RPE of somewhat hard/hard and sit just below LT HR. Second loop I was determined to increase effort to hard/very hard so above LT with an extra boost the last turn to the finish line.Mentally and physically I am never able to pull off that amount of pain in a 10K so today it would be different. I set my GPS to HR/Avg HR and never looked at pace.

The first 10K AvgHR=164 (3 beats below LT HR) and it seemed to mirror effort which felt somewhat hard to hard. The second 10K HR seemed low for effort so I just stopped using it as a gauge. I was very cold so thought maybe that had something to do with it. The CAT V hill comes before the 5K of that loop so I was trying to stay controlled. I boosted effort immediately after that, battled some wind. Breathing was very hard and noisy, but I still felt in control. Kept boosting effort and that final turn I gave it all I had. I felt bad, thought several times I might puke, but swallowed it back. I saw John up ahead and ran absolutely as hard as I could. He took my chip, I went over to the trees and threw up.

Overall, I thought this was well executed. It was a 47" negative split and almost a 5' CR.

Nothing. Brett (coach) and I just finished up a three week run focus so I ran to my current ability. Mentally I held it together really well and am most proud of it.

I was so cold that I opted out of my cool down. I said good-bye to the gang, wished Nicole well on her leg even though she was a competitor, grabbed my stuff and headed for the car. I did drink my chocolate milk on the way home and that turned out to be an error. Felt like crap the rest of the day. I guess I need more time between barfing and drinking anything.


We ended up taking second in our AG this year. Overall I hurt our team time by running two legs. No other teams do it that way because they are gunning for the win. Next year, I need to be faster so I don't hold Chafed Thighs in Overdrive back. :)


I love this race. It isn't fancy or large. It's pretty bare bones. It has grown from a strict focus on the 50K (or 100K runners when the Championship is here) to the relay teams. Very enjoyable. I highly recommend it.